Educators, Parents, Students lend me your ears, my name is Katie Criss and I am going to discuss home schooling with you. Currently there is a very heated debate over the issue of Home schooling in America. Today I am going to present you with my views on this critical subject. When I say “my views” I’m not going to stick my finger in the air to see what way the wind is blowing with this issue of home schooling. I know there are two sides, and supporters of both.. Rather I am going to present to you my viewpoints with opinion and research on why I am a critic of home schooling.

When I asked myself the question, How do you feel about home schooling? I first thought “Why would anyone do that” So I researched exactly that, What are the reasons that people give of why they choose to homeschool and how valid are they.

One reason that I frequently found through research was that parents home schooled their children because of the violence found in public schools. My response to this is Yes, there is violence in public schools, However, there are many preventive measures that are taken to avert this violence and most schools have incorporated a Zero-tolerance policy. Parents justify themselves by reciting isolated incidents to help build their case for home schooling. My message to parents who use this excuse to validate themselves is, first ask yourself the question, Is their violence in my neighborhood. I am sure if you are living in Harlem, New York compared to South Park, Pennsylvania there is going to be an immense difference in the crime of the area. My next question is, how do you expect to protect your child from all the dangers of society? Home schooling your child is a parents attempt to isolate their child from the real world scary stories. If you are afraid of your child being bullied, what will happen when your child becomes an adult and meets a bullying boss? This is a real-world story; children need the exposure to different people. Why? Simple, because nobody in this world is the same.

After doing much research and learning that parents question the safety of their children in public schools, I myself questioned the safety of home schooled children. From this research I concluded that current home schooling laws allow people who mistreat children to keep them in social isolation in order for the abuse and neglect to go undetected. To back this statement up I will cite a few of many incidents.

Smithfield North Carolina October 13, 2003. A sign hangs on the wall that reads so this is not home sweet home, adjust. In the bedroom, 14-year-old Brandon had committed suicide after killing his brother and sister. Yes, these children were home schooled, but the real point of this story is that the Warrens had home schooled their children before, in Arizona, where they were convicted of Child Abuse. An investigator in Arizona recorded that the children were tortured physically and emotionally. However, that is information that North Carolina school officials are not required to collect. In fact, since home schooling became legal in North Carolina in 1985, the number of home schooled students jumped from just a few hundred to more than 50,000. BUT there has been no change in the number of state employees that oversee the program- there is just three for the ENTIRE state.

In Iowa, a father is serving life, and a mother will go on trial this month, for killing their 10-year-old adopted son and burying him at their house in the backyard. Because they were home schooling no one noticed that he was missing for one entire year.

In Texas, Deanna Laney, home schooling mother of three, told investigators that she beat her children with rocks because she was saving them from Satan.

Another notorious and similar case is that of Andrea Yates, Texas home schooling mother of five who drowned all five children in her home bathtub. Many claim that Yates had been overwhelmed by the demands of constantly spending time with her children due to the fact that she was a home schooling parent.

To compare, Yates and Laney, Both of these mothers were religious. Both were subservient wives handling childcare pressures. Interestingly, both utilized Christian home schooling for their doomed children. Both “talked to God.” Both fundamentalist Christian mothers say they sacrificed their own children “for God.” Each of Andrea Yates children, like Mrs. Laney’s, were home-schooled and had Biblical names. These are Two examples that are very similar to each other, both mentally ill mothers trusted to be at home with their children and give them their education. Which leads me to my next finding, Parents claim to home school their children to provide them with a better education then public schooling can give. My question is, How is a parent qualified to provide their child with an education?
Home schooling parents have no set curriculum to go by, but not to worry they simply can purchase books of the internet entitled “Home schooling for Dummies” if they are having trouble, that should fix any problems. I would like to address educators and prospective educators, and ask them the question, Could you replace your studies with one do-it-yourself dummies book? I am sure that if you could then that would be the route of study pursued, rather then long hours of tedious work provided by a college institution. In order to even pursue a career in education in the state of Pennsylvania, one must provide clearances that show a clear background check, take Praxis Tests to show knowledge, complete at the minimum a 4 year education program with at least a 3.0 average, a speech and hearing test, observation hours, supervised student teaching, and lifelong learning credits in order to keep their certification in the field. Yet, to homeschool in California the only requirement is that parents provide notification that they will be home schooling their child. The only qualifications to teach listed are that the parents are “capable of teaching”. Even more shocking is the state of Texas, home to both Andrea Yates and Deanna Laney, has no requirements for home schooling, in fact parents do not even have to notify the state that they will be home schooling. They must possess no qualifications in order to teach. That’s it, if they want to be a teacher, they are!

Please note that every state is different. In South Carolina, colored moderate regulation a parent must have at least a GED or high school diploma to teach. However in New York, which is considered high regulation, no qualifications are necessary. Therefore if a parent did not even get a high school diploma in New York they are still qualified to teach their child high school material. I have concluded from this information that a child can only go as far as their parents have, and in some instances that may not be very far. Therefore these children are being cheated out of a valuable education.

Also I have questioned, having a parent as a teacher… are they teaching their children their bias’s? In an institution goals are made to make sure that the material being taught is bias free. However in a home, a parent is free to choose, and some knowingly, others unknowingly are teaching their child their own biases. In a world that is culturally diverse, one must be exposed to different people and situations in order to appreciate our differences. However if a student had already formed biases then they are virtually closed minded to accepting these differences. Similar to this subject, being that both lead me to a valuable question is how home schooling parents can justify teaching their children for a child’s entire childhood. When a student is in a public school they have many different teachers, who use many different teaching methods. However in a home a parent, especially with no education on how to educate, would use only one teaching method. Of course if they are teaching at all, and not just using books and videos. Through different teachers you learn virtually how to learn in different ways. You also learn how to understand people better. My valuable question that ties all these subjects together is how will a child develop his or her socialization skills if they are not exposed to different people? The school environment is much like one’s work environment. If a child has never been exposed to such an environment how will they know how to adapt? How will they react to all the different people, different opinions, and different viewpoints? How will they work with groups of co-workers? All these questions address the issue of socialization of children who are home schooled.
Closely related is one of my biggest questions, that is How can a parent make such a crucial decision without their child’s consent to remove them from a world that is considered to be the “norm” and place them in a world in which they in effect are isolated? These children will develop low self esteems and forever question why it was their parents did not want to send them to school, to show them off to the world, instead they will wonder why are they hiding me? Most importantly, These children will not have the experience that public school provides, they will not have the experience that unites us citizens and provides us with a common background. They will not get to experience the simple things like go to prom’s, participate in sports in which an entire school is benefited, have a school lunch, a lock on their locker, a ride on a school bus, recess, watching for their school to be cancelled on TV from snow days, and all the other little but character building events that take place in a public school students life.

In closing, American citizens, together let’s promote our very prestigious and notorious public school system and crusade against the leniency of home schooling that consequently will benefit our country by providing a solid education for all.

E-journals can be a very helpful resource, also known as online education journals. They address both online and regular education needs. E-journals provide a source of articles by education professionals as well as beginners in the field. “Blogs” are personal online journals where comments can be posted by students. Online classes are often assigned blogs to be used as community journals where all participants may post information.

Uses for Blogs in a University Online Course

(Source: Trimarco, R. (2004). “Use of Blogs in Online College Classes.” B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. January 7, 2007, at: http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/blogonlineclass/start.htm)

Blogs are used for:

* Professors to post assignments, class requirements, information, lessons, answer questions from students, and post a weekly topic for students to comment on.

* Professors and students to post articles related to the class and others respond.

* Classes to hold discussions about lectures, assigned reading, news, and projects.

* Students to post completed assignments and notes and give others feedback.

* Students to create writing portfolios.

General Uses For Blogs

Personal online journals are also used to create a forum for bloggers on which to post their opinions, review books or other sites, or upload articles. Remember that work posted on such sites may be copied and used by others illegally. Unless you paraphrase it and cite the source or quote it and cite the source, it’s not acceptable to use others’ posted information as your own.

E-Journals

Here are some online education sites where you can access lists of journals. In addition to the journals listed here, there are journals for nearly all universities, as well as most majors, such as nursing, technology, business, etc.

Full Text Electronic Journals in Education The Communications Among Researchers Group of the American Educational Research Association creates a list of journals that publish research in education. Find it at: http”//aera-cr.asu.edu/links.html or http://aera-cr.asu.edu/links.html.

Education Journals in the Yahoo! Directory Find education journals of all types online via the Yahoo! Directory at: dir.yahoo.com/Education/Journals/ http://dir.yahoo.com/Education/Journals/

Essays in Education publishes documents written about issues in education. The journal also will publish reviews of educational software and books, if they describe the writer’s personal experiences using the materials. Essays in Education is located at: http://www.usca.edu/essays/.

T.H.E. Journal Online: Technology Horizons in Education T.H.E. Journal Online is the best technology-based education journal. T.H.E Journal Online contains information, news, and activities related to technology in education. Its sites are: www.thejournal.com/ or http://thejournal.com/.

Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks provides names of programs for studying online at one’s own pace and on one’s own schedule. Access it at: www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/ or http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/.

Information about education online can be found in online education journals. If you have experience in education or research, consider submitting an article for publication.

Using online education e-journals for research or personal education journals for blogging are common practices for students taking online education courses. If your teacher assigns blogging or research as part of your class, the tips and resources here will get you started.

The headquarters of Brahmavarchas Research Institute is Haridwar (Uttaranchal, INDIA). Over here its mode of action is classified in 4 parts:

1) SCRIPTURAL RESEARCH: A comparative study of all spiritual tenets declared so far will be analyzed. Within this all those aspects which will help augment world humanity’s sacred sentiments will be gathered separately. For this the literature content of our library is being replenished and added on a large scale. Further for teaching and education purposes other sources of literature and books are being tapped.

2) SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH BASED EXPERIMENTATION: Within this section highly advanced apparatus and scientific technology has been set up. Experiments are conducted so as to find out which spiritual endeavor positively transforms ones outer and inner life. Yajnopathy is being scientifically tested in such a manner so as to present to the world, its most optimum and a wholesome form. As a result man’s bodily strength, psychic balance and the soul’s greatness will reach great pinnacles of success.

3) COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOR BY WORLD SCIENTISTS AND THINKERS: In this section we will request great thinkers, philosophers and scientists of the world to take part in this research endeavor and thus help us come up with outstanding results. At the time of writing these lines (before 1991 A.D.) around 100 have already agreed to join our mission. Our target is to encourage at least 1000 such specialists to come to Haridwar for more or a short time span and contribute in this great research study. Further they could even guide us from their place of residence and gather required research material for us. Thus this section helps coordinate the research studies of all such people.

4) PROPAGATION: In this section those who grace our research centre with their presence will be given due information about the goal and nature of our research studies. Those who are willing to contribute in their own way will be presented with literature in this subject. We will humbly guide them as to who will help by taking part in which aspect of our research endeavor.

These 4 sections and departments work in tandem with one another. Initially there were 20 resident research members. This number has increased by leaps and bounds over the years. In general all members are very capable and intelligent in their areas of research. Their lodging and boarding requirements are fulfilled by the Brahmavarchas Research Institute Those who are financially well off tend to take care of all their expenses. The rest are taken care of by the institute.

Keeping contemporary requirements in mind our research activities revolve around them. Of course transformational changes are made as per the need of the hour. When one task is finished another one replaces it immediately. Sometimes a particular task is made more widespread if we realize that it is important to study it more deeply. Visitors are amazed to see this research team creating an atmosphere of joy on the one hand and yet minutely researching into various topics in a focused selfless manner. A special characteristic of this scientific experimentation involves encouraging the youth wing of world humanity to take up this utmost important endeavor of improving human destiny in the 21st century so as to make it radiant. We are trying to find out how far they will succeed in doing so. Our research efforts have their basis in Government Aid and those by the influential and wealthy class of society. Within this realm it is rare to find elsewhere a group of people who live traditionally like the saints and sages of yester years. This gigantic task is carried out with such zest and zeal that one fails to differentiate between a game and serious Yoga practices. In fact it becomes a topic of research by itself when one takes into account the individuals, means and research methods used at Brahmavarchas. A major conclusion that emanates from this is that even those who do not get cooperation from highly scholarly people or the wealthy class can yet achieve their goal of him self/her self attaining greatness and encouraging others to follow suit. The only condition to succeed thus rests in ones deep conviction and powerful resolve (Sankalpa Shakti).

Our research institute nestles at the feet of the mighty Himalayas, on the shores of the sacred River Ganges where the Saptarshis (7 Rishis) of the Vedic Age had performed intense penance for the welfare of world creatures. If you superficially compare it with grand buildings and structure of the world one can say ‘it is nothing great’. Despite this if one takes care to note the zest and zeal exuding from the members, walls, trees etc of the Brahmavarchas Research Institute one can conclude without doubt that it is not merely some inanimate organizational center but that every pore of its existence oozes with divine radiance/aura. This endeavor is being executed by great characters, supreme goals, sacred ideals and well directed programs. Hence we can safely conclude that this endeavor is extraordinary and that its results too will definitely be mind boggling.

So far we have discussed the institute’s activities. Whatever is taking place in this institute can be called the center of focus and yet we certainly cannot say that what is happening now or that what will take place in future will remain of this size only. In fact our activities are widespread and doubtlessly they will keep expanding enormously in the days to come. It goes without saying the task taken up is gigantic wherein the viewpoint of billions of people on Earth needs to be changed and guided to higher peaks of human/divine glory. It can be compared if at all to interstellar space research conducted with the help of high tech space crafts. Space centers that launch satellites etc stay put in one place on Earth (like for example NASA) and yet its area of functioning revolves around studying the state of interstellar space and planetary etc movements. Only those great scientists attached to space stations know exactly the functional aspects of space research. They know very well how difficult their task is and the extent to which highly advanced technology is made use of. As a result laymen like us are simply wonderstruck to note the super intelligence, mental focus and alertness manifested by these great space scientists. Similarly the research area of Brahmavarchas Research Institute too is very gigantic and widespread. Hence it is least surprising that its activities span across the globe and in every nation on Earth. Thus the Brahmavarchas Research Institute should not be looked upon as a center in one tiny corner of India simply because its area of action is global and all pervasive.

No doubt chiefly the research activities of the Brahmavarchas Research Institute are centered in India and yet like the fragrance of a full bloomed flower it reaches every nook and corner of the world. The Era of Consciousness has thrown a challenge to great thinkers of the world. Atheism has taken over the intellect of the thinking class of the world. Thus they think narrowly and act very selfishly. Within this class albeit in minor forms the Rishi tradition yet does exist. Even a miniscule form of its help and influence the royal path of divine glory for world humanity will be thrown wide open for all to march ahead.

The number of volunteers who are giving their precious time for our research studies is augmenting by leaps and bounds. We have requested them to come to Haridwar (Uttaranchal, India) as per their convenience and by staying here for a certain time span help us advance our scientific viewpoint and mode of research. We have requested them not to bring along with themselves their family and kids because everyone’s attention will be distracted. Our research institute does not have any arrangement for accompanying family members to reside. Thus only those who wish to focus all their attention on our project need come albeit alone and we request them to give us as much of their valuable time as possible. If they come simply for 2 or 3 days maybe they can give us some theoretical advice but it will be impossible to imbibe their practical knowledge in such a meager time span. Hence we request our revered research volunteers to come here only when they have enough time to one pointedly focus on our research projects. In this atmosphere of calmness and camaraderie a lot of give and take of high scientific principles can take place. Our research study is extremely useful for all world beings. On it basis a lot can be achieved both materially and spiritually.

Great thinkers, who because of a lot of prior commitments, cannot come to our institute are humbly requested to help our research study from their place of residence. The only condition is that they seriously focus on our research and contribute in a committed manner. They must look upon it as a sacred responsibility and like certain other routine chores spend a certain number of hours daily for our institute’s endeavor. The time volunteered for this great task should be well defined and adhered to implicitly and only then something tangible will come our way. On the other hand if the attitude is quite superficial and ‘frothy’ we will be fooling ourselves only and that nothing concrete by way of research will be attained. There are a few who for self aggrandizement call themselves ‘members’ of our research team without being committed to our cause or contributing anything significant. This in a nutshell is just vain mockery on their part and is like basking on wrested laurels. Hence we sincerely hope that only those who are accountable and committed to our cause join as members of our team. Only those who have a certain time span for committed research on a regular basis need join our sacred institute. Thus let us pray in all humility that only genuine responsible researchers will join our research team and those who cannot come to our Institute are requested to stay at their place of residence and give us their invaluable research inputs.

What kind of task will be given to which person based on his/her qualifications, credentials and the available circumstances? This question can be decided only when we all meet personally and discuss our research goals. And yet those who cannot come to Haridwar again and again can be given required assignments only after understanding the overall designing of our research endeavor. Members should first and foremost understand which subjects are currently being researched into avidly the world over. Thus they must search for libraries and other sources so as to avail all literature published up till now which will help our task in a big way. Of course they must concentrate on visiting gigantic libraries with latest broad based collections related to our research. We are not interested in libraries that predominate with fictitious novels, glossy magazines etc. We certainly have no illusions that such libraries can help us at all. Hence only nearby Colleges, Universities etc libraries can help us on a gigantic scale. Desirable literature of high standards can be found in good colleges and research institutes. There are many individuals who individually collect important literature for study purposes. Such people too could help us a great deal. Our research area is of a very high stature. Hence very little literature regarding it is available. It is futile to think that all literature required for our research will be found in one single place. Hence we all will have to visit various libraries, browse their collection deeply and sift through them so as to collect material most suited for our task at hand. Majority of the times mere title of the book cannot indicate to us whether our material is included in it. This is because the title maybe very chic and attractive but the contents within is absolutely superficial. There are so called writers who gather materials from various books and then try to sell it by giving it a chic title. Such rubbish in the name of literature is of no use to us. Hence we must not only read the title but sift through the pages of each book so as to collect matter suitable for our research activities. Where can we find material useful for the research studies in our institute? Which books and other forms of literature harbor the same? These questions will be answered by the members of our august research team. Their chief task is to enquire at various libraries etc and unearth useful literature.

If the material found in a book is short it can be hand written else if it is long only the gist need be noted down. This is the first and foremost task required to be taken up. As and when this is gathered one copy should be kept by the researcher and another copy must be sent to Haridwar i.e. Brahmavarchas Research Institute.

Before studying, finding books and making notes members should fisrt contact Haridwar else ones efforts may go in vain. Suppose one member in a particular place has taken down all required notes in an exhaustive manner and another member not knowing this collects the same material painstakingly know for sure that the latter’s precious efforts will go waste. To overcome this problem all research team members should individually first contact Haridwar before commencing any task. Haridwar will direct each one as to what is his/her appointed task. Only then should they commence work. If one topic is covered in different places it will give us information regarding that topic in totality. Thus it is very important to be in touch with our HQ at Haridwar.

In the preliminary stage 4 main topics have been taken up by us. And yet the branches and sub branches of each of these are many. In this manner although one is researching into a main subject yet it is classified into many sub topics. The more we minutely and deeply study each subject the more we will unearth extremely important information. It collection will doubtlessly be all encompassing. Thus from these 4 main branches each sub branch amongst many must be minutely researched into. Another way would involve studying many sub branches together if a particular sub branch is not giving much information. Thus some information of every sub branch can give us some insight into the main subject. Under such circumstances it becomes that much more necessary to keep in touch with our HQ. This is because keeping aside libraries of Universities those who can avail material only from small libraries will have to conduct research on many topics simultaneously. Under such circumstances a problematic situation may occur wherein many members from various regions will study one single topic and take down identical information which would be a waste of their precious time and energy. Hence we request every member to keep in touch with our HQ and submit information gathered by them over a certain time span. Thus his/her effort will not go in vain. Always make sure that you are not covering a topic already covered by someone else. And it can be done only by constantly keeping in touch with our HQ at Brahmavarchas Research Institute (Haridwar, Uttaranchal, India).

Our research members will generally be graduates, post graduates etc. They will be given research topics for studies based on their expertise in a particular topic. It is obvious that if a person has graduated in a particular subject he/she will be more comfortable with that topic for research studies. Only literature is one field which does not generally require specialization in a particular subject. This is because it encompasses general knowledge. Hence graduates in literature can take up any topic. This is of course related to non technical general subjects. Thus an M.A. in Literature can enter into a very widespread area of research studies. Despite this because they are not specialists of any particular subject they cannot delve very deep into their research studies.

Whatever has been noted down every month should be handed over to our HQ at Haridwar on the first day of the following month i.e. February notes should be handed over on March 1st etc. This is because when various notes are analyzed we know where there is room for improvement. If on the other hand a member collects a lot of material for a very long time span a problem can occur wherein if there is an error it will not be taken care of. Instead unknowingly the error will expand further and the member’s precious time will go in vain.

One more task required to be taken up by our research members is to search for deep thinkers who are naturally inclined towards research studies. No doubt, there are many well known thinkers but only a few are profound scholars in their fields. There exists a class of people who are good at dry arguments and are labeled as ‘great philosophers’. And yet when it comes to profound thinking on a particular subject they fail miserably. It is easy to flaunt ones superficial ‘intelligence’ but it is a totally different story when it comes to manifesting deep wisdom in ones area of study. Hence it is not necessary to contact superficial so called thinkers. Instead it is imperative that we humbly search for wise profound thinkers of various fields. Such thinkers are constantly reading old and new literature. They are all the time finding out where wholesome activities are being executed and what their method is. Even if such profound thinkers do not have the time to join our research directly we can always request them to advise us as and when it is possible for them to do so. Their advice will be an invaluable contribution for helping us achieve our research target.

There are many indigenous and foreign research based collections in all Universities. Some of these are not allowed for borrowing and that one has to sit there itself for reading purposes. These collections contain some very important findings and hence we must never ignore them. They will be extremely useful for our research endeavor. The responsibility of such studies will have to be taken up by those living near by such Universities.

Many people subscribe to magazines and journals which publish materials related to their field of study. Later these magazines etc collect dust or are sold off at very meager prices. Hence research members are requested to gather such magazines etc and send them to Haridwar. Many a times very minor aspects of a subject when conjoined to some very useful research becomes very influential. Thus wherever one finds literature in which ever form especially that not used by anyone should be sent to Haridwar. Even if one gets the gist of a very expansive subject it would prove very beneficial for our research endeavor.

Every research member should try and encourage more and more research experts to join our team. Of course the condition is that they must be well versed and deep thinkers of their fields of study. From the standpoint of school education it is not just enough that members are mere graduates, post graduates etc. This is because they no doubt ‘mug’ up their subjects and pass with flying colors but when it comes to deep thinking and research they fail miserably. Thus we will not benefit at all by such superficial ‘scholars’. Their efforts go in vain because of lack of subtle skills and thus it could endanger our research endeavor. Thus we must refrain from amassing ‘headaches’ and instead search for true wise and deep thinkers of various fields. We must personally come in touch with them and humbly request them to help our glorious cause. The more our research members are brilliant and wise thinkers greater is our chance to attain our goal. Hence our contemporary members must remain very alert in this direction.

INNOVATIONS IN EDUCATION – KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to identify knowledge management concepts that relate to the implementation of Knowledge management Practices in education and also in collaborative arrangements.  It also discusses about the challenges facing in higher education in India and the concept of Knowledge management in education and the new trends of education.  It also explains about the Knowledge management and types of Knowledge management and their trends and new innovations of Knowledge management in current education scenario. Educational trends and tasks are towards more learner- centered materials.  In response to these trends, colleges and universities are offering new courses at a distance and forms traditional delivery.  The effort to share the most recent understandings about Knowledge management in education is the changing roles and challenges for higher education. The increased productivity required by faculty are driving forces for the development of more diverse and efficient teaching method.

INTRODUCTION:

Knowledge management in education is the collection of processes that govern the creation, dissemination and utilization of knowledge.  In one form or another, knowledge management has been around for a very long time.  Practitioners have included philosophers, priests, teachers, politicians, scribes, Liberians etc., Knowledge management is not “A technology thing” or a “Computer thing” if we accept the premise that Knowledge management is concerned with the entire process of discovery and creation of knowledge then we are strongly driven to accept that Knowledge management is much more than a “Technology thing” and that elements of it exist in each of one Jobs. Knowledge management comprises a range of practices used by organizations to identify, create, represent and distribute knowledge.  It has been an established discipline since 1995 with a body of university courses and both professional and academic journals dedicated to it. Knowledge management is frequently linked to the idea of the learning organization .Knowledge management refers to a range of practices used by organizations to identify the higher levels of innovations in education. The sharing of knowledge in industry, colleges , universities and, almost any institution in this country will make reference to the capturing of knowledge.

DEFINITION

“Knowledge management is the discipline of enabling individuals, team and entire organizations to collectively and systematically create, share and apply knowledge to better achieve their objectives”

Knowledge management education is the process of constructivity using the information and knowledge that is inherent to any organisation –be it a school, university or multinational company.  In order to enhance its performance, its management and its operations.  This process of learning to know what we know is one that has brought great benefits.  Particularly to many commercial organizations.

MAARTEN SIERCHUIS: -

Knowledge analysis: In knowledge analysis we model a knowledge source in such away that we can analyse its usefulness, its weakness and its appropriateness within the organization. Knowledge analysis is a necessary step for the ability to manager knowledge. Within knowledge Analysis we can use knowledge modeling and knowledge acquisition techniques.

ROBERT TAYLOR:-

The vital importance of knowledge in business has always been recognised but, up until now, organisations haven’t felt able to manage it because they understood neither the problems and the opportunities nor the strategies and solutions. This picture is gradually changing as models, methods, tools and techniques for effective knowledge management are becoming available and as organisations realise the importance of knowledge and thinking to their capacity to adapt to the changing world.

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT? : –

A proposition that responsiveness and innovation can be improved through the leveraging of collective wisdom and experience.

“Knowledge Management (KM) is an effort to increase useful knowledge within the organization. Ways to do this include encouraging communication, offering opportunities to learn, and promoting the sharing of appropriate knowledge artifacts.”

This proposition is supported by:

• New process specific to the management of knowledge
• Organizational structures that create accountability for km
• Applications that support km processes
• Enabling technologies

THE CHALLENGES FACING HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA : –

Expansion of Higher Education in India :

The success stories of ‘green revolution’, ‘space technology’, ‘nuclear energy’ and ‘information technology superiority India has achieved’ -  we owe these all to  the higher education system as it evolved during 60 years of India’s independence.  It can not be denied that it is Indian higher education system that to a significant extent has contributed to India rising to become the World’s second fastest growing economy, the World’s third largest economy, fastest growing mobile phone market, owner of the largest bandwidth capacity and contributing second largest portion of scientists and engineers in the world.

Expansion with Equity :

India has experienced appreciable growth in the number of institutions of higher education during last six decades and particularly since 1990.  This growth has already been because of expansion of number of State Universities and institutions deemed to be Universities.  The period since 1990 has also seen the emergence of private Universities.  The expansion of central universities has rather been slow and skewed in terms of regional distribution.    It also mentioned that a significant majority of Universities, particularly managed by the state governments ate affiliating in nature.  Given the current number of universities in the country the burden of affiliating colleges per University is unmanageably high and incongruous, in some cases the number of colleges affiliated to a University runs as high as many hundreds.  Thus despite appreciable growth in number of universities there is scope rather need for further expansion in the number of universities and also colleges.

Inclusiveness and Equality :

The participants in the Diversity, Inclusiveness, and Inequality track represented a great deal of diversity themselves and included faculty and students from a rich variety of research institutions, private liberal arts colleges, and community colleges. While participants engaged issues and strategies in each of the three substantive area—diversity, inclusiveness, and inequality in education (DIIE)—the bulk of our conversations focused on diversity and inequality.

Quality and Excellence :

Ensuring quality education demands structural and institutional reforms in addition to committing enhanced financial resources. Imparting quality education would entail better infrastructure; greater use of ICT; teaching and learning in smaller groups; granting autonomy to the faculty, department and individual teachers. But more than that, imparting quality education requires ‘faculty development’ or what many call ‘faculty recharge programmes’ so that the faculty does not go stale, it retains its vibrancy and dynamism in doing research, in learning, and innovating and in devising new methods of teaching.

In the modern technological world quality education has become a necessity. Governments all over the world are appointing committees and commissions to bring in excellence in education. Curricular are being revised and improved to include more and more relevant knowledge in the curricula of schools and colleges.

Funding of Higher Education :

The importance and need of setting up these new institutions of higher and professional education can hardly be ignored, but investing in existing facilities and institutions should be no less a priority.

Fee hike suggested by many can hardly bring the required resources.  We by no means are suggesting that fee need not be rationalized.  In addition it is suggested that there is need for building a robust and strong private – public partnership for funding and improving the quality of higher education.  We have no hesitation in endorsing the suggestion as we see the practical and mutual advantages to private houses, industries on one hand and the higher education institutions and recipients of higher education on the other.  For example, the Universities and research institutions can do the research and innovations which may provide competitive edge to Indian industry and industry may provide on the site based experience to students. 

Academic and Administrative Reforms :

Unlike expansion, equity/inclusiveness and quality/excellence, where efforts are in making, the policies concerning reforms in the arena of academics, administration and governance are already well formulated and publicity announced.

While these recommendations about credit system, semester system, more of international assessment and less written examination component, teachers evaluation by students, inter-institutional mobility etc have been generally accepted, quite a few of them have not been implemented and operationalised as yet.  Some of these have been tried and failed while some others have been implemented on selective basis.  As a result there is a lot of institutional variations in admission, examination, faculty and governance related practices.

Role of Private Education :

The spread of higher education was achieved through active state support whereby public funding was considered necessary in order to provide equitable opportunities of higher education to all.  It has, however, been a proclaimed policy of the country to also encourage private investment in higher education so long as they are driven by charitable and non-profit motives.  While universities have largely been in the public domain, India has had a history of having large number of colleges established and maintained by private management.  In recent times, the private self-financing institutions colleges and other degree awarding institutions have gained prominence.  At the same time, there has also been witnessed a tendency among the public funded institutions to start and run courses on self-financing basis.   More recently, the private universities, either under state legislature or through the deemed university mode have also come to be established.

Internationalization of Education :

The issues concerning internationalization of higher education can be discussed into two broad heads, which represent two broad dimensions of the issue. The first aspect deals with the demand for opening Indian higher education for international service providers while the second aspect deal with the internationalization of Indian higher education. Going abroad for higher education has long been the most cherished goal for students of underdeveloped and developing countries.  While most foreign students were known for their diligence and dedication and were often a source of pride for their universities, they were seldom seen as a source of revenue. But things have changed a great deal in the post WTO/GATS regime.

Developing countries are now seen as a market for higher education and foreign universities from other countries are competing each other to increase their market share.  As the demand for opening the higher education sector in India for international service providers is increasing, the issue of providing appropriate regulatory framework for international education providers is under consideration of the government.  Effective regulatory mechanism is required to ensure quality higher education with equity and accountability. It was also felt that Indian universities and colleges should be permitted to form strategic alliances with international universities and other institutions of repute and that universities in India should be permitted to take up collaborative research with foreign universities but the arrangements should be such where Indian counter parts share Pattern Rights  and copyrights.

CONCEPT OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION: –

• Education for Knowledge
• Education for Information
• Education for Skills
• Education for Employment
• Education for Livelihood
• Education for Empowerment
• Education for Social and National Development

KEY TASKS INVOLVED IN EDUCATION FOR:

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

A. MICRO-LEVEL MANAGEMENT OF TASKS:

• Course structuring and study material preparation
• Distribution and presentation of study materials
• Communication between educational actors (student-faculty, student-student)
• Performing instructional assignments, either alone or group-based
• Performance assessment

B. MACRO-LEVEL MANAGEMENT OF TASKS:

• Organisation of the whole educational process
• Organising and managing information and knowledge flows within the educational organisation
• Keeping track of performance of students, faculty, courses, curriculum, and of the (allocation of) available knowledge resources
• Monitoring results in terms of goals and standards
• Dynamic changing of the educational program as feedback to discrepancies between goals and standards and obtained performance results.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT FOCUS :

“The focus on knowledge management is on ‘doing the right thing’ instead of doing things right’. It provides a framework within which the organization views all its processes as knowledge processes and all business processes involve creation, dissemination and application of knowledge towards organizational sustenance and survival”.

KNOWLEDGE TYPES:

It contains two types they are ;

• Explicit knowledge
• Tacit knowledge

EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE

• Objective, rational, technical
• Easily documented
• Easily transferred / taught / learned

TACIT KNOWLEDGE

• Subjective, cognitive, experiential learning
• Hard to document
• Hard to transfer / teach / learn
• Involves a lot of human interpretation

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS : -

The process of Knowledge Management applicable to schools, colleges and universities. Some would argue that sharing knowledge is their reason of being. If that is the case, then the higher education sector should be replete with examples of institutions that leverage knowledge to spur innovation, improve services, or achieve operational excellence. However, although some examples exist, they are the exception rather than the rule. Knowledge Management is not a new field, and experiments are beginning to mature in higher education.

I believe there is tremendous value to higher education institutions that develop initiatives to share knowledge to achieve business or organizational objectives. What are the basic concepts of knowledge management, how the trends, and how it might be applied in higher education and whether higher education is ready to embrace it or not, we will know through this article.

NEW TRENDS IN KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT: -

Several trends will shape the field of knowledge management in the not-too distant future (even now):

• Emerging technology solutions
• The convergence of knowledge management with e-business
• The movement from limited knowledge management projects to more enterprise wide projects
• Increasing use of knowledge management to enhance innovation
• Increasing use of tacit knowledge (rather than explicit knowledge)

INNOVATIVE SKILLS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN CURRENT EDUCATION SCENARIO: -

Using knowledge management techniques and technologies in higher education is as vital as it is in the corporate sector. If done effectively, it can lead to better decision-making capabilities, reduced “product” development cycle time (for example, curriculum development and research), improved academic and administrative services, and reduced costs. Consider the number of faculty and staff who possess institutional knowledge. For example, what institution does not have a faculty member who has led successful curriculum revision task forces? Or a departmental secretary who knows how to navigate the complex proposal development or procurement processes? Or a researcher who has informal connections to the National Science Foundation? Or a special assistant to the president who has uncovered (or generated) useful reports that individual deans or department chairs could use to develop their own strategic plans?

Relying on the institutional knowledge of unique individuals can hamper the flexibility and responsiveness of any organization. The challenge is to convert the information that currently resides in those individuals and make it widely and easily available to any faculty member, staff person, or other constituent. An institution wide approach to knowledge management can lead to exponential improvements in sharing knowledge—both explicit and tacit—and the subsequent surge benefits.

Is higher education ready to embrace knowledge management? A key ingredient in an institution’s readiness to embrace knowledge management is its culture—the beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors that are unique to an organization. Informally, it is the unwritten rules or “how things really get done.” Higher education is moving from the old culture that considers, What’s in it for me?” to a new culture that says, “What’s in it for our peoples?” And it is developing a culture that is ready to embrace knowledge management.

CONCLUSION: -

Innovations in knowledge management will improve the standards of all the institutions, develop the performance of students in all faculties and by which the progress of a nation can be viewed nakedly.  Knowledge management refers to a range of practices used by organizations to identify the higher levels of innovations in education. The sharing of knowledge in industry, colleges, universities and, almost any institution in this country will make reference to the capturing of knowledge.  By developing the knowledge management, the nation’s economy increases and can compete in the global scenario.

Scholarships encourage bright and intelligent students to take up higher studies. However, the scholarships are not offered to all and sundry but to those students who are eligible on a certain pre-set criteria and who have a remarkable academic record to back their claim for the scholarship. In foreign universities also, scholarships are given to Indian students that enables them to pursue higher education and research in the institute and colleges of their choice. Also, some institutes in India also provide scholarships to foreign scholars. Sometimes, students are offered scholarships to just visit and interact with students of a different country and culture.

The scholarship eligibility and application procedure is different in Indian universities and different in foreign universities. The amount offered by the scholarship also depends on the field in which the scholarship is offered and the institute offering that fellowship. It also depends on the grade of study. Sometimes there are certain terms and conditions attached with a scholarship. A student must ensure that he/she is fully aware of any such conditions before accepting a scholarship. So, one must go through in detail about all the formalities associated with any scholarship available in India or abroad. Fellowships in India and abroad may be offered at various levels such as graduate level, post graduate level and doctorate level. The duration of study on the scholarship also varies. Sometimes, half the course fee is funded by the scholarship and eh rest has to be paid by the student only.

Thus, scholarships come in handy to those bright students who want to fulfill their dreams. These are not just monetary aids but a ticket that help a student unleash his potential and explore a world of education opportunities to fulfill his ambitions irrespective of his financial status. So, if you are a good student and want to study in the US but are worried about how to fund your education there, it might be a good idea to get a know how of the types of scholarships offered by US educational institutes. US scholarships are open to students in both the developed and the developing nations and are a huge support to students who want to study in the premier institutes of the US.

There are various types of fellowships available in the US mirroring the heterogeneous culture of the American society. Students from diverse cultures and backgrounds find US an ideal destination to pursue their higher studies. If you also aspire to become a part of its multi-cultural education environment and find a fulfillment of your educational ambitions in the US, you may want to know the criteria on which various US scholarships are offered.

Firstly, there are the usual merit-based to those students who show remarkable prowess in the fields of academics, sports, arts etc. Institutes offer scholarship-based admission to students on the basis of their intelligence and skills. Then, there is the need-based scholarship which is offered to help students from the underprivileged background who are unable to bear the expenses of their education.  It mostly covers both the tuition fee and the living costs of a student in the US.

Ethnicity-based scholarships are offered to student son the basis of their national origin and race and are reserved for some specific nationalities. Apart from this there are general scholarships offered by student groups or business firms. These and other such scholarships are a student’s best aid to get to study in a reputed US educational institute.