While the pressure of public accountability has placed increasing pressure on higher education institutions to provide information regarding critical outcomes, this chapter describes how knowledge management (KM) can be used by educational institutions to gain a more comprehensive, integrative, and reflexive understanding of the impact of information on their organizations. The practice of KM, initially derived from theory and practice in the business sector, has typically been used to address isolated data and information transfer, rather than actual systemwide change.

Knowledge-Management-Trends-Challenges-Opportunities-for-Educational-Institutions

The analysis and use of data to develop and share knowledge are continuous learning practices that can help teachers and school  administrators to shape reforms that fit the needs of their schools.  Key elements of continuous learning practices are outlined, and advice for school boards on how to promote and support the continuous learning efforts to school districts is provided.

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Crunching-the-Numbers

For teachers and learners, the proliferation of open educational resources (OER) in combination with advances in information technologies has meant centralized access to materials and the possibility of creating, using, and reusing OER globally, collaboratively, and across multiple disciplines. Through an examination of a community of author users of the OER portal Connexions, this article explores OER reuse behaviors and factors contributing to and hindering those behaviors.

Open-Educational-Resources-Toward-New-Educational-Paradigm

Higher education institutions in general are facing an increasing number of challenges that are forcing them to reexamine how they are accountable to external demands as well as how to improve internal accountability. Due to rising public accountability pressures and strains on fiscal resources, many legislators have begun to demand information that can be directly linked to academic outcomes. As a result, these institutions are faced with requirements to provide accurate data and information around a growing number of issues and outcomes (Wells, Silk & Torres, 1999).

Accountability-and-Information-Practices-in-California-Community-College

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Knowledge-Management-Information-Systems-and-Organizations

In the current climate of increased accountability in higher education, many colleges and universities are considering ways to improve their collection and analysis of data and information to achieve organizational improvement. While there has been much written about the costs, difficulties, and challenges of implementing new information systems on college campuses, the costs and benefits of maintaining current systems are not well understood.

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 Petrides, L. A. (Nov. 2003). “Turning Data Into Decisions,” Business Officer, 37(5), 25-28.

Turning-Data-Into-Decisions

New information technologies enable community colleges to develop a better understanding of the needs and desires of their students, as well as to deploy traditional services to students that include new interactive components.

Supporting-Student-Services-Learning-Through-Interactive-Technologies