Knowledge Production

From Wikimedia

Knowledge production results from the conversion of information to actionable form. Routine knowledge production at the undergraduate level would constitute a major paradigm change for tertiary education and would constitute the backbone of a world-leading Leapfrog organizations.

We contend that creative knowledge production by youth is essential for societies planning to compete and collaborate successfully in the global economy. Knowledge production results from the transformation of information into formats suitable for actionable decision making. We believe that undergraduates who learn to participate in knowledge production can help catalyze a shift from curriculum consumption and mass education to knowledge production, meaningful personalized education, and innovation.

Below, we define six types of creative knowledge production which we assert are critical to successful participation in the work and civic forces of the 21st Century. The six types of knowledge production, driven by constructivist theory and supported by continuously available advanced technology, are:

• Mode 1: rigorously developed scientific and scholarly knowledge;
• Mode 2: rigorous, collaboratively developed knowledge that is intended for highly practical applications;
• Mode 3: subjectively developed knowledge intended for personal applications;
• Mode 4: experientially developed knowledge that defines the capabilities and limitations of human contexts, including cultures;
• Mode 5: machine developed knowledge beginning to emerge from expert systems and very early artificial intelligence;
• Mode 6: integrative and chaordic knowledge that fosters the most effective uses of knowledge Modes 1-5.

While only the first two of the six modes of knowledge production are routinely employed in undergraduate education, the full range of modes offers students many opportunities to demonstrate the goodness of fit between their studies, their lives, and the demands of everyday life in an innovative global economy where knowledge production is increasingly socially distributed.