"Team Cognition and Creative Non-Fiction: How Narrative Theory Can Be Used to Support Training for Collaborative Problem Solving"
Speakers: Dr. Stephen M. Fiore & Mr. Landon K Berry
Abstract: The increasing complexity in socio-technical systems common in the modern workplace gives rise to equally complex problems. Solving these requires the collaborative efforts of teams who are able to integrate their collective knowledge in support of generating innovative solutions. Unfortunately, current training practices have not yet been developed to promote the processes necessary for success in such domains. In this talk, we describe a project involving the study of complex problem solving in NASA’s mission control in support of training development. In the first half, we discuss a problem involving an ammonia leak on the International Space Station requiring a rapidly planned and executed extra vehicular activity. Based upon interviews with mission control, team processes were coded according to the macrocognition in teams collaborative problem solving theory. In the second half, we discuss how these findings were used in an innovative approach to training drawing on narrative theory. Creative non-fiction was utilized to develop a screenplay based upon the problem solving incident. Our goal was to show how narrative approaches could be used to convey complex forms of knowledge sharing and enhance comprehension and memory in support of training for complex problem solving.
Speaker Bios: Dr. Stephen M. Fiore is Director, Cognitive Sciences Laboratory, and Professor with UCF’s Cognitive Sciences Program in the Department of Philosophy and IST. His primary area of research is the interdisciplinary study of complex collaborative cognition and the understanding of how humans interact socially and with technology. Dr. Fiore was a member of the expert panel for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which focused on collaborative problem solving skills. He is currently working with the National Assessment of Educational Progress on assessing and measuring collaborative problem solving. He has helped to secure and manage approximately $20 million in research funding and has edited 5 books and co-authored over 200 scholarly publications in the area of learning and problem solving. Landon Berry is a doctoral candidate in Texts and Technology at UCF. His research interests include Writing Across the Curriculum, learning environment technology, and surrealism. He serves as the Florida state representative for the Southeastern Writing Center Association and on the editorial board for Press Start, a peer-reviewed journal specializing in Game Studies. He teaches research and composition at UCF, and serves as the assistant director for the Writing Across the Curriculum program. His work has appeared in Computers and Composition, and IEEE.
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