In the digital realm, meaning making is reflected in the reciprocal manipulation of mediating artefacts. We understand uptake, i.e. interaction with and understanding of others’ artefact interpretations, as central mechanism and investigate its impact on individual and social learning at work. Results of our social tagging field study indicate that increased uptake of others’ tags is related to a higher shared understanding of collaborators as well as narrower and more elaborative exploration in individual information search. We attribute the social and individual impact to accommodative processes in the high uptake condition.

1. http://Learning-Layers-euhttp://Learning-Layers-eu
Learning Layers
Scaling up Technologies for Informal Learning in SME Clusters
Take Up My Tags
Exploring Benefits of Meaning Making in a Collaborative
Learning Task at the Workplace
Sebastian Dennerlein, Paul Seitlinger, Elisabeth Lex, Tobias Ley

2. http://Learning-Layers-eu
Collaborative Knowledge Building
• Artefact mediated
collaboration
• Reciprocal contribution to
socially shared knowledge
(meaning making)
• Important role in workplace
learning but seldomly
studied
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3. http://Learning-Layers-eu
Individual and Collective
Knowledge Co-evolve
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Personal
pattern
Epistemic Distributed CognitionCollective Distributed Cognition
Individual Sensemaking
and Pattern formation
Enculturation of
patterns
Stabilization of
Cultural pattern
Individual
stabilization to
form personal
pattern
Aggregation to
form Cultural
Pattern
Artefact-
mediated
Feedback
Collective Knowledge
Individual Knowledge
Ley, T., & Seitlinger, P. (2015). Dynamics of Human Categorization in a Collaborative Tagging System: How Social
Processes of Semantic Stabilization Shape Individual Sensemaking. Computers in Human Behavior, 51, 140–151.

4. http://Learning-Layers-eu
What are the effects of uptake in
collaborative knowledge building?
• Uptake: interacting with others’
interpretations and developing them further
• Hypothesis 1 (Social): Uptake improves shared
understanding
• Hypothesis 2 (Individual): Uptake improves
breadth of information search by cuing new
ideas
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5. http://Learning-Layers-eu
Experimental Study
• Collaborative curation of web resources using a social
bookmarking system (KnowBrain)
• Topic: Ways to improve knowledge exchange in
organisations
– e.g. ‘Gamification & Playfulness’, ‘Inspiration Sources &
Techniques’, ‘Collaboration Technologies’, ‘Socializing’ etc.
• Independent Variable
– Persons with High Uptake Uhigh vs. Low Uptake Ulow
(uptake: clicked tags introduced by others, median split)
• Dependent Measures
– H1: overlapping associations (Association Test)
– H2: number of bookmarks collected and rate of exploring topics
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Association Test:
Measuring Shared Understanding
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Participant 1 Participant 2
Wiki Team work
Social Software Social Software
Learning Innovation
Creativity Creativity
Groupware
Stimulus: “Collaboration Technologies”
Overlapping
Associations

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The Tool:
KnowBrain
Dennerlein, S., et al.:
KnowBrain: an online social
knowledge repository for
informal workplace learning. In:
EC-TEL 2015.

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9. http://Learning-Layers-eu
Uptake leads to higher
shared understanding
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High Uptake Condition Low Uptake Condition

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Uptake leads to higher
shared understanding
• No prior difference in overlap in associations
between Uhigh and Ulow
• Higher density of networks and higher
number of weighted edges in Uhigh after study
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11. http://Learning-Layers-eu
Uptake leads to more explored resources
but slower exploration of topics
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β1 = 1.09
β1 + β2 = 0.79
Position in Resource Sequence
UniqueTopicCombinations

12. http://Learning-Layers-eu
The role of uptake in
collaborative knowledge building
• Important role of uptake on collaborative and
individual learning processes
• Uptake has differential effects
– higher shared understanding among collaborators
– a more elaborative (rather than explorative)
search (“depth before breadth”)
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13. http://Learning-Layers-eu
Where we are going with this
• Understanding the cognitive mechanisms of
uptake
– convergence vs. divergence
Seitlinger & Ley (2016): Reflective Search Model, Webscience
Conference
– assimilation vs. accommodation
Cress, Held & Kimmerle (2013): Collective knowledge of social tags
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14. http://Learning-Layers-eu
Thank you
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Tobias Ley
Tallinn University
Professor for Learing Analytics and
Educational Innovation
tley@tlu.ee
skype tobias_ley
http://tobiasley.wordpress.com
Learning Layers Project
ICT EU-FP7, 12mEUR, 2012-2016
Web: http://learning-layers.eu
Software: http://github.com/learning-layers

15. http://Learning-Layers-eu
Project
Consortium
Basiskarte: digitale-europakarte.de
Project Coordination
Learning Technology Research
Regional Application Clusters
Scaling Partners
Technology Partners
Health Care – Leeds
Construction &
Building – Bremen