Technology and knowledge: Enhancing the education frontiers

Abstract

Universities are examples of knowledge oriented organizations where generating, sharing, storing and diffusing knowledge is highly valued. However, great part of the knowledge in a university is tacit and partially communicated at the classroom via the interactions among professor and students. As part of an e-learning classroom project, a public university introduced a new technology, the Starboard. This technology facilitates the transmission of the course contents, provides access to Internet during class and immediate notes for students but furthermore it also enables the university to capture and diffuse via e-mail the class' presentations, group discussions and interactions registered by the professor at the board. Starboard technology was introduced gradually but intensively, to administrate the technology change the faculty participated in a workshop where Starboard benefits and technical aspects were discussed. After this initial training, continuous technical assistance has been offered to the professors. The perceived benefits derived from the technology introduction in terms of the teaching-learning process and knowledge recovery is evaluated from the point of view of users, the faculty. The need for a strategic plan to guarantee information maintenance and diffusion, and the creation of cooperative involvement and trust as critical factors to promote knowledge sharing via Starboard is discussed from the perspective of different university authorities that could assume the technology and knowledge leadership role.