SPEECH BY MR THARMAN SHANMUGARATNAM, SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY & EDUCATION AT THE LAUNCH OF NATIONAL JUNIOR COLLEGE'S KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ON 22 FEBRUARY 2003 AT 0900 HRS AT NATIONAL JUNIOR COLLEGE

Mrs Virginia Cheng, Principal, National Junior College

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

INTRODUCTION 

1            It is my pleasure to be here this morning. Events such as this give us an opportunity to share innovations in our schools, and to highlight the fact that Singapore's schools are employing some of the best practices of the public and private sectors. Today, we recognise a significant innovation in the form of National Junior College (NJC)'s knowledge management system, Knowledge @ NJC.

IMPETUS FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

2            Our schools are seeking to prepare the young for a new and different future, one that rewards those who are willing to take new routes, try different methods, and occasionally break the mould. It is therefore not just encouraging but essential that schools themselves are models of innovation. There has to be an atmosphere of experimentation in schools that teachers and students find infectious, just like partners and employees do in most successful enterprises in the business world.

3            The need for knowledge management is clear. In an innovation-driven age, enterprises no longer take stock of just their physical assets. Knowledge has become a key asset, to be leveraged on to create value. However, knowledge is never static. As with physical assets, it can depreciate over time and its relevance erode. It therefore has to be constantly checked against reality, updated and replenished, in order to retain its value to an enterprise or organisation.

4            Knowledge management is an integrated, systematic approach to identifying, sharing and expanding an organisation's knowledge, including the expertise and experience of individuals that might otherwise remain unarticulated. It is about ensuring that knowledge does not become stale, but is a constantly evolving practice. Fundamentally, it is about making collective information and experience available to every individual in the enterprise, and making the individual responsible not just for using it wisely but for replenishing the stock of knowledge in the enterprise.

5            This ongoing cycle encourages a learning organisation. It stimulates collaboration, and empowers people to continually enhance the way they work. And leadership of successful enterprises involves creating the conditions and incentives that spur people to produce knowledge, and to do so in ways that encourage personal responsibility.

6            Realising this imperative, the Ministry of Finance piloted its Knowledge Management Experimentation Programme (KMEP) in July 2001 as part of the Government-to-Employee component of its e-Government initiative. The Programme provides seed funding to civil service agencies, under a co-funding mechanism, to help jump-start new and pioneering knowledge management projects and ideas. It seeks to encourage agencies to leverage on their knowledge capital - both explicit knowledge, which is already expressed and easily documented, and tacit knowledge or the experience and know-how contained in people's minds.

Knowledge @ NJC : EMPOWERING THE INDIVIDUAL

7            I am pleased that NJC has taken advantage of this Programme (KMEP) to develop and implement a knowledge management system for the college, or Knowledge @ NJC. The college has consciously sought to benchmark itself against the best practices of the public and private sectors.

8            Knowledge @ NJC makes the collective information and experience of the college available online to each teacher and student. The system encourages collaboration. It empowers every teacher and student to continually enhance his knowledge using the collective body of experience and ideas, as well as to refine and continually add to this collective base of knowledge. The system also allows for greater connectivity among the staff in the college. It fosters natural Communities of Practice so that staff are able to collaborate online, to share and learn from each other without having to call for formal meetings.

EXAMPLES OF HOW KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS CAN ADD VALUE IN SCHOOLS

9            NJC's knowledge management system opens up new vistas for both teachers and students. It will bring new ways of teaching and learning at the college. There will be many applications.

10          One good example is in lesson planning. The knowledge management system will be useful in helping teachers draw up a lecture lesson plan. A working copy of the plan could be posted in the system. Through the system's collaborative features, other teachers can then come together to review or comment on the lesson plan. Based on the feedback received, the teacher can then make improvements and put out a new version of the lesson plan. The process of development of the lesson plan, including the comments and reviews, is captured in the system, and will be useful for future teachers.

11          A second example of what the knowledge management system allows is new pedagogical strategies, by fostering online learning communities. The system provides students with easy access to instructional materials like lecture notes, tutorials and presentations, as well as teacher-reviewed Internet links and discussion forums. Through the e-survey engine or the taxonomy-linked discussion forums, teachers can engage students and identify the concepts that they have difficulty with. In this way, teachers can help clarify students' doubts, as well as improve the way lessons are delivered. As the feedback remains captured in the system, new teachers joining the college can tap into the information, thus allowing them to start off higher on the learning curve.

12          A third example of how Knowledge @ NJC can be used is in the CCA knowledge space. The system provides teachers and students with a working space where they can brainstorm, conduct after-action reviews, monitor milestones and tasks, manage projects and showcase achievements. Again, this information and knowledge will be most useful for new teachers and students taking up a particular CCA.

A PEOPLE-CENTRED APPROACH

13          All these benefits are made possible with the help of technology. Yet knowledge management is not about technology, but about people and culture. While the technology provides the structure with which knowledge is shared, stored and retrieved, it is people who will ensure the success of the system. It is the culture of an organisation that will ensure that the system remains spontaneous, fluid and useful.

14          The continued relevance of the system is possible only when people treat it as a workroom, as opposed to a storehouse or database. It is the mindset of constantly sharing, and testing ideas and methods off others, that is essential in bringing out the tacit knowledge in an organisation. It is what generates fresh insights and breakthroughs.

15          NJC has taken this people-centred approach to knowledge management. It is also why the college has taken a 'bottom up' approach in conceptualising, designing and implementing its Knowledge Management system. From the outset, I understand that a cross-functional team comprising teachers across the departments was formed to identify the college's key knowledge assets, and to spearhead the design and implementation of the Knowledge Management framework. I am told that up to 25% of teachers at the college were closely involved in the entire process. I am sure that this has resulted not only in a high level of congruence between the system's design and the college's actual work processes and culture, but has also instilled in teachers a sense of ownership and pride.

CONCLUSION 

16          Allow me to once again congratulate the college for its pioneering effort in establishing a knowledge management system. I urge you to build on this achievement, and keep adapting to the evolving demands of education in a world of relentless change. I hope that you will share your expertise with other schools which are keen to establish such a system.

17          On this note, it is my pleasure to declare the Knowledge @ NJC open. I wish you every success.