Knowledge sharing

What is it?

Students develop shared meanings and understandings by communicating and collaborating on projects, research or through conversations. Knowledge sharing is more than just providing students with resources and information and then supporting the discussion of that material with good social software tools. It is providing students with the chance to learn from each other’s experience and skills and can form the basis for self-directed and exploratory learning. Knowledge sharing processes can help students to identify the value of others’ experiences or expertise and can extend to developing skills for knowledge management.

Blogs and wikis are ideal tools for sharing information or experiences and connecting with people in the same industry field. Wikis also provide a simple and easy way for students to begin structuring and linking information to design a knowledge base. Social bookmarking can form the basis of knowledge sharing activities—as a way for students to share information sources, categorise websites and find peer-rated websites within categories. Podcasts can be a relatively quick way to keep up-to-date with expert knowledge and can also be a way for students to actively research and construct knowledge-based resources when they create their own. Video conferencing provides direct means for group collaboration on projects while accessing websites and co-authoring.

Pros and cons

Web-based tools for gathering information and for communicating in order to discuss and use information can be a way to open up opinions and ideas from others – to broaden the knowledge pool.
As with any group of individuals, students will have areas of special interest and knowledge. They can benefit the group by sharing that knowledge and gain both general and specialised knowledge from others in return.
A disadvantage of knowledge sharing approaches is when they are reliant on the expertise of the individuals within a closed or small group. For example, within a small group the opportunity for that knowledge to be appropriately checked is proportionally small.
A good example of the power of knowledge sharing is Wikipedia (a peer-produced online encyclopaedia). The debate around the quality of information contained in this resource exemplifies the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.
You need to be vigilant against online plagiarism.

Fit for purpose?

In creative situations where knowledge is being shared, larger groups can lead to more orthodox outcomes that may not be the desired effect. Normally, ‘Designing by committee’ will give an inoffensive but less creative or innovative outcome.

It is a good idea to put the tools for knowledge sharing in place before the exercise begins. A centralised blog, wiki or social bookmarking site can be a good way to facilitate the process. Students will then know the best and easiest methods for sharing material with the group before they come across it.

This can be a good approach for developing knowledge and skills that are highly susceptible to current trends, for example in IT, legal and business studies and fast-moving industries.

Find out more

For more ideas of how this strategy can work in practice, go to the following case studies:

Blogs – Peer learning and support with blogs, Lud Allen
Podcasting – Staying current with podcasts, Jim Plummer
Podcasting – Sharing and creating with podcasts, Rosa Ochoa
Podcasting – Oral history with podcasts, Phil Wood
Social bookmarking – Resource sharing with social bookmarking, Robin Petterd
Social bookmarking – Empowering learners with social bookmarking, Anne Bartlett-Bragg
Wikis – Sharing and co-authoring with wikis, David Bartolo
Virtual conferencing – Group work with virtual conferencing Anne Vreugdenburg.