Initiatives, Isolation and Mr. D

Photo from morguefile.com

A few years ago I was heavily involved in a cross-curricular literacy initiative in our school. The initiative was in conjunction with the District, and at one point I received a call from a representative from the Department of Education with a very interesting proposal. They wanted to see if any of our teachers would allow the Department to capture some of their best practices on video as they taught students in their classes. The answer? It was a resounding no.

None of the teachers, including myself, were overly excited with the idea of being captured on video. Assurances were made that only the best practices would be used and any other material would be edited. Yet we could not be sold on the idea and once one teacher declined, everyone else fell like dominoes.

Social Networking, Knowledge Management and the EPSS

Photo from morguefile.com

It appears that many characteristics that are inherent in social networking platforms would greatly enhance and perhaps even challenge the traditional view of the purpose of the Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS).

Deborah Alpert Sleight discusses what is meant by an EPSS in her article "What is Electronic Performance Support and What Isn’t?". She describes a two part characteristic of EPSS which is, firstly, "access to the specific information and tools needed to perform a task," and secondly, "access to the information and tools at the time the task is to be performed." Both parts need to be present for it to be a characteristic related to an effective EPSS. She continues her discussion that the specific information can be provided in various media, including textual, visual, audio, computer programs/tools, along with advice or guidance.

Considering Performance Tasks

When considering my performance in teaching and administrative tasks, the first challenge was trying to decide what I would consider administrative versus what I would consider teaching. Many times the two categories intersect and blend together and can be difficult to separate. Below are two charts illustrating how I decided to separate the two, accompanied with the factors involved for each category.

Knowledge-Meld

Spock's Vulcan Mind-Meld from Star Trek.
Photo from http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Vulcan_mind_meld

Précis of Storing the Mind, Minding the Store 

This is an online article at www.cio.com.au. The article is a synopsis of a discussion held by a panel of experts in information technology and knowledge management. This panel discussed the value of knowledge management and how to effectively achieve knowledge sharing in organizations. 

Barriers to knowledge management and sharing knowledge were discussed, including job insecurities and the breakdown of communication between employees and employers. Employees have to feel secure in the idea that sharing knowledge is beneficial to both them and the organization. Suggestions on how to create a culture of sharing knowledge included reward systems, building climates of trust, and reinforcing similar values so employees can bond and realize there are mutual benefits in sharing information. 

Data-driven Knowledge?

Data

Simply put, knowledge is the ability to apply information in a manner that displays your skills and/or understanding of that particular field or area of study. This would fall in line with the constructivist approach of knowledge where one selects the necessary information and then is able to "construct" their knowledge to display their understanding. In knowledge, information "comes alive" since it is applied to help solve a problem, address an issue, create alternative solutions, etc.

Data is an essential element for creating information and producing knowledge, but on its own it is simply symbols, words, or numbers waiting to be applied by the practitioner. For example, I may be presented with a list of literary terms. This list would be the data. I then can research the terms and discover their definitions and begin to see how they can be meaningful to my learning. This is information. Now, if I learned the terms and definitions by heart, it may appear I am knowledgeable of literary terms. However, recall is not really knowledge. Additionally, recall in the 21st century does not appear as impressive as it might have ten or twenty years ago (although it works well in Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit). But if I was then asked to apply those terms to an analysis of a poem or short story, that is when the information "comes alive," and where I would illustrate my level of knowledge of those terms.