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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 449 583 EA 030 871 TITLE Knowledge Management in the Learning Society. Education and Skills. INSTITUTION Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris (France). ISBN ISBN-92-64-17182-7 PUB DATE 2000-00-00 NOTE 254p. AVAILABLE FROM Book out of print. Full text: http://electrade.gfi.fr/cgi-bin/OECDBookShop.Storefront/. PUB TYPE Books (010)-- Opinion Papers (120) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC11 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Economic Factors; Elementary Secondary Education; *Knowledge Representation; *Learning Experience; Models; Public Schools; *Research Utilization; *Skills; *Social Values ABSTRACT This book focuses on understanding knowledge and learningin the contexts of economic development and social cohesion. Apreliminary overview is presented of the knowledge processes at workin different sectors, and the book identifies a number of waysin which microlevel or sectoral understanding of the knowledge-based economyis important in conjunction with more macrolevel insights. These insights arevaluable for government, economic sectors, and public and privateenterprises and institutions as they seek to improve their knowledge andlearning performance; this performance is an increasingly importantfunction in a learning society. Special attention is given to improvingproduction, mediation, and use in the education sector. The analyses arederived from four forums that consist of high-level participantsfrom the private sector, policymakers, academics from a wide range of disciplines, andauthorities in health and education research--all of whom work on issuesand problems related to how knowledge and learning will become keydrivers of social and economic change in the 21st century. (Contains 53 references.) (DFR) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that canbe made from the original document. M. Knowledge Management in the Learning Society EDUCATION AND =US ti kr, 411116 if 41111.111111111111b 44.4111PIlkillb11110 owl"- filiO111111141, 411P04111101111111 r111111411111'' iii iimkgsk 111110110 110w410' U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS CENTER (ERIC) BEEN GRANTED BY 91This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to S. E clan improve reproduction quality. O BEST COPY AVAILABLE Points of view or opinions stated in this TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) official OERI position or policy. 1 CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND INNOVATION KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE LEARNING SOCIETY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention signed in Paris on 14th December 1960, and whichcame into force on 30th September 1961, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) shall promote policies designed: to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment anda rising standard of living in Member countries, while maintaining financial stability, and thusto contribute to the development of the world economy; to contribute to sound economic expansion in Member as well as non-member countries in the process of economic development; and to contribute to the expansion of world trade on a multilateral, non-discriminatory basis in accordance with international obligations. The original Member countries of the OECD are Austria, Belgium, Canada,Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The followingcountries became Members subsequently throughaccessionatthedatesindicatedhereafter:Japan (28th April 1964), Finland (28th January 1969), Australia (7th June1971), New Zealand (29th May 1973), Mexico (18th May 1994), the Czech Republic (21st December 1995), Hungary (7thMay 1996), Poland (22nd November 1996) and Korea (12th December 1996). The Commission of theEuropean Communities takes part in the work of the OECD (Article 13 of the OECD Convention). The Centre for Educational Research and Innovation was created in June 1968 by theCouncil of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and all Member countries of the OECDare participants. The main objectives of the Centre are as follows: analyse and develop research, innovation and key indicators in current and emerging education andlearning issues, and their links to other sectors of policy; explore forward-looking coherent approaches to education and learning in the context of national andinternational cultural, social and economic change; and facilitate practical co-operation among Member countries and, where relevant, with non-membercountries, in order to seek solutions and exchange views of educational problems of common interest. The Centre functions within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developmentin accordance with the decisions of the Council of the Organisation, under the authority of the Secretary-General.It is supervised by a Governing Board composed of one national expert in its field of competence from each of the countriesparticipating in its programme of work. Publie en francais sous le titre : Societe du savoir et gestion des connaissances OECD 2000 Permission to reproduce a portion of this work for non-commercialpurposes or classroom use should be obtained through the Centre francais d'exploitation du droit de copie (CFC), 20,rue des Grands-Augustins, 75006 Paris, France, Tel. (33-1) 44 07 47 70, Fax (33 -I) 46 34 67 19, for every country except the UnitedStates. In the United States permission should be obtained through the Copyright Clearance Center, CustomerService, (508)750-8400, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 USA, or CCC Online: http://www.copyright.com/. All otherapplications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this book should be made to OECD Publications,2, rue Andre-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. FOREWORD A new and challenging task of the OECD is to contribute to the understanding of knowledge and learning in the context of economic development and social cohesion. This book is an ambitious attempt to do so. Although it presents a preliminary overview of the knowledge processes at work in different sec- tors, the book identifies a number of ways in which micro-level or sectoral understanding of theknowl- edge-based economy is important, alongside the more macro-level insights. These insights are valuable for governments, economic sectors, and public and private enterprises and institutions when they are seeking to improve their knowledge and learning performance, which is increasingly important in order to function in a learning society. Special attention is given to how to improve theproduction, mediation and use in the education sector. The need for improvement in this sector seems particularly urgent if the traditional education system is not to be marginalised in the emerging knowledge-based society. This book is in two parts. Part I constitutes an important, enlightening conceptual piece of work on issues concerning knowledge and learning in an economic innovation context. A comparative study of the production, mediation and use of knowledge in different sectors has been undertaken to achieve two purposes: first, to illuminate the general nature of these processes in modern economies;and secondly, to clarify how the education sector manages knowledge and how it might improve it. Finally, someideas are presented on a new research agenda that could help to improve ourunderstanding of knowledge and learning. Part II of the report brings together a rich selection of the principal expert papers on knowledge production, transfer and application in different sectors from the four below mentioned forums. The analyses presented in this book derive from four forums that have been organised with high-level participants from the private sector, policy-makers, academics from a wide range of disciplines and author- ities in health and educational researchall of whom are working on issues and problems related to how knowledge and learning will become key drivers of social and economic change in the coming century. The aim of these forums was to explore how knowledge processes can be identified, analysed, compared and measured in the engineering, information technology, health and education sector. The first one took place in Tokyo in November 1997 and was jointly organised by the OECD, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. It dealt with "Knowledge Production, Mediation and Use in Industry-University Settings: The Engineering Sector". Thesecondwas on "Production, Mediation and Use of Knowledge in the Education and Health Sectors" at OECD in Paris in May 1998. Thethirdwas organised in co-operation with the Graduate Business School at Stanford University on "Knowledge Production, Mediation and Use in Learning Economies and Societies" at Stanford University September 1998 with a particular focus on the role of information technologies in knowledge processes. Finally, thefourthforum was jointly organised by the OECD and the US National Science Foundation on "Measuring Knowledge in Learning Economies and Societies" in Washington DC in May 1999. In Tokyo and Stanford, the forums were combined with visits