Knowledge building: aligning education with needs for knowledge creation in the digital age

Abstract

This paper examines the alignment of education with the needs for knowledge creation in the digital age using the Knowledge Building model and Knowledge Forum® technology. Knowledge Building is akin to knowledge creation as practiced in research laboratories and other frontier-advancing organizations, with added focus on value to the individual, community, and society. Knowledge Forum has evolved with theory and pedagogy over the years, and makes knowledge-creation processes available to school-aged students. Despite reform efforts, misalignments for educational innovation continue to prevail in schooling, and changes often create more disruptions. Without a coherent framework and sustained progressive change, innovations may fail to make their way into policy and practice, creating an endless catching-up game and fragmentation at different levels. This paper draws from the Knowledge Building model and research to discuss alignments for knowledge creation in seven areas: (1) views of knowledge; (2) 21st-century educational competencies; (3) education and equity; (4) pedagogy and technology integration; (5) assessment, learning and collaboration; (6) teacher learning; and (7) student learning outcomes. Through decades of sustained design implementation research, using a systemic approach involving school-university-government alliances and globally distributed hubs of innovation, Knowledge Building teams have engaged in the reconstruction of educational practices to establish self-improving systems for continual alignments in knowledge creation. The mobilization of educational stakeholders worldwide, such as the EduSummIT, provides opportunities for bridging research and practice and educational improvements. Implications of Knowledge Building for developing self-improving systems and communities that leverage technology for realigning education in knowledge creation are discussed.