Cognitive Productivity Research Project

In this project, we research psychological questions regarding knowledge worker cognitive productivity.

The project has two major components:

1. Knowledge Worker Self-Regulated Learning with Technology. Here we investigate the cognition and affect of today’s knowledge workers,  their knowledge acquisition skills, strategies and meta-knowledge. We ask how they are coping with the limitations in the software applications in which they perform their learning. How are they  dealing with the “firehose” of information facing them  (the Internet, etc.)? We also want to know how they regulate their learning such that they can provide optimal consulting services to their clients. We also investigate what some of them can do to improve their cognitive productivity. In other (even vaguer) words, we study the learning which keeps beautiful minds beautiful. For more details see the sidebar.
2. Productive practice. We aim to understand how productive practice can benefit knowledge workers as they attempt to deeply learn from expository information in various forms (e.g., e-readers, hypertext, multimedia, meetings, workshops, paper, etc.). We study manifold learning objectives, not merely statable knowledge or skills (e.g., learning to develop or control implicit understanding, episodic knowledge, self-regulatory knowledge, habits, attitudes, values, moods, emotions, adherence to standards, propensities and cognitive-behavioural dispositions).

The principal investigator is Dr.  Luc P. Beaudoin.