In this unit emerging thematic fields will be identified on the basis of the particular interests of the participating students (being present in their “question/topic that matters”). These thematic fields are the point of departure for the processes of creating (radically) new knowledge in the units to come. They are a sort of semantic container which holds the remaining process of knowledge creation.

A newly developed knowledge technology being based on the reflection and identification of the participants´ core beliefs and base concepts/assumptions in their questions/interests is applied. In the course of this unit these core beliefs are laid out on a table in the form of a semantic map; by that new relationships and knowledge patterns will emerge which form a new—and yet implicitly already present—thematic field. These emerging thematic fields both reflect the interests/questions of the participants and yet have the quality of being new and unexpected in most cases.

Finally, knowledge creation teams (KCTs) will be formed around these emergent thematic fields. These teams will work together for the rest of the semester.

Learning outcomes

Identification of emerging thematic fields for the process of knowledge creation:
- Identify and understand what is common and what emerges out of the interaction of the individual questions/topics on a collective level by exploring their (hidden) assumptions
- Emergent thematic fields in which knowledge should be created in the course of this semester
- These thematic fields express the interests of the students and are at the same time new as they have developed collectively
Understanding and reflecting on the core beliefs and uncover (hidden) assumptions(base concepts) of a topic/question
Understanding, experiencing, and practicing the knowledge technology of creating emerging thematic fields
Community building: co-initiating of knowledge creation teams