Knowledge and Learning Management Systems

ELI is no longer actively pursuing this topic. This page is provided as an historical resource; it is not being updated or actively managed.

Definition and Importance

Knowledge and learning management systems are an NLII key theme because their evolution not only reflects development in technology but also in pedagogy, as follows:

• We live and work in a knowledge society. To survive and thrive, organizations-especially institutions of higher education-must ultimately engender a knowledge culture by grappling with information and knowledge management, developing expertise and understanding of knowledge concepts, and providing technologically accessible systems along with the associated tools and resources.
• Knowledge and learning management systems are critical to the future of teaching and learning. We already see some evidence of a market trend toward convergence of content management systems, course management systems, learning management systems, and knowledge management systems into integrated knowledge and learning management systems.
• There is also a developing concern for "Expertise Management" that focuses on the human aspect of knowledge work: cognitive, social, cultural, and organizational. Knowledge-sharing networks and self-organizing communities of interest and practice are becoming commonplace, but little is known about how these fit into the larger institutional knowledge picture or the institution's sense of itself as a community.

NLII Research and Analysis Questions

Key research and analysis questions being pursued by the NLII in this topic area include the following:

1. What are the relationships in functionality among content management systems, course management systems, learning management systems, and knowledge management systems?
2. What are the implications of these systems-current and next-generation-for the use of technology to enable teaching and learning?
3. How do functional and human components of systems interact? What kinds of literacies must be developed to use them effectively?
4. How do emerging navigational and search behaviors and expectations, nurtured on the Internet, differ from traditional concepts of what is "academically appropriate"?
5. How is knowledge reused institutionally, and what are the enablers and barriers to knowledge sharing within and across institutions?
6. What sorts of incentives are and can be used to encourage knowledge sharing?
7. What are the economics of investment in knowledge management systems?
8. How can knowledge-sharing cultures be created and managed?
9. What type of policy changes may be required?

NLII Projects and Activities

The purpose of the NLII efforts in this area is to

• clarify the range of technology systems used to support knowledge transmission;
• explicate the role of knowledge and learning management systems in teaching and learning; and
• examine the infrastructure of institutions planning or using knowledge management systems and strategies.

The NLII will be working with members over the next year to define the research agenda and identify work products that will be helpful in this key theme area. During 2003, the NLII Learning Objects Work Group and the Course Management Systems Work Group have begun to explore questions 1 and 2 above.

Resources and Readings

Learning Objects Key Theme Page

Learner-Centered Principles, Design & Practice

Knowledge Management

Knowledge Management, (2001) IBM Systems Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4.

Meta-Knowledge Management Portal

Knowledge Management Magazine

Knowledge & Content Management, Collaboration & E-Learning, Gartner Group

Bernbom, Gerald, ed., Information Alchemy: The Art and Science of Knowledge Management, EDUCAUSE Leadership Strategies Series No. 3, October 2000.

Balla, John David, "Viewpoint: The 'Other' Knowledge-Memoirs of a Technocrat, Part III," August, 2003.

Hawkins, Brian, "Libraries, Knowledge Management and Higher Education in an Electronic Environment," presentation at ALIA 2000.

McGee, Jim, "Weblogs and knowledge management," McGee's Musings weblog, May 13, 2003.

Milam, J.H., , "Knowledge Management for Higher Education," ERIC Digest.

Norris, D., Mason, J., and Lefrere, P., Transforming e-Knowledge: A Revolution in the Sharing of Knowledge, Society for College and University Planning, 2003.

Townley, Charles T., "Will the Academy Learn to Manage Knowledge?", /ir/library/pdf/EQM0321.pdf EDUCAUSE Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 2, 2003.

Learning and Content Management

Donello, Jill Funderburg, "Theory & Practice: Learning Content Management Systems" Learning and Training Innovations, 2002.

• http://www.elearningmag.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=28444
• Abstract: This article is situated in corporate e-learning, but does introduce the issues of the implication of content authoring, learning objects, and learning management systems.

Naeve, Ambjörn, "The Knowledge Manifold: An Educational Architecture that Supports Inquiry-Based Customizable Forms of E-Learning," Proceedings of the 2nd European Web-Based Learning Environments Conference (WBLE 2001), Lund, Sweden.

• http://kmr.nada.kth.se/papers/KnowledgeManifolds/KnowledgeManifold.pdf
• Abstract: This paper discusses the ongoing educational paradigm shift and introduces the concept of a Knowledge Manifold, which is a learner-centric, open educational architecture that supports conceptual navigation and interactive exploration of an interdisciplinary knowledge landscape from the perspective of inquiry-based learning.

Nichani, Maish, "LCMS = LMS + CMS [RLOs]-How Does This Affect the Learner? The Instructional Designer?" elearningpost, May 2, 2001.

• http://www.elearningpost.com/elthemes/lcms.asp
• Abstract: The article defines learning management systems, course management systems, learning objects, and learning content management system. It describes what these new systems mean for learners and course designers and how the different systems work together.

Knowledge, Learning, and Community

"From Knowledge Management to Learning on Demand," Learnscope, Australian Flexible Learning Framework for the National Vocational Education and Training System 2000-2004. Brown, John Seely and Paul Duguid, The Social Life of Information, Harvard Business School Publishing, 1999.

Brown, J. S. and Duguid, P., "Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation," Organizational Science, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1991, pp. 40-57.

Wenger, Etienne, Communities of Practice-Learning as a Social System, The Systems Thinker, 1998.