If schools, colleges, and universities are in the knowledge business and knowledge is their raison d'être, why are there relatively few examples of knowledge management initiatives (at least, publications on that subject) in the education sector compared to, say, health? Assuming knowledge management has a role to play, even under a different appellation, what are some obstacles to and opportunities for knowledge management efforts in educational institutions? What might be areas for research? What do you think?
Dear Olivier,
I reckon the failure to translate declarative knowledge to procedural knowledge is a fundamental barrier to the efficiency of knowledge management.
Also, lack of proper concept formation in different disciplines is also a serious issue.
From where I sit, these are the problems faced by putting all of our university-taught knowledge into a knowledge base system:
Some of education is not meant to convey knowledge, but to change attitudes (E.g. the teaching of ethical behaviour.)
The best-practice textbooks / videos which are prescribed are copyright.
Helpful ancillary textbooks / videos are recommended and are copyright too.
Lecturers guide the students through the textbooks, helping them to learn what is important, and resolving any discrepancies and gaps.
The lecturers augment the textbooks using their tacit knowledge from their experience of teaching over the years and their own research.
Lecturers add further value by including local examples.
Lecturers arrange suitable field trips, lab work, etc. to help make the abstract more concrete.
Based on the above, each year lecturers invent new quizzes, tests, assignments and exams to assess the student's learning.
The lecturer is loath to put the above tacit and explicit knowledge into the public domain as it undermines the lecturer's own job security.
Knowledge management in education is present, but partially hidden under keyphrases like “learning objects”, e-learning etc.
Nevertheless, there is a wealth of papers available and the topic is wide open for research. See e.g.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=knowledge+management+in+tertiary+education
Interesting ideas , Ian
I was just wondering if you mean instructors intentionally obfuscate , ambiguate or sophisticate knowledge and ideas?
you believe they refrain from offering information for job security and economic reasons?
I reckon this is pandemic and a ubiquitous practice of attaining power in organizations , a method of control and manipulation .
No, No, Rahimi, 99% of lecturers try as hard as possible to present knowledge as clearly and as best as is possible. They are paid for that and that is their job.
However, many are unwilling to give away their implicit and explicit knowledge for free to all the world. How will they subsequently earn a living? Just from marking exams?
I assumed that "The organisation" of the knowledge management vocabulary is interpreted more widely here in the field of education as "the world university consortium", otherwise what I call "the VVV or virtual video varsity". My assumption is that we do want to give our students the (world's) best-practice education.
Even within a more limited frame of reference where university = organisation, lecturers may be unwilling to donate their full knowledge base to the organisation without adequate recompense.
I agree completely with what you reckon in your last sentence. Perhaps research could be done on recurring royalties after surrendering the base, calculated on world student subscription figures. Also contracts should be issued for maintenance.
Hi! In addition to the above answers, need of the hour is how to convert knowledge in to skill in students and one of the solution is through knowledge management in education. Application of KM for faculties, KM for students and KM for education administration as well so that knowledge may flow across levels/ domains. Supplement of hands on practices where ever possible or use of case studies or business games etc. must be applied while teaching conceptual knowledge of the subjects. Another fruitful methods may be use of social media to enhance knowledge sharing without borders across student/faculty/stakeholders. there are many more aspects of KM which can contribute to enhance/influence the effectiveness of present education system.
Thank you all for these insights and the care you took to share them. Earlier today, at a learning summit in Metro Manila, Philippines, I spoke on The Why and How of Knowledge Management: Some Applications in Teaching and Learning. A short paper on that subject, available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294886194_The_Why_and_How_of_Knowledge_Management_Some_Applications_in_Teaching_and_Learning, underpinned the presentation I made, which is available in turn at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294887154_The_Why_and_How_of_Knowledge_Management_Some_Applications_in_Teaching_and_Learning. The day before, I made a presentation on Creating Learning Environments with Communities of Practice that is now also available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/294887045_Creating_Learning_Environments_with_Communities_of_Practice.
Conference Paper The Why and How of Knowledge Management: Some Applications i...
Presentation The Why and How of Knowledge Management: Some Applications i...
Presentation Creating Learning Environments with Communities of Practice
It's a great issue that you've picked up. Congrats, Olivier Serrat. All the best
It has no limit & the entire education system in the world can contribute much more in the line with the help of student & its talents which may help anywhere in the contribution & also the growth in our social fabrics as your question is quite to mark , i have take liberty to submit my publication under the caption '' Universities Mission - A Temple of Knowledge '' for your perusal .
I wonder if in any case serve the purpose for the way of line of thinking i shall be glad if you can give my a line in reply .
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