As a university lecturer my job is all about Knowledege Management (KM). My students probably think my job is that of teacher. But, no, I don't see it that way. IMHO, once students are in higher education they are there to learn, not to be taught in the sense that they are empty vessels to be filled with information. Information != Knowledge. And it's not my job to pour facts into the heads of students. I believe it is my job to encourage, nuture, and advise them, even though that may sounds paternalistic and old-fashioned.

I see my job to be that of a facilitator for learning. I am not a teacher per se. This basically means that the students in my care are expected to be self-motivated learners and I will do everything in my, albeit limited, power to support their learning. This, of course, means that students need to be (self-)motivated. OK, there will aways be some students that take the path of 'least resistance' - especially if they're not interested in the subject(s) that I lecture. Which is often the case! ;-) But I digress...

The recent posts about KM that I've linked and/or contributed to have been an incentive for me to summarise my own thoughts on this topic. I count myself extremely lucky that I'm a computer scientist. It's a subject that I love. I will happily admit to being a geek. I guess some of my students don't have the same enthusiasm for my particular subjects - CAD and LLP - but I wouldn't necessarily hold that against them. However, there is one thing I cannot fathom and that is: given the chance to study such a dynamic and exciting subject why do some squander the opportunity? It's as if they don't have any interest in the subject which, if true, is a sad state of affairs. Some may even be put off the topic(s) by my lectures and lecturing style which would be a real tragedy. But I digress again...

So, how am I - just one person - able to manage knowledge for literally hundreds of students? One of the answers is to use KM tools to help automate the process. This is what I will be attempting to do over the course of the next academic year. And www.smeed.org will be central to that effort even though currently I am only scratching the surface of the technology - Conversant - that is used to implement the site. Will I be successful? Well, it depends on what you mean by success? If I only manage to enthuse one extra student then I'd count it as a success.

How can Conversant help? Good question. Let me attempt an answer.

First off, I use the web extensively to research my subjects. I'm fortunate that as a computer scientist there are many, many, great resources on the web that expound the merits, and technology, of my subject. After all, the web was built on the foundations laid by computer scientists and CS is therefore a natural fit. Technologists/scientists are also more likely to be early adopters of this sort of high-technology. Conversant provides the means for me to be able to rapidly and effortlessly document my 'travels through the web'.

Secondly, the dynamically generation of web pages in Conversant decouples the content of a page from its presentation allowing me to concentrate on the content of the site secure in the knowledge that I can very easily repurpose the content and/or alter the presentation with virtually no effort. This is a capability that intend to exploit much more cleverly than is currently the case.

Thirdly, the search and query features of this site also improves the usefulness of the site beyond all recognition - for me at least. I don't have the greatest memory in the world but I can usually remember enough to know that I will have commented on, or linked to, a particular subject and a query with relevant keyowrds will invariably dig up the relevant page(s). Those of you that know what my office looks like will appreciate that I need all the help I can get when it comes to keeping track of (on-line) documents ;-)

Fourthly, Conversant provides subscribers to the site to create, and respond to, messages via (i) a web interface (HTTP), (ii) an e-mail interface (SMTP), (iii) a newsgroup interface (NNTP), and also to a certain extent (iv) a remote procedure call interface (XML-RPC) which allows other forms of interaction to be built; for example using Userland's Radio <aside> I'm really looking forward to installing MacOS X 10.1 to use its new AppleScript and XML-RPC features to incorporate my beloved BBEdit into the editorial process </aside>. This richness and variety of interface means that I, and my subscribers, get to use the interface that we find most convenient. In my experience the easier something is to do the more likely you are to do it. For example, posting a quote from a page on the web is, in my case, a simple matter of highlighting the text of the quote, then clicking twice - once to invoke the javascript bookmarklet I use to capture the text and the URL from the page which is then used to prime a textarea form in a new window, and the other to submit the form to my weblog. Two clicks. Two seconds.

But information is not knowledge. Knowledge implies the intelligent interpretation of information. Hopefully, as someone fairly expert in several domains I can help my students assimiliate and interpret information and facts. I see it as my job to get them to ask questions and to challenge conventional viewpoints with the hope that the ensuing discussion and answer(s) will help develop their critical faculties.

The bottom line is that asking questions is a good habit to get into. There is no shame in not knowing the answer to something; the shame is knowing that you don't know the answer and yet not asking the question. Alas, it seems to be a common trait amongst Scottish students not to have the courage to pipe up and ask questions in case they are perceived to be ignorant and/or foolish by their fellow students. Case in point, a handful of students arranged to see me for a intensive exam revision tutorial just before a resit exam in August. We had a three-hour session as they had come prepared with questions. Not only that, they came prepared to ask them. It was probably one of the must productive sessions that I have been involved in and, not surprisingly, IIRC all the students that attended the 'tutorial' passed the resit.

I am sure that some of my students consider my daily updating of this site to be evidence of a 'sad' individual with nothing else better to do. Mind you, I wouldn't necessarily expect such students to bother reading what I have to say. At the danger of sounding patronising, I would say in my defence that I do indeed have other things to do but that I consider keeping up with developments in my field, and actively experimenting with this sort of technology, as an essential part of my job. Probably contrary to popular student opinion, I do have a life - a wonderful family and circle of friends, a lovely place to live, an interest in helping people appreciate the importance of the conservation and preservation of wild places and wild things, and an abiding and deep interest in computer science. I also find that the discipline of regular updating improves my organisational and writing skills and provides an incentive to seek out new knowledge and, sometimes, to disseminate that knowledge. Sad but true ;-)

So, even if nobody reads or responds to this posting, the sheer act of thinking and writing about the issue of knowledge management and my role as a lecturer to help improve the level of knowledge in my students, has helped me develop as a knowledge worker. I would encourage others to consider maintaining a regular weblog. Some of the best of the weblogs are written by students. Case in point is Wes [HtP] Felter - his site is one I visit regularly not only because of the eclectic nature of the links and commentary, but also because of the high standard of discussion that takes place over there. If any of my students have read this far and if they have a weblog, or similar, site then please let me know. I'd be interested in reading what you have to say. Of course, feel free to reply to this message and offer us all your viewpoint especially if you disagree with me - I won't hold it against you ;-). Perhaps you think my job is solely to be the type of teacher who tells you what to think and provides the answers to a small set of questions that are representative of the sorts of things that might crop up in my exams!? Discuss... ;-)

Thanks for reading this far.

Duncan