Former Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld famously said, …”there are known 'knowns.' There are
things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are
things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns.
There are things we do not know we don't know. So when we do the best we can
and we pull all this information together, and we then say well that's
basically what we see as the situation, that is really only the known knowns
and the known unknowns. And each year, we discover a few more of those unknown
unknowns.”
He was basically describing
3 levels of ignorance. (Lack of knowledge or information)
The 3 Levels of ignorance
look like this.
Level 1-There are things
you “know.”
For example, I can use an
LCD projector in my classroom. I know where the school cafeteria is.
Level 2-There are things
you “know you don’t know.”
For example, I don’t know
how to use Wolfram Alpha. I don’t know what the cafeteria will be serving next
Tuesday.
Level 3- There are things
you “don’t know you don’t know.”
Sorry, hard to provide an
example for that one.
But Innovation expert
Steven Shapiro in a recent post, thinks there might another dimension, another level if you will.
Level 4- The things you
“don’t know you know.”
Steven explains it this
way. “Inside of organizations, there is so much untapped knowledge. To
combat this, over the past two decades, companies have invested millions of
dollars in knowledge management systems. The objective has been to
capture the company’s knowledge."
But as Steven explains
there is a problem. “The problem is, the knowledge management databases usually
become so large and unwieldy that they are unusable. I can attest from
experience that these systems often end up becoming digital piles of untapped
information. Finding what you want can be like finding a needle in a
haystack. Or, more accurately, it is like finding a specific needle in a
stack of needles.”
What’s Steven’s answer to
this dilemma you might ask? Reverse Knowledge Management.
“Instead of posting
knowledge which sits passively in a database waiting for someone to find it,
you post your question to your “community” so that it can be answered at the
time of need.”
This is at the very heart
of the Professional Networked Learning Collaborative model. The PNLC consists
of educators working together in the ongoing purpose of increasing student
learning and achievement while sharing physical space, virtual space, or both
simultaneously. PNLC members will fluidly move between the physical and virtual
networks to communicate, collaborate, and share ideas, data, strategies,
knowledge, and information. Education is not immune to the problem of finding the right needle.
As I have mentioned before, Professional Networked Learning
Communities use AWARRENESS.
- A student focus
- Lateral Wisdom
- Abilities
- Roles
- Response-ability
- Relationships
- Education
- Networks
- Experience
- Skills
- Scalability
Of those, lets look at
Relationships and Networks.
Often times we forget just
how important the relationships outside of our grade level or department can
be. Each member has a network of relationships that can be leveraged to provide
insight, help, advice, knowledge, and wisdom to the work of their PNLC. The
relationships developed by each person can provide a myriad of useful outsiders
to help the PNLC accomplish its work in improving student achievement.
PNLCs have the advantage
of the “network.” The vast array of connections and “weak-ties” that are
combined and blended to make the PNLC networked. PNLC members will fluidly move
between the physical and virtual networks to communicate, collaborate, and
share ideas, data, strategies, and information. Each member being a portal or
node to their individual network makes the PNLC exponentially stronger,
knowledgeable, and wise.
PNLC are able to maximize
individual members’ Relationships and Networks to the advantage of the whole.
Steven says, “Sometimes
the solution can be sitting in your knowledge management system…and you don’t
even know it because it is too difficult to find.”
The knowledge management
system for education is the Professional Networked Learning Collaborative. It
is literally each other. The PNLC leverages physical and virtual networks to communicate,
collaborate, and share ideas, data, strategies, knowledge, and information. It
leverages each other.
The answers we are looking
for, the knowledge that we seek, may reside within our relationships, our
networks, and ourselves. We may be surprised to find out that we have been
dealing with Level 4 Ignorance all this time.
By practicing a little “reverse
knowledge management,” we may be surprised to learn what we already knew. And,
as G.I. Joe used to say, knowing is half the battle. The Professional Networked
Learning Collaborative is the knowledge management system of the future for
schools and teachers and combats all 4 levels of ignorance.
Because friends don’t let
friends stay ignorant.
Learning what you already
knew…that is Education Innovation.
