Impacts of social newrking
by massawe loveness
My other quibble is that ‘academic knowledge’ is implicitly
seen in these arguments as not relevant to the knowledge society – it is only
applied knowledge now that matters. However – and this is the critical point –
it has been the explosion in academic knowledge that has formed the basis of
the knowledge society. It was academic development in sciences, medicine and
engineering that led to the development of the Internet, biotechnology, digital
financial services, computer software and telecommunication, etc. Indeed, it is
no co-incidence that those countries most advanced in knowledge-based
industries were those that have the highest participation rates in university
education.
Again, though, I don’t want to downplay also the importance
of non-academic knowledge in the growth of knowledge-based industries. These
other forms of knowledge have proved just as valuable, and there is a
significant shift in business in trying to manage the every-day knowledge of
employees within a company through better internal communication, encouraging
external networking, and rewards for collaboration and participation in
improving products and services.
Education and knowledge
My argument here is that trying to distinguish between
academic and applied knowledge misses the real point about the kind of
education needed in a knowledge society. It is not just knowledge – both pure
and applied – that is important, but also IT literacy, skills associated with
lifelong learning, and attitudes/ethics and social behaviour. Gilbert
surprisingly plays down the importance of both developing learning skills and
the role of ICTs in teaching and learning (in the latter case, arguing that
they are not properly integrated into teaching. Again, I don’t disagree that
this is often a problem, but integrating ICTs into the curriculum needs to be
part of the solution).
My point is that it is not sufficient just to teach academic
content (applied or not). It is equally important also to enable students to
develop the ability to know how to find, analyse, organise and apply
information/content within their professional and personal activities, to take
responsibility for their own learning, and to be flexible and adaptable in
developing new knowledge and skills. All this is needed because of the
explosion in the quantity of knowledge in any professional field that makes it
impossible to memorise or even be aware of all the developments that are
happening in the field, and the need to keep up-to-date within the field after
graduating.
To do this learners must have access to appropriate and
relevant content, know how to find it, and must have opportunities to apply and
practice what they have learned. Thus learning has to be a combination of
content, skills and attitudes, and increasingly this needs to apply to all
areas of study. This does not mean that there is no room to search for
universal truths, or fundamental laws or principles, but this needs to be
embedded within a broader learning environment. This should include the ability
to use ICTs as an integral part of their learning, but tied to appropriate
content and skills within their area of study.
These skills and attitudes may also be seen as knowledge,
although I would prefer to distinguish between knowledge and education, and I
would see these changes more as changes in education. What is changing then is
not necessarily knowledge itself, but our views on what educators need to do to
‘deliver’ knowledge in ways that better serve the needs of society. We need
then to broaden our understanding of how best to help students acquire
knowledge in ways that will be useful for them, but that does not necessarily
mean rejecting academic knowledge as being now irrelevant.
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