Knowledge Management Tools
In a technologically advanced world we live today, knowledge can be easily acquired from the internet - so how can we as students enhance our innovative capabilities?
Here are some of the KM Tools that you might consider:
1) Wiki
A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. For example, the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best known wikis. Wikis are used in businesses to provide affordable and effective intranets and for Knowledge Management. Ward Cunningham, developer of the first wiki software, WikiWikiWeb, originally described it as "the simplest online database that could possibly work".
What's more? Wiki is painlessly easy to use, in 3 steps - access, edit/write, save.
You can enhance your learning from using Wiki to:
Energize your classroom
Need somewhere to work on essays together? A wikispace for a class is a great place for students to post their work so that teachers and classmates can correct, improve, and discuss their work on a common platform.
Organize group activites
Project management? A wikispace lets you post schedules, plans, and lists that the rest of your group can update and edit any time they like. Your group members can also be notified of changes as they happen so that they never miss out on updates.
Need somewhere to work on essays together? A wikispace for a class is a great place for students to post their work so that teachers and classmates can correct, improve, and discuss their work on a common platform.
Organize group activites
Project management? A wikispace lets you post schedules, plans, and lists that the rest of your group can update and edit any time they like. Your group members can also be notified of changes as they happen so that they never miss out on updates.
For instance, when given a project intensive module like Computer as an Analysis Tool, where students are required to complete a complex programming project using Microsoft Excel. Such a project has to be done on a single file and there bound be problems in the coordination of work. On the other hand, it is also tedious to constantly arrange for physical meetings for all the members to turn up when only one person can work on the project at any time. Emails flying around with the so-called "latest" version of the project can potentially complicate matters as well.
However, by using a Wiki, we can easily upload the latest spreadsheet and easily coordinate everyone's efforts in the comforts of our homes. Amendments can be easily made and uploaded quickly for the next person to continue the work.
Share your passion and learn
Love Finance? Or Organizational Behaviour? Or Psychology? Keep track of what you've learnt about your latest passion in a Wikispace. You can search/create your own interest group and inviting others who share your interest to the space you can build a better website than you ever could alone.
To start your own wiki group:
Wikispaces, http://www.wikispaces.com/
2) Blog
A blog (an abridgment of the term web log) is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.
Types of blogs:
Personal blogs
The personal blog, an on-going diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog. Personal bloggers usually take pride in their blog posts, even if their blog is never read by anyone but them. Blogs often become more than a way to just communicate; they become a way to reflect on life or works of art. Blogging can have a sentimental quality. Few personal blogs rise to fame and the mainstream, but some personal blogs quickly garner an extensive following.
Corporate blogs
A blog can be private, as in most cases, or it can be for business purposes. Blogs, either used internally to enhance the communication and culture in a corporation or externally for marketing, branding or public relations purposes are called corporate blogs.
An example of how students can make use of blogs is by sharing projects or knowledge on courses. A blog could be set up for SMU students from a particular course to post their knowledge, experiences and "tips" in taking a particular course. The posting is open up for commentary and allow active discussion by the students to take place. Through this blog, students who have taken the course can post methods or ways to get that elusive "A" in the course, or the learning outcomes gained from the course. In this way, new students who are considering to take the course can gain insights from accessing to this blog. They can make informed decisions on whether to take the course as well as to combine the knowledge from various comments to innovate and come up with new ways to work on the course projects. Then these new students can also post their experiences and knowledge gained after innovating on the project methods posted and this will provide additional knowledge for the next batch of students and so on. Even professors who are new to teaching the course can gain knowledge on how to go about teaching the course and to come up with new innovative ways to conduct the course to maximise knowledge sharing.
To start your own blog:
3) Social network, Facebook
Facebook is a social networking website launched on February 4, 2004. The website is privately owned and operated by Facebook, Inc. The free-access website allows users to join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profile to notify friends about themselves. The website's name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some American colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus.
Social networks such as Facebook allows people to interact and communicate with other users who share the same interests. This facilitates knowledge sharing among different users. Users can combine knowledge gained from different users in the network to come up with new innovative knowledge.
Here's an example on how we can use Facebook to share, transfer and combine knowledge. For graduating students who are embarking on your jobsearch, Facebook is a great tool to give you an edge. One of our group members used Facebook to find SMU graduates who are working in the Product Control Department of various Investment Banks. We can locate them through searching of networks such as "SMU Alumnus 07" and then locating people who are in networks such as "Barclays Capital". Then, by contacting these former students, we can obtain knowledge of the working environment and the programs or procedures they use to perform their daily duties. By combining knowledge from current employees in different banks, we can come up with new innovative perspectives and suggestions which will greatly impress the interviewers when we go for an interview for the particular position in any bank.
Here's an example on how we can use Facebook to share, transfer and combine knowledge. For graduating students who are embarking on your jobsearch, Facebook is a great tool to give you an edge. One of our group members used Facebook to find SMU graduates who are working in the Product Control Department of various Investment Banks. We can locate them through searching of networks such as "SMU Alumnus 07" and then locating people who are in networks such as "Barclays Capital". Then, by contacting these former students, we can obtain knowledge of the working environment and the programs or procedures they use to perform their daily duties. By combining knowledge from current employees in different banks, we can come up with new innovative perspectives and suggestions which will greatly impress the interviewers when we go for an interview for the particular position in any bank.
To start your own facebook profile:
2 comments:
To what extent do you think Wikis can really "Energize" our classrooms?
Take the discussion board on SMUVISTA for example. Personally, I don't feel it's very dynamic and doesn't energise me at all.
Maybe in one way, it does encourage more people to voice their opinions and views, as in class, not everyone really has the chance to speak...some people may be shy speaking out..no chance..etc...
But what do you guys think of this?Wiki as a really energetic classroom?
Wiki can be used as a platform for class discussion as well. For example, Wikipedia. If you go to any article in Wikipedia, you will notice there's a "discussion" tab next to "article" and "edit this page".
If Prof wants to use wiki for class discussion purpose, he can, for example, post an article in wiki, then let the students have the discussion about the article in the "discussion" page.
what do you think?
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