eLearning Forum
eLearning and Knowledge Management: Best Practices and Case Studies
August 15, 2003

This month’s session is in conjunction with Knowledge Management Cluster (www.kmcluster.com). There will be a KM Cluster meeting on September 19 in San Francisco, for details click http://www.kmcluster.com/Fall_2003_Agenda.htm. We looked at 5 perspectives of eLearning and Knowledge Management (KM).

Agenda
· KM Overview
· Presentations: Three perspectives on the convergence of KM and eLearning
· Small-group breakouts facilitated by subject matter experts (including a special session for the remote participants.)
· Presentation of small-group findings,
Speakers
See their presentations on the meeting announcement page.
· Ron Dickson, Intel
· Lauren Klein, Novell
· Jeff Stemke, Chevron-Texaco
· Tom Reamy, KAPS Group
· Verna Allee, Verna Allee Associates
· John Maloney, KM Cluster
KM overview
Introduction by Jay Cross
CEO eLearning Forum

KM is anything you want it to be. For example, the smokers outside our office buildings are trading knowledge. How is the knowledge that is transferred managed? It’s not… yet.

Historically KM and elearning have been advisories. Academic programs say information is not instruction.

Verna Allee
The Future of Knowledge
Author of The Future of Knowledge: Increasing Prosperity Through Value Networks

What is KM? Knowledge is how people define it. What do we need to pay attention to in order to be successful? There are other intangible assets that need to be considered besides knowledge such as our reputation, etc. The evolution of KM has been a natural movement. We are in the vanguard of a revolution in business thinking that offers the opportunity to reconcile our business and economic models with the fabric of global society and the web of life. Most people are still not paying attention to this concept.

Every living system has a network pattern. An organization is a complex, adaptive social system where people systematically cooperate to achieve a common purpose. We’re working in a world that has no boundaries. But we do put up boundaries and we need to change those boundaries and upper management needs to understand how and why.

According to Verna there are three levels of knowledge mastery and supporting technologies.

· Leveraging knowledge to create value – intangible scorecards, business modeling, scenario building dialogue, planning tools, value networks. Why? Because it’s strategic.
· Creating knowledge - applying our knowledge using communities of practice, collaborative tools, group processes, knowledge maps, virtual team tools, after action reviews, project histories, sharing best practices, story telling. How? Tactically.
· Codifying routine information - enterprise information systems, data integration, search engines, web-enabled portals, repositories, process practices documentation, workflow software, e-business tools, e-learning tools, enterprise networks databases, imaging, news feeds. What? Operationally.

Presentations: Three perspectives on the convergence of KM and eLearning
Ron Dickson
KM and eLearning
Intel

Start with the end in mind; you need to first understand the outcome. Learning requires access to data or knowledge. The desired outcome is a predetermined performance, which leads to the ability to make good decisions. Once the desired outcome is determined, then design tools and systems to achieve that outcome. All training is believed to have a predetermined outcome.

Integrated KM incorporates the following things:

· Knowledge sharing
· Learning
· Collaboration

The vision of Learning and KM at Intel is to move from teaching to learning and performing. Below are the three models used:

Teaching model - instruction/instructor/retention
Performance model – learning/student /performing/performance
Innovation model – activity/many initiator/context outcome/innovation

Intel pursues a syncretic fusion of resources that enables success in an environment where ideal performance may be elusive and dynamic.

Examples of Intel’s performance – better simulations, created so they can work with the machines inside and out. They can see the impact of non performance as well as performance.

Lauren Klein
KM and Organizational Learning at Novell
Novell

Novell’s mantra - It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting.

Novell is a product driven company that recently acquired Cambridge Consulting that is an advice driven company. Merging the two companies and their knowledge was tricky. To accomplish this they created a Knowledge Management Team, which consists of the director of KM, director of culture and development and the director of learning. All three report directly to the Novell CEO.

The KM Mission is to facilitate the creation, dissemination, and use of high-quality information and knowledge throughout the enterprise, in order to help achieve company goals and encourage individual and organizational learning.

The culture and development mission is to facilitate the development of a high performance culture – a culture that focuses on operational excellence.

The challenge of merging the two bases of knowledge were
How do we increase knowledge sharing and learning within Novell?
How do we motivate people to participate in communities of practice and other knowledge sharing and learning activities?
How do we best use our limited time and other scarce resources to its best effect?

Novell started with the most enthusiastic and eager groups. Prioritizing was another challenge because revenue generation is the most important thing and should not be slowed down. This was easier said than done.

Both teams view
Intellectual capital is seen as a valuable asset.

Innovation is fueled by access to leading edge thinking.
We can better leverage others’ thinking and expertise/learning, and reuse work as appropriate.
Employees continuously learning, thereby increasing the collective

The new state of being for Novell is we want to become a learning organization that enables business change and facilitates strategic company objectives while building employee intellectual capital. Learning organizations are characterized by knowledge sharing as a way of life.

Q How did you sell KM to the CEO and is he really sold?

A Yes, there is a VP that reports directly to him that understands the value of learning and does facilitate KM throughout the organization. Partnering between departments has also helped facilitate the success of the KM mission

The success so far has shown the powers that be at Novell that KM is a valuable tool to their bottom line.

Jeff Stemke
CVX Networks and Change
Chevron Texaco

Networks/Communities and Learning

ChevronTexaco has an elearning strategy that incorporates
KM and Organizational capability
Knowledge retention issues

Learning technology model
Learning Management System
Interaction and collaboration services
Content Management System
eLearning Development Services

ChevronTexaco’s KM System is a systematic process, tools and behaviors that deliver the right content to the right people at the right time and in the right context so that they can
Operate cost-effectively, safely and with excellence
Make the best decisions quickly
Solve problems
Exploit business opportunities
Accelerate competency and innovation

At Chevron/Texaco KM and organizational capability is the ability of an organization to execute its strategies. The key success factors are:

Dynamic leaders
Skilled employees
Learning innovation
Recognition and accountability
World class process and organization
Technology and partnerships

Knowledge retention approaches are:

Networks/communities
Document existing processes and workflows
Project milestone reviews
After action reviews
Project and best practices/lessons learned repositories

Network/communities practices are the most important. They are a group of people with a common job function, skill or competency who work together to share knowledge experience, insight, and advice solve problems, and explore new ideas.

Networks are:
Valuable learning and development tool
Accelerants for deployment of innovative ideas.

Getting people together across a decentralized organization is the biggest challenge. Departments were competing against one another. Breaking down those behaviors have been a big challenge. A best practices group was created to do this. ChevronTexaco is a global organization that has brought all the refineries together. The knowledge transfer is done through asking questions. There is a network of people in the system that has registered as experts in different areas. If you ask a question an email will go out to those people that are registered in that area. They will answer those questions.

Q Are there metrics?
A There are metrics involved and recognition given to those that answer questions

Q Knowledge strategists? What is it?
A I set a vision and direction for knowledge sharing. Operation excellence means doing what we do well.

Tom Reamy
Knowledge Architecture Professional Services

KM and elearning convergence has been slow. KM and elearning create a great deal of structure around knowledge and information. The two groups have very different vocabularies, which makes the convergence difficult.

The way to achieve it is to focus on infrastructure issues. Technology and intellectual systems are the two the need to merge.

Small-group breakouts facilitated by subject matter experts (including a special session for the remote participants.)
Discussion groups

Knowledge Architecture Professional Services (KAPS) Group
Tom Reamy
www.kapsgroup.com

KAPS offers KM and eLearning infrastructure solutions, which focus on taxonomy creation, technology implementations, and knowledge management initiatives.

It is the KAPS group view that KM should lead elearning, which hasn’t been the case.

Three systems and the departments that drive them need to work together. If they are stand alones then they’ll fight with each other.

Content Management System (CMS)
Knowledge Management (KM)
Learning Management System (LMS)

Q Why did you put CMS on the same level as KM when KM is a component of both of them.

A Because KM is the structure that helps pull all those systems together and makes them cohesive. All of the systems are merging.

Input from Richard Clark – CMS is a repository and an LMS is used to structure a learning unit.

Q Who or what is driving the development of km and elearning convergence?
A What Tom’s been seeing is people are looking at the components themselves, not necessarily the applications that they run on.

Q How do you address the challenge of tagging data? How do you structure it?
A Start with categorizing meta data, then using an application can help speed up the rest.

Q What applications are there for tagging data?
A Interwoven and Autonomy, are a few. Most CMS’ have them built in.

Q Are those tools used as reverse search engines?
A some use comparison systems (parts of speech, documents).

Q How do you create taxonomy?
A It’s a tough task that has to been done carefully. You have to know the purpose of the information so you can capture particular nuggets so that it can be reused over and over again if applicable.

One thing Tom’s seeing is it makes sense to put structure around the content and tagging. Defining synonyms is key to the success also.

Looking at the meaning of words helps make the taxonomy more comprehensive.

A Global taxonomy is a good example of the care that should be given to the taxonomy. The reason is all the content needs to be translated. If you don’t carefully look at the meanings of words and how they are used and how many times your taxonomy will not be as useful to the user.

Q Are there companies that have done this well?
A Pharmaceuticals have done it well because they put the effort into it. They have regulatory issues that make it important for them to have it done well. There are legal and compliance issue that are associated with everything they do that have to be followed. The vocabulary is standardized across the industry, which makes it easier for them to structure their content.

Key Themes

Adding structure adds value even (especially to unstructured data.

How much?
At what stage of authoring?
Which tools? Which techniques? Which skills?
Top down vs bottom up?
Generic taxonomy vs tailored vs classification schema
And how do we put it into practice?

An example of taxonomy – Linnaeus was the grandfather, he did it for biology.

Classification system/scheme
Looser system
Reflects how people view a domain.
Typically
Easier to maintain
More useful day to day

What Knowledge Architects do
Create taxonomies that map communities
Taxonomies are part of an intellectual infrastructure
Companies also have technical and organizational infrastructure. These are organized most intellectually infrastructures aren’t (they’re disconnected).

Indiana Jones and the Enterprise Business Taxonomy

“How do you make it robust?”
Uber taxonomy vs federated taxonomies (more robust)

Jeff Stemke
ChevronTexaco

Individual motivation – why should people participate?

· Human and organizational aspects of problem solving
· “Support” may be better than “tool.”
· Most American workers don’t have access to communications technology at work.
· How to integrate tacit and explicit, silicon and carbon-based knowledge?
· No silver bullets
· Many “dichotomies” are really two sides of the same coin.
· Organizational structures often inhibit knowledge sharing… and what about the groups outside the formal organization
· Personal recognition
· Altruism
· Reciprocity

Ron Dickinson
Intel

Questions/Issues

· Tacit vs explicit
· Repetition vs innovation
· Knowledge vs context

“I know the question but can’t understand the answer.”

Knowledge may be an insufficient solution.

It is more important to solve the problem or capture the knowledge?

Is it safe to rely on self-diagnosis?

Individual Motivation Success Factors
1. What value do they get? Ten times.
2. Techchat email-list – better support tool, too many?
Better solutions to questions
Voluntary vs mandatory (management driven)
Virtual and fact to face
Validating quality of answers
Expert vs knowledge providers, what to do with loose cannons?

Laura Klein
Novell

How does this become a way of life?

Remuneration
Incentive pay
Performance objective
Discretionary awards
Job descriptions
Prizes

Internal/External Marketing – building employee bravo

Rotating roles as strategy of business to cross pollinate
Recognition
Leadership development program (future leaders)
Walk the talk

Provide the mechanisms to make it easy
Make it quick and easy because natural human behavior – want to help.
Publicize results
Focus on energy
Informal meeting

How it benefits the corporation?
More competitive
Speed and quality
Revenue potential
Lower costs
Promotes morale, turn over decreases
Blend of cultures

Remote participants
John Maloney
KM Cluster
Next practices

What are going to become the future issues?

Taking SCORM and wrapping business practices with it to make it uniformed. The majority of people are not doing that.

Personal knowledge net works they are becoming individualized. The learner becomes the center of all the processes

What the future holds – social and behavioral issues will become the single most important factors moving forward.

Sense making is going to be a key driver moving forward.

Demographics – incoming generation is more comfortable with technology, which we should address and exploit. The outgoing demo is not being closely looked at and should be for continuity management.

Just in time training – focus energy on how the content is used and organized instead of writing it to make it more agile.

Social networking – a recent example is SARs, analysis was used to see how it was spreading to stop it.

The Ruth Clarke Merrill model is a good example of how to do it right.