Even with the capacity and ability to organize its knowledge, an organization does not ensure its ability to effectively leverage and apply its knowledge.
As I have been helping an Oakland middle school redesign its afterschool program, it has become clear that communication is a key element to be improved. Teachers and afterschool tutors both hold critical knowledge about students, yet this knowledge is not effectively shared between the two groups. By using different tutoring approaches and knowledge capture strategies, tutors can organize knowledge so it is more accessible for teachers. Yet it still remains useless unless teachers take the time to access it and use the knowledge.
We recognize that it is unlikely that busy teachers are going to proactively check for new knowledge, whether with the tutor (tacit) or from documentation (explicit). It would become one more task in their already bulging days. However, teachers do always check their mail or in-boxes, and it is a relatively simple matter to embed critical afterschool tutor knowledge in that daily check-in. Accessing this new knowledge is now a natural extension of a teachers' habits, and the teacher is much more likely to act upon the knowledge s/he has received.
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