Browsing by Subject "innovation education"

Higher education in Finland is expected to provide innovation activities for their students; this is indicated by the Ministry of Education and Culture in their national vision of transition to working life. Changes in work-life are affecting in the whole society in Finland calling for non-routine problem solving, multi-professional collaboration, and knowledge creation. Co-operation between higher education institutions and business life is expected to extend and there is an increasing demand of entrepreneurial skills. In my research context, the innovation activity is provided by facilitation organisation which is a link between all actors. Organisations and companies set complex challenges; then groups of higher education students ideate and create solutions for those demands. The data for this study was collected through ethnographic observations and interviews. The process of observations took several months; I observed groups to obtain information of successes and challenges among the multidisciplinary collaborations. Observations were accomplished at joint events and while students were working as small units. At the end of the project I interviewed students from observed groups individually. In addition, two facilitators and one counselor from partner organisation was interviewed. Throughout the whole research process I wrote notes to my research diary. The initial interest of my study focused on the use of the discipline based languages. Commonly, people from different disciplines are assumed to communicate with different terms and words; challenges in separate epistemic vocabularies are expected to influence to the process of collaboration. Nevertheless, the data in this research showed that the discipline based differences in language are only one challenge among others. The participants in this research described challenges and successful of communication and group work habits. My research highlights the importance of open-minded knowledge seeking and knowledge creating. Two groups and their approaches to this collaboration are compared. One group utilised an approach of collaborative knowledge creation, whereas, another one used a practice of subtasks which were performed individually. Innovation projects require the ability to collaborate, including both sharing own expertise and relying on skills and knowledge of others. The data illustrated how groups operated. On the basis of the research data, the objects of their actions were analysed, and I located the groups in the trading zone dimensions.