What is Knowledge ...

A post to demonstrate my thoughts around the concept of knowledge as part of CISC8104 - Leadership in Digital and Collaborative Learning.

This is a discussion about knowledge: what we know, how we know, and what is knowledge - no answers or conclusions - just a discussion!

We often refer to the 21st Century being a 'knowledge society' or a 'knowledge economy' so obviously the idea or concept of knowledge is central - but what does this actually mean - and more importantly what are the implications for educators? There is no doubt that teaching in the 21st Century requires a change of paradigm which includes a reconceptualisation of what we think of as knowledge but, how we get there is not as straight forward as I wish it was.

Knowledge as a noun or as a verb

Is knowledge just content (more of a noun), linked to subject areas or is it more active (more like a verb)? Our thoughts about this impact on our teaching - if we believe knowledge is just a noun, we are more likely to take the approach that knowledge is static, and as educators it is our job to transmit out knowledge to our learners. But, if we believe that knowledge is more active what should we do? 

Traditional knowledge could be regarded as 'knowledge that' or the things that we 'know'. But then we come into another philosophical issue - what is it to know something? Plato is credited with the 'justified, true belief' analysis of knowledge. Simply the 'justified, true belief' analysis says that if something is true, and we believe it is true,  and we are justified in believing it is true then we know it. 

So, we can only know something if it is true - often people refer to 'knowing' something that may be an opinion, or a belief - so it can be argued that to use the word 'know' in this sense is not true. For example recommending a book, to someone who has not yet read the book, by saying, "I just know you would like this book," is more of a belief or an opinion rather than something which is actually true, so it can't be known.

And what about belief? To know something we have to believe it. Again, casual use of these words confuse the issue. We may say we don't believe something even though we might know it to be true. For example, in the very unlikely situation of winning Lotto someone might say they don't believe they have won when what they really mean is they find it difficult to believe they have been so lucky - yet, they have their ticket in front of them with the correct numbers so they know they have won - they are just a bit too stunned to actually believe it until they have the proof of the money in their hands (metaphorically speaking).

This leads us onto justification. To refer to the Lotto example, at what stage is someone justified in believing they have won? They might at first be in doubt, and what evidence is required for them to have that belief justified? Is empirical evidence required - does the winner actually need to see their newly swollen bank account or is their understanding of the Lotto process enough to justify their belief?

So, for educators in the 21st Century, is knowledge as a noun, content that we can acquire and store (and the more of it we have the 'smarter' we are!) or is it more of a verb - the raw material with which we can do things and is there any point in having knowledge if we don't do something more with it than win the quiz night at the pub? 

  

So, in the 21st Century, maybe knowledge shouldn't be valued for its own sake but more for its value to do things, to be acted on and to enable people of all ages to use it to create new understandings and new knowledge. This does not mean though that the traditional view of knowledge should be ignored - it is not an either/or approach, rather we now need a more complex view of knowledge, one which includes both knowledge as a noun and knowledge as a verb. We need to 'know' but we also need to work with knowledge, as part of an active process to create new knowledge, innovate and create value from the knowledge. Included in this is the move from 'just-in-case' knowledge to 'just-in-time' knowledge and the exploration of problem-based and solution-seeking learning. The challenge for teachers, is how to create the conditions necessary for this more complex view of knowledge to thrive.