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Online
Conference - 2004
Knowledge Management - abstracts (last
updated 30 March 2004)
| Professor Joyce Kirk (Dean,
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of
Technology, Sydney, Australia)
Joyce Kirk's links with
school libraries are diverse. They have involved
lecturing in children's literature and school
librarianship at Colleges of Advanced Education,
consulting on school library management in government
schools, developing guidelines for school library and
information services, judging the Australian Children's
Book Council Awards and contributing to information
literacy programs. Joyce has published papers in
national and international journals and conference
proceedings. Her current research interests lie in
people's interactions with information and information use
in organisations.
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| Building communities:
sharing knowledge in schools (keynote paper) |
| Schools are complex,
adaptive social systems that grow and renew themselves
through the knowledge they create, the processes in place
for sharing information and knowledge, and the
relationships that develop among the people who work and
learn in them. The key knowledge elements of people,
process, technology and content have a vital role to play
in enabling schools to meet their goals in relation to the
learning outcomes of their students. The paper draws
on recent research that explores some of the factors that
facilitate the use of information in organisations and
supports the sharing of information and knowledge so that
schools continue to adapt to their ever-changing
environments. |
Karen Bonanno (Executive
Officer, Australian School Library Association
Incorporated, Australia)
Karen Bonanno is the
Executive Officer for the Australian School Library
Association (ASLA) and the Managing Director of Karen
Bonanno & Associates. Karen's professional
interests include information literacy, ICT integration,
knowledge management, and personal development. She
was the Project Officer for the ASLA professional
development CD-ROM, Teaching Information Skills, ASLA
EdNA Train-the trainer manual and the ASLA video, Steps
to success: information literacy. Karen was the
President of the School Library Association of Queensland
for four years, commencing in 1992, and the President of
the Australian School Library Association from 1996 to
1998. In 2001 she received a national award, the
ASLA Citation Award, in recognition of her contribution to
the teacher librarianship profession in Australia.
Karen has written a number of journal articles, book
chapters and papers, and presented at numerous local,
national and international conferences. She
co-edited a book, with James Henri, The information
literate school community: best practice, in
1999.
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People, process and technology:
foundations for constructing learning communities |
|
Creating and managing knowledge within
learning communities is a dynamic combination of people
(communication, communities and cognition), process (KM
practices, core activities and strategy), and technology
(tools and infrastructure).
Knowledge is constructive and
constantly evolving. It involves information, the
human mind, and a context, constantly interacting to
create meaning and purpose. Knowledge resides in
people' minds.
This paper will explore the
different types of knowledge generated and the challenges
of how knowledge can be managed within a learning
community.
It will address the cognitive
activity involved in knowledge conversion and the elements
of Communities of Practice (informal, self-organising
structures that combine the emotional IQ of individuals
engaged in dialogue to solve a problem and create new
knowingness). This section will also include the
need for 'soft' technology of human networks and social
systems. The core activities of knowledge managers
and Chief Knowledge Officers will be discussed.
Finally, the technological tools,
which can be utilised to bring geographically dispersed
members of learning communities together, will be
identified. |
Michelle
Cowin (Senior Client Manager - Licensing, Copyright
Agency Limited (CAL)
Michelle
has been with CAL since 1991 and currently administers
educational licences for universities, TAFEs, schools and
independent educational institutions. Michelle has
presented many seminars on the operation of the
educational licences and assists educators when they
contact CAL for advice. Michelle has a practical and
in-depth understanding of the issues that affect school
libraries and their day-to-day operation under the
licences scheme.
About
CAL - Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) is an Australian,
not-for-profit copyright management company. CAL
represents authors, journalists, visual artists,
photographers and newspaper, magazine and book publishers
as their non-exclusive agent to licence the copying of
works.
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The Educational Copying Licence -
its operation in school libraries |
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CAL, representing authors and
publishers, administers the educational copying licence
under the Copyright Act. Like universities and
TAFEs, schools regularly rely upon this licence to copy
small portions, from unlimited sources, for educational
purposes. Copying by school libraries is usually
done under the educational licence.
Topics covered will include hardcopy
and digital reproduction, communication, the copying
rights and obligations of schools, practical guidelines
for implementation and how the licences uniquely assist
school libraries.
Of particular interest to schools
over the past two years has been the dissemination of
electronic works within schools and what needs to be done
to comply. Relevant issues include the amount of
content that may be made available, protection from
unauthorised use, and the information to be provided by
CAL surveys.
Practical summaries will be provided
on display of notices on or around copying equipment.
|
Jennifer Cram (Manager,
Education Queensland Library Services, Brisbane,
Australia)
Jennifer Cram is Manager,
Library Services for Education Queensland, the State
Department of Education in Queensland, Australia.
She is responsible for the provision of a range of hybrid
library and information services to schools
statewide. Selected services are provided worldwide
on subscription. A former National President of the
Australian Library and Information Association, Queensland
Special Librarian of the Year, and recipient of a Minister
of Education's Leadership Award, Jenny has managed public,
school and corporate libraries. She has published
extensively on many aspects of library management and
services.
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|
Knowledge as map vs. knowledge
mapping: Translating the business of knowledge management
to an educational environment |
|
Knowledge management has become a big
business in the business environment. The paper
discusses the challenges of this approach in an
educational environment, the necessity of achieving shared
understanding of knowledge as a cognitive process, and the
tensions between knowledge enabling and knowledge
management. A vernacular model is offered as a
potential benchmark for design for knowledge management
processes suitable to teaching and learning pedagogy. |
Roger
Johnson (Director, The Regional Institute Ltd.,
Gosford, Australia)
Roger
is the Director of The Regional Institute Ltd., an
independent, not-for-profit publisher of educational and
research information. The Regional Institute Ltd.
works to raise community awareness of science, and
advocates uniform publishing standards and the adoption of
guidelines for web site usability. Roger is working
on encapsulating his ideas in a research masters at
Charles Sturt University.
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Gathering and sharing knowledge in a
global community of practice |
|
This paper explores the challenges
faced by communities of practice moving from a knowledge
domain constructed around information in discrete packets
of printed material to one in which electronic networks
enable the linking of all genres in a fluid, dynamic sea
of knowledge.
Constructs of community, knowledge
and information are discussed in the context of the
paradigm shift being forced on communities around the
globe as a consequence of globalisation and the impact of
information and communication technology (ICT). The
opportunities for networked communities to capitalise on
the opportunities provided by ICTs is discussed in context
of the global historical progress of publishing and
scholarly publishing. An example of a professional
community of practice re-empowered to self publish and
develop its own online information management and
knowledge sharing domains is described. |
Linda Langford (Teacher
librarian, Sydney, Australia) Linda
Langford is a PhD student at Charles Sturt
University. Her current doctoral study centres on
the teachers' learning community and how knowledge is
created, shared and used. She is also a teacher
librarian at The King's School (Sydney) withe a specialist
teaching and learning role in information literacy.
She has published widely in the area of change and
information literate school communities, and has presented
seminars and keynotes both nationally and internationally. |
| Smoko 'round the
water cooler: unbottling your colleagues' knowledge |
| Communities of practice
are indicative of communities that learn from each
other. They rely on people connecting to one another
through complex acts of trust, vision sharing, and
professional renewal. Schools are natural places for
communities of practice to develop and teachers are
natural members of such communities, where sharing and creating knowledge is a dynamic
process and knowledge its focus. Yet the well-spring of teachers'
professional knowledge is often left uptapped.
What are the structures and
processes underlying the sharing of knowledge in a
teachers' learning community - a community of
practice? What enables teachers to form communities
of practice and conversely, what inhibits their formation?
This paper is based on exploratory
research into a teachers' community of practice, that is,
a learning community. Through the metaphor of a
water cooler as a place where people freely gather,
discussions are rich, and interaction is unconditional,
the paper outlines seven claims arising from the research
that enables and inhibits the dynamism of communities of
practice.
It extends the role for teacher
librarians as knowledge architects given the understanding
that no community can fully design its own learning and,
hence, strategic support and internal leadership is
necessary.
|
Pru Mitchell (Information
Officer, education.au limited, Dulwich, South Australia)
Pru Mitchell is a teacher
librarian who has worked across the school, TAFE,
university and special library sectors in Victoria,
Western Australia and South Australia. She is ASLA's
Vice President (Association Relations), and a member of
the ALIA-ASLA Joint Policy Taskforce. Her current
position as Information Officer as EdNA Online involves
work with web-based services in the areas of Global
Education, ICT Policy and Technical Standards. Pru
works and learns within a number of communities of
practice, and increasingly in virtual communities.
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| Real learning in the
Virtual Zone |
|
This
paper looks at how Knowledge Management principles can be
applied to the professional learning needs of school
library and information services staff and of the
profession itself. How can we learn faster in order
to do the same thinks better, to do better things and to
do entirely new things to improve learning in our schools?
Many
teacher librarians are the sole school library
professional within their immediate school communities,
and some are working increasingly in online
environments. How can Knowledge Management
principles and processes be applied when there is no water
cooler, no staffroom, no Friday drinks, or no physical
library space? This paper will consider the
development of online 'Communities of Practice' (groups of
people who come together to share and learn from one
another) as a useful strategy for school library and
information services staff seeking to engage in dialogue
with professional colleagues and taking ownership of their
professional learning.
There
is an exciting, powerful potential for learning when
current and emerging technologies are utilised to connect
people with like interests and needs beyond physical
boundaries of age, race, country and distance.
Making this a reality requires shared tools, shared
workspaces, shared language and shared philosophy.
This paper discusses some of the online tools and services
available to Australian school library staff, and how
these can be used to enhance professional learning
opportunities.
Successful
operation within a global learning community however
requires more than knowledge and access to technical
tools. The application of Knowledge Management
beliefs, principles, characteristics and practices is
essential in online communities. All members need a
commitment to the practices of knowledge creation,
sharing, documenting, archiving and providing access to
shared knowledge. Equally important is a recognition
that professional learning involves relationships, and
associated ethical values including respect, integrity,
honesty, justice, cultural and understanding and
trust. |
© ASLA Inc., 2003 Prepared
by: ASLA Webmaster
Last
updated: 30 April 2004
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