Sometimes, my trial balloons are like the Hindenburg – they float, and then they crash and burn.  This time, the idea I’d like to float might be crazy enough to work.

I have a short paper due for my IPT 525 course this Sunday.  The topic is on Performance-Based E-Learning with RLO’s. It’s been quite a while since I had to write an academic paper – for a grade no less.  Blogging has been my thing in recent years, but it occurred to me, “Why can’t I blog my way to the completion of this paper?”  Blogging comes naturally to me and it allows me to freely express my thoughts and ideas.  If this theory holds true, I can have this paper hammered out in no time, plus I have additional content to contribute to my blog.

Here’s the strategy for this week – 4 blog posts on 4 key points in my paper by this Friday or Saturday.  I then write the introduction and summary, cite my sources and then I’m done!

The topics you can look forward to this week are:

• Why even bother with e-learning – let alone why make it performance-based?
• To maximize performance and efficiency of development in e-learning, make use of RLO’s – better yet, what are they?
• What are some RLO strategies in e-learning?  We know about Cisco, but who else has strategies and can they be easily explained?
• What are the pro’s and con’s of applying RLO’s for information design and instructional design to improve learning and performance?

I’ve often wondered if this would be the best use of a blog while I participated in formal classes.  Let the experiment begin!

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Knowledge, to me, is the 50,000 foot view of experience and understanding that is essentially the life blood of an organization.  It is information in its raw form, information artifacts, documents, reports, etc.  As the paper indicates, effective knowledge management (KM) is a combination of organizational, social and managerial initiatives pulled together by a deployed technology solution.

A deployed technology solution is not necessarily a cure-all for rounding up knowledge in an organization, but it doesn’t hurt.  The objective of a KM solution is to transform knowledge from being tacit to explicit.  The explicit knowledge is housed and distributed via the KM solution.  Tacit knowledge is basically information known by people in an organization – facts, history, experience, etc.  Explicit knowledge is more tangible in the form of documents, audio, video or perhaps learning modules.

When we speak of KM solutions we are referring to learning management systems (LMS) and content management systems (CMS) – just to name a few.  With these tools, instruction or information can be delivered.  Whether the intent is to train or to inform the end result is the same – learning occurs.  When a body of knowledge isn’t known by an end-user, the new knowledge acquired is learned once it is applied in a useful manner.

KM solutions can be a great benefit to most organizations, but only if a strategy is developed prior to implementation.  You have to know what your objectives are and how you will manage the knowledge so it will be useful to end-users.

I’ve had experience with many organizations over the years that have attempted and currently apply KM solutions.  In future posts I’m sure I’ll provide some anecdotes to illustrate the pros and cons / successes and failures of KM in the workplace.  Unfortunately, there are more failures than successes and it is largely due to lack of strategy.

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