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                                    “A school has nothing to do with education.
                     It's just an institution of control, where basic skills are taught.”
                                                 – Sir Winston Churchill



                                                KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

KEY POINTS

1. The purpose of learning is to build knowledge.
2. Knowledge transfer starts with publishing (i.e. knowledge representation) on any kind of media.
3. Learning is a subprocess of the overall knowledge transfer process.
4. Knowledge transfer takes place in complex social structures comprising various participants, environments, scientific and technological methodologies, tools, and goals.
5. Knowledge transfer propels the progress of humanity.

Dear Reader,

Maybe not all of us will agree with Sir Winston Churchill’s quote on education (epigraph to this blog section). But let’s try to analyze where today’s educational systems fail us and how we can improve the desired and expected outcomes–acquired knowledge.

Building Knowledge by Transfering it
When we start talking about acquiring or building knowledge, we have to ask ourselves first the question: Where does knowledge come from?
The first answer that comes to us is: “From the books/libraries.” But this is a metaphor only. Remember the “knowledge circle” presented in Book 1/Part 2. Knowledge resides in the brain of its “owner” only. Unfortunately, we cannot read it directly from there. We need tools and processes to reach and acquire it.
So, knowledge (in any domain) “comes” from the brains of human-experts. We call them “subject matter experts” (SMEs). The only sure way for knowledge to be transferred to another person or generation is to publish it (by printing or just handwriting) on any kind of media. The direct transfer by voicing it only (i.e. walk-and-talk or chalk-and-talk) never transfers the complete message (information) conveying it. Just remember the “forgetting curve” introduced by Hermann Ebbinghaus. Then, to fix it in memory, we need to read again that published piece of knowledge and probably not just once. To go to the next level of knowledge (understanding) we have to practice it in real settings and situations. Otherwise, just remember about the forgetting curve, again. So, the complete process of knowledge transfer consists of all these phases/activities: generating knowledge–publishing it–transfer (we usually call it “teaching” and “learning”)–evaluation (by tests/exams/simulations and practicing in real settings to check and prove it).
In educational organizations, the process of knowledge transfer is usually a “push” one. In self-learning cases, it is “pulled” on demand by the learner.
Let’s go briefly through these major phases and the processes involved.

Generating Knowledge
The major human activities generating new knowledge are research, study, observations, etc. related to science. In many cases, our practical activities and discoveries lead to new knowledge. In all those cases the new knowledge has to be recorded to be preserved and declared as a new one. Any new knowledge enriches human society and may advance its progress. Here, I just want to remind you, that when recording knowledge on any kind of media (from stone at the dawn of human civilization to the electronic media today) knowledge turns again into information (remember the “circle of knowledge”).
Dear Reader, I focus explicitly on these topics in Book 3. So, here in this blog, we will consider knowledge existing, trusted, contributed by millions of proven subject matter experts, and accumulated as “knowledge sources” in numerous repositories around the world. We, usually, call them “libraries.”

Publishing Knowledge
To benefit humanity information conveying knowledge has to be made accessible to every individual. So far we do it by publishing it in the form of information on various kinds of media–printed on paper or stored in electronic memory chips. Information structured in any form of content conveys (potential) knowledge that can be acquired by the learners. The latest information technologies (IT) let us design content in electronic multimedia formats containing hyperlinked text, images, video, sound, etc. content components which vastly improve its usability, access, interoperability, and to be easily communicated in network structures. Information technology improves learning experiences by making hypermedia content easily distributed and accessible around the world.
We will discuss more about IT applications in knowledge transfer in the next section titled Knowledge Technologies.

Learning
Learning is an essential part of the process of knowledge acquisition. Its major purpose is to build knowledge (structures) in the brain. But Neuroscience today says those structures are completed and fixed during our sleep (good news for those of us who like to nap).
Learning has four major components – physical, biological, psychological, and social which form a complex system. The human brain is the most complex component of this system. Because of still missing tools and methods created so far to directly monitor and study the process on physical and biological levels, we can refer to it as the “black” box component in that system. Actually, it is an “empty” box expecting to be filled in with the required knowledge as the outcome of the learning process.
Learning is the core process of knowledge transfer.

Knowledge Transfer
       What is knowledge transfer?
       Knowledge transfer (KT) is the complete process starting from a trusted knowledge source and ending with proven practical applications for building experiences, competencies, and understanding. It includes a variety of participants and subprocesses (organized in phases and steps). As with any purposeful process, it has to be designed and managed (controlled) to produce the best (desired) outcomes.
Very often, we replace the term “knowledge transfer” with “teaching” and/or “learning” but these are just phases of the complete process of KT. Focusing on them only, we miss the “entireness” of the process which usually reduces the quality of the outcomes and the efficiency of the entire process. This limited approach produces “waste” and dissatisfaction with the final results.
How to avoid such disadvantages in today’s “common” KT? How can we improve the quality of its outcomes and the efficiency of the process?
It is easy. We just have to look around. The industry has adopted especially developed approaches to eliminate waste in production and business processes. In general, these are called “Lean thinking.” Lean uses specific approaches and tools for improvement of the process in incremental steps including such activities as monitoring, measurements, analytics, and corrections. The major goals are to eliminate waste and keep efficiency at the highest (possible) levels.
The other approach aiming at improving quality is called Six Sigma. Combined Lean Six Sigma are widely adopted in industry helping businesses improve quality and efficiency.
Today, some educators started applying those in their teaching practices but as was already mentioned above teaching is just a phase of the entire KT process. To be successful and efficient the Lean Six Sigma approach has to cover the entire process of KT–from the beginning to the end. So, the instructors have to change their scope, approaches, and methodologies when designing successful KT processes.
I will focus on these in the next blog sections. Additional (extended) information can be obtained in Book 1, the concepts of building a Global Knowledge Platform (in the blog section titled The Future of Knowledge Transfer), and in my publications on these topics (links to some of those you will find in the section titled About the Author).

Tinko Stoyanov
Your Author and Guide