Motivation in collaborative workplace learning : Can participatory methods increase motivations for learning ?

Motivational aspects are core to successful knowledge sharing and collaborative learning experiences. However, it still remains one of the great challenges to overcome motivational barriers when it comes to introducing information systems for collaborative learning at workplace. In the context of an international research project we have taken motivational aspects into account during the design phase and started a participatory process amongst researchers, end-users, managers, designers and developers. For the MATEL ’10 workshop we want to introduce our participatory design approach, the challenges we faced during it’s implementation and initial findings, which indicate that the continuous involvement especially of end-users contributes to creating a sense of ownership amongst them and becomes a motivational driver for the future use of the system.