No / Is midwifery knowledge a relevant construct for contemporary practice? In other words, is it useful to think about the things midwives know and the skills they possess in terms of midwifery knowledge? Or, in an era of interprofessional practice, clinical governance and risk management, have midwives lost whatever was unique to their profession about how to help women give birth?

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether a required wellness course affected a change in the behaviors of college students. A post-course evaluation, which examined the relation between attitude, knowledge, and behavior, was conducted six months following the completion of the course. A secondary purpose of the research was to solicit information from participating students concerning which portions of the course they felt benefited them and those that did not. This was done to identify potential problems within the course in order to make improvements on content and structure. A survey was mailed six months after the completion of the course to 110 students who were enrolled in Health 200 Wellness Lifestyles in the 1997 spring semester at Radford University. Forty-five responses were returned for a return rate of 41%. An analysis of self-reported data discloses that student behaviors improved from before taking Health 200 to six months after completing the course in all behavior categories with the exception of alcohol consumption. A paired t test, which was conducted to compare knowledge between the end of the semester and the post-test, indicated a significant loss of knowledge at a p level of <.05. Results from a simple linear regression analysis revealed that 17.46% of the variability in behavior was attributed to attitude. Information gathered from the survey helped identify strengths and weaknesses of the course, which became instrumental in proposing recommendations for making course improvements. / Ed. D.

No / This paper reviews and analyses the literature on knowledge sharing in a university setting with the aim of identifying and understanding the determinants of knowledge sharing culture, research trends, theories, and future research opportunities for knowledge sharing in higher education institutions (HEIs). Findings suggest that there is disproportionately little knowledge sharing research in HEIs compared to the commercial sector. The review reveals that existing research on HEIs does not consider the determinants of knowledge sharing culture in a comprehensive manner. Research on knowledge sharing in commercial and HEIs in developing economies like Africa, the Middle East and South America is found to be limited. The review shows that future research should consider cultural and behavioural factors at different levels, that is, individual, national, professional teams, language issues and trust that might impact knowledge sharing practices among faculty members in HEIs in developing economies.

Knowledge management has roots in a variety of disciplines, such as philosophy, psychology, social sciences, management sciences and computing. As a result, a wide variety of theories and definitions of knowledge and knowledge management is used in the literature. Irrespective of the theory or definition used, is it recognised that expert knowledge and insight are gained through experience and practice and that it is a key differentiator as an organisational asset. This shift to knowledge as the primary source of value results in the new economy being led by those who manage knowledge effectively. Today’s organisations are creating and leveraging knowledge, data and information at an unprecedented pace – a phenomenon that makes the use of technology not an option, but a necessity. It enables employees to deal with multifaceted environments and problems and make it possible for organisations to expand their knowledge creation capacity. Software tools in knowledge management are a collection of technologies and are not necessarily acquired as a single software solution. Furthermore, these knowledge management software tools have the advantage of using the organisation’s existing information technology infrastructure. Organisations and business decision makers spend a great deal of resources and make significant investments in the latest technology, systems and infrastructure to support knowledge management. It is imperative that these investments are validated properly, made wisely and that the most appropriate technologies and software tools are selected or combined to facilitate knowledge management. The purpose of this interpretive case study is to consider these issues and to focus on an understanding of the key characteristics of a knowledge management system architecture by exploring and describing the nature of knowledge management. Based on the findings of this study, a list of key characteristics that a knowledge management solution must comply with was collated, which expanded the existing knowledge management model towards describing a knowledge management system architecture. / Computing / M.Sc. (Information Systems)

More than 35% of the U.S. workforce is composed of Baby Boomers who are eligible to retire within the next 5 years. Despite the potential loss of critical expertise, a gap in knowledge retention exists in small consulting businesses. The purpose of this case study was to explore effective strategies for retaining the tacit and explicit knowledge of retiring employees, to avoid operational knowledge drain. Exploration ensued through semistructured interviews at 2 small consulting businesses in the Washington, DC metropolitan area that are adept at innovatively retaining requisite knowledge. The conceptual frameworks of Bass' transformational leadership and Nonaka's knowledge creation led to the identification of strategies to retain tacit and explicit knowledge of retiring Baby Boomers. Seven small business leaders addressed questions on knowledge types, knowledge stimulation and sharing methods, and retention strategies to provide meaningful responses to the knowledge retention phenomenon. Data analysis included the Colaizzi and modified van Kaam methods of mining, categorizing, organizing, and describing participants' statements. Subsequently, the themes that emerged during the analysis identified reward, communication, and motivation as strategies for knowledge-share and transfer. Succession planning, mentoring, documentation, training, and knowledge sharing also emerged as effective methods for knowledge retention. The findings will contribute to social change by illuminating the roles effective leaders practice to influence and foster knowledge management, offering insight to other small businesses having difficulties remaining sustainable as the operational knowledge of Baby Boomers becomes unavailable as they retire.

Knowledge management has roots in a variety of disciplines, such as philosophy, psychology, social sciences, management sciences and computing. As a result, a wide variety of theories and definitions of knowledge and knowledge management is used in the literature. Irrespective of the theory or definition used, is it recognised that expert knowledge and insight are gained through experience and practice and that it is a key differentiator as an organisational asset. This shift to knowledge as the primary source of value results in the new economy being led by those who manage knowledge effectively. Today’s organisations are creating and leveraging knowledge, data and information at an unprecedented pace – a phenomenon that makes the use of technology not an option, but a necessity. It enables employees to deal with multifaceted environments and problems and make it possible for organisations to expand their knowledge creation capacity. Software tools in knowledge management are a collection of technologies and are not necessarily acquired as a single software solution. Furthermore, these knowledge management software tools have the advantage of using the organisation’s existing information technology infrastructure. Organisations and business decision makers spend a great deal of resources and make significant investments in the latest technology, systems and infrastructure to support knowledge management. It is imperative that these investments are validated properly, made wisely and that the most appropriate technologies and software tools are selected or combined to facilitate knowledge management. The purpose of this interpretive case study is to consider these issues and to focus on an understanding of the key characteristics of a knowledge management system architecture by exploring and describing the nature of knowledge management. Based on the findings of this study, a list of key characteristics that a knowledge management solution must comply with was collated, which expanded the existing knowledge management model towards describing a knowledge management system architecture. / Computing / M.Sc. (Information Systems)

Science has been perceived as difficult to learn because of its nature and the methods by which it is usually taught. Most first-year science students entering higher education in South Africa today come from disadvantaged teaching and learning backgrounds. These students bring different “knowledge, skills or abilities” into the learning process. This knowledge, referred to as prior knowledge – or what the student already knows – is the single most important factor influencing learning (Ausubel, 1968). It is on the basis of this influence of prior knowledge on learning that the focus in this study is on understanding its manifestation in learning. Prior knowledge has both facilitating and inhibiting effects in learning. However, the focus in this study was only on inhibiting effects of prior knowledge on learning. To better understand prior knowledge qualitative methods (interview, observation, document review and the prior knowledge state test) were used. The aim was to specifically establish how students used their understanding of selected acid-base concepts and processes to construct understanding and to generate meaning of new concepts and/or knowledge. The study managed to highlight important aspects of the quality of prior knowledge and their manifestation in learning. The findings generally indicated that: <ul> <li>The quality of the knowledge that students possessed was in most instances incomplete. That is, in their description of concepts, students preferred to use summary and informal descriptions without understanding the meaning of the concepts they were describing.</li> <li> The quality of knowledge (e.g. incomplete knowledge) affected their ability to construct understanding and/or generate meaning as this knowledge was insufficient to access for the construction of scientifically valid meanings of concepts.</li> <li>The quality of students’ knowledge impeded their ability to reflect and/or to be aware of the knowledge they possessed. This made it difficult for students to access knowledge and to restructure it in order to construct new knowledge or prevent errors in their learning.</li> </ul> The study culminated in the development of a framework that may in future be used to assess prior knowledge and enhance meaningful teaching and learning based on the quality of students’ prior knowledge. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

This thesis's purpose was to gain a deeper understanding of how organizations create knowledge retention (KR), both proactively (day-to-day basis) and reactively (when an employee decides to resign), to avoid knowledge loss. A qualitative multiple case study was conducted through semi-structured interviews, with eight respondents from eight different organizations. An analytical model based on Levy’s (2011) KR framework and Nonaka and Takeuchi's (1995) knowledge spiral model was developed as a tool to understand the KR process in practice. The study found that all studied organizations worked proactively to retain knowledge, either structured or unstructured. The respondents with a structured, proactive KR process did not apply a reactive KR process, showing that they are more prepared for handling potential knowledge loss when employees resign. The respondents that did not apply a structured, proactive KR process applied a reactive knowledge retention process, where the main explanation for this was lack of time or unawareness of the process. Furthermore, no clear groups emerged in the empirical material as the companies faced different challenges at each stage of the analytical model. Lastly, the study concludes that these findings could be particularly relevant for organizations seeking to conduct KR processes to avoid losing valuable knowledge.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how knowledge retention may be enhanced at the University of Zambia (UNZA). A mixed research methodology was employed in the case study design. Data was collected using interviews and questionnaires. Purposive sampling was used to determine participants for the interviews while stratified random sampling was employed for the questionnaire respondents. Out of a population of 435 a sample of 205 was surveyed. The response rate was 60 %. Findings indicate that UNZA lacked a number of knowledge retention practices that can enable it to retain operational relevant knowledge. In view of these findings, the study concluded by recommending guidelines for the adoption of various knowledge retention practices that could be embedded into UNZA's knowledge management policy. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)

The purpose of this study was to investigate how knowledge retention may be enhanced at the University of Zambia (UNZA). A mixed research methodology was employed in the case study design. Data was collected using interviews and questionnaires. Purposive sampling was used to determine participants for the interviews while stratified random sampling was employed for the questionnaire respondents. Out of a population of 435 a sample of 205 was surveyed. The response rate was 60 %. Findings indicate that UNZA lacked a number of knowledge retention practices that can enable it to retain operational relevant knowledge. In view of these findings, the study concluded by recommending guidelines for the adoption of various knowledge retention practices that could be embedded into UNZA's knowledge management policy. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)