Knowledge-Brokering Artifacts: Understanding What Boundary Objects Can and Cannot Do (Poster 38)

• In Event: Thursday Poster Session 2:30 pm
  In Poster Session: Research Use SIG Poster Session

Abstract

Knowledge-brokering is a complex boundary-crossing process, especially in education, due to contextual and social barriers to knowledge exchange and transformation. In this process, boundary objects can create a sense of common meaning and support knowledge exchange across diverse communities of practice. These knowledge-brokering tools facilitate collaboration and communication among researchers, educators, and policymakers and, accordingly, knowledge-sharing and application. We analyzed over 30 online knowledge artifacts produced by educational organizations worldwide, using a new-institutional theory perspective to examine their affordances and limitations as boundary objects. We suggest that translation, theorization, and sensemaking are processes that explain how knowledge artifacts can support educational change and constitute valuable knowledge-brokering tools. Understanding change processes assists knowledge brokers in choosing and using artifacts effectively.

Authors

• Hilla Tal

• Inbar Bobrovsky, University of Cambridge

• Odette Sela, Israeli Ministry of Education