Learning to fly (but I ain't got wings)

One of the things that I took away from the Brown readings this week was that information is pretty simple, and while the processes to harness it can be complicated, it can be done. Knowledge on the other hand is complex. You could even argue that it cannot exist outside of the human mind, except in artifact form: that is, the knowledge expressed is not an exact duplicate of the knowledge possessed. And the ways in which one acquires information vs. knowledge are very different as well. Information is processed. Knowledge is learned. Information is a commodity. Knowledge is at a premium. As companies place more and more emphasis on knowledge, stuff that only their people can provide, it will become important to make sure that education realigns itself with the goal of cultivating knowledge and the skills to cultivate that same knowledge in others, instead of passing on information.

Traditionally, schools operate on a top-down, listen-to-me-lecture, test-you-on-the-material model. While they are incorporating more and varied activities, ultimately they are still teaching for the test. While this may pass on some interesting information, does it prepare students for the kind of work they will be expected to do in the real world? In order to prepare the knowledge workers of the future, emphasis needs to be placed on "learning to be" instead of "learning about." Furthermore, our educational model is not based on a collaborative model. Innovation in the workplace and in the real world, particularly now with Web 2.0 technology in place, relies on collaboration and knowledge sharing. The education system needs to prepare students for that kind of environment by encouraging assignments and activities in context. They need to learn to become practitioners as much as they need to learn facts. In fact, practicing skills in context may even make more facts stick. If students learn to create knowledge and collaborate and share that knowledge, knowledge management becomes easier. Perhaps part of the reason knowledge management is so problematical is because no one has learned to share.