Knowledge and Information Sharing in the Opinion of the Polish Academic Community

Knowledge and Information Sharing in the Opinion ofthe Polish Academic Community

Marzena ŚwigońUniversity of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, POLAND

WASET: ICEIS 2015: XIII International Conference on Education and Information Science16-17 April, 2015, Lisbon, Portugal

Outline

I. INTRODUCTION Knowledge and information sharing in the context of informal

scholarly communication Polish context

II. RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODOLOGY

III. RESULTS

IV. CONCLUSION

National Science Centre in Poland project no. 2011/03/B/HS2/04436

Knowledge and information sharing in academia

Formal scholarly communication Informal scholarly communication

monographs, articles and conference proceedings

easy to observe and measure due to bibliometric tools, bibliographic databases and citations analysis etc.

conversations, discussion, information exchange

oral and written (text messages)

creates greater connections and promotes academic progress more effectively than the formal communication

National Science Centre in Poland project no. 2011/03/B/HS2/04436

Polish context Three levels of scientific status:

1. PhD (dr)2. PhD with Habilitation (dr hab.)3. Professor (prof. dr hab.)

Scientific independence is achieved after Habilitation

Research and the higher education system in Poland were reformed in 2011 (this reform only changed the requirements for each of these steps)

All the academic posts in higher education schools are now filled via open competitions.

All scientists should apply for grants financed by external institutions, e.g., the National Science Centre (NCN) and the National Centre for Research and Development (NCBiR).

Publications and other kinds of scholarly activities are assessed via marks/points/scores (parametric assessment).

Research questions and methodology

How does the Polish academic community perceive knowledge and information sharing in general?

What are Polish academics’ experiences with knowledge and information sharing in current everyday work?

The empirical studies were conducted at the end of 2013 ◦ The link to the anonymous electronic questionnaire was sent to Polish

academics, registered in the Polish Science database (PhD and above)

The questionnaire consisted of two main parts: structured and non-structured

National Science Centre in Poland project no. 2011/03/B/HS2/04436

Non-structured part of the questionnaire It was a descriptive part, which enabled academics to

describe their thoughts and experiences of knowledge and information sharing in a free way.◦ This open question was not obligatory for respondents and for

this reason the return rate was low; 264 academics decided to write their own opinions (about 17% of filled structured questionnaires).

◦ This part of the study was qualitative in nature. Content analysis was used and the attempt to categorize the descriptions was made.

National Science Centre in Poland project no. 2011/03/B/HS2/04436

Results Individualism Trust Engagement Non-scientific obligations Academia – atmosphere, management Science in Poland – general remarks Technologies Parametric assesment Independent vs. Dependent External cooperation Grants Ideas and good practice

National Science Centre in Poland project no. 2011/03/B/HS2/04436

Conclusion Science and the higher education system in Poland

are still changing. Reforms are under way and a higher level of the whole system is expected.

Knowledge and information sharing is a kind of activity which needs time, reflection, willingness, and trust.

The results described in this article are an illustration of the public feeling of Polish academics, and are predominantly negative and doubting. It seems that the current situation in Polish universities and academia is much more complicated than ever before.

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WASET: ICEIS 2015: XIII International Conference on Education and Information Science16-17 April, 2015, Lisbon, Portugal