Knowledge Management in Education Sector

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Knowledge Management in Education 4

Need in the Education Sector 5

Opportunities in the Education Sector 6

Knowledge Audit Process 8

Knowledge Audit Objectives 10

Knowledge Need Analysis 10

Knowledge Inventory Analysis 12

Knowledge Flow Analysis 13

Knowledge Mapping Analysis 15

Challenges 17

Recommendations 19

Conclusion 22

References 23

Executive summary

Knowledge Management (KM) principles recognize that it is important for organizations to "know what they know." All institutions inherently store, access, and deliver knowledge in some manner. The question is what value is added to the products and services they deliver by the effective use of that knowledge capital.

Education institutions (schools, colleges, universities) have significant opportunities to apply knowledge management practices to support every part of their mission. It is with KM that education institutions will be better able to increase student retention and graduation rates; retain a workforce in the face of severe employee shortages; expand new program offerings; work to analyze the cost effective use of marketing, technology and other strategies to meet more enrollment; transform existing processes and systems to provide information, not just data, for management; and compete in an environment where institutions cross state and national borders to meet student needs anytime/anywhere.

Knowledge management strategies have been widely adopted in business organizations, yet little research exists on the actual integration of the knowledge management model and the application the education sector. The present study focuses on the need and opportunities of KM in the education sector; process of applying KM through a knowledge audit; the common difficulties and limitations regarding the implementation of knowledge management into an education institutions’ organizational cultures and the recommendation and next steps are reviewed...