Personal Knowledge Management - Case Study Example

Personal Knowledge Management Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name 08, 11, 2010 Outline Introduction Knowledge management plan Personal knowledge Management journey Conclusion Introduction Personal knowledge management is a process of planning, acquiring and sharing of memories, stories and ideas. It is a process of acquiring knowledge while at the same time facilitating a continuous learning. Knowledge management process enables self discovery and appreciation of other people’s talents. Without a proper knowledge management strategy an individual cannot be able to discover his/her inherent potentials. This therefore means that an effective knowledge management plan should facilitate learning of new ideas, information storage and self discovery. Knowledge management plan Personal knowledge management plan is a comprehensive individual strategy for the acquisition, sharing and storage of new ideas and information. My plan has been arrived at after a rigorous process of self appraisal that has enabled me to discover my weaknesses and strengths as regards knowledge acquisition (Wagner, 2005). Personal knowledge management plan therefore is an aggregation of strategic problem solving skills that are not only conceptual but hands on (Edmonds, 2004). Personal knowledge Management journey Self assessment process growth I remember one day when I was confronted with a challenge of delivering two assignments in form of essays. I was expected to write two essays in response of about eight questions that we were given in the course of the week. The challenge of these two essays was the fact that it tested my ability to store knowledge that I had learnt over the weeks efficiently. The major task in this case was retaining information in my memory for as long as I could. One of the oldest strategies that I used grasping and reciting information was the HSC. I could write my essays and regurgitate them with little effort. This was an old habit which was more comfortable to me as a student. I had less than a week to learn the content of these essays and clearly this was time consuming. After careful consideration and "consultation" with my partner (more like venting!) I decided to throw out my old knowledge storing strategies and find new, more efficient ways. I decided to work on some prompting strategies which would help me remember more broad issues or concepts - I tortured myself by attempting to write one word or phrase summarising my paragraphs. This gave me some clarity, but I was also stressed on remembering the details that you too often forget in test situations. I started to just remember the topic sentences for each paragraph of my paper and as I familiarised myself more with my essays and their structure, it was clear that I could retain the key ideas which could "bulk up" each paragraph. The test isn’t until tomorrow night, now I plan to keeping reading (no matter how much I struggle to stay awake!) and hope that I can pull together a decent paper, that resembles the essays I regrettably had to leave at home. I will no doubt let you know how it goes and work what worked best, I know there are others in this unit that are also doing GSBS 6070 so it would be interesting to hear about their strategies. Based on the challenges that I faced in this case, I have learnt to adopt other useful strategies that would help me in self assessment process. How I access information and ideas Since the internet and information world has enhanced data storage and retrieval, I have learnt a number of ways that are vital in securing information and accessing the same information once again. One of the most fundamental bases of information access that I trained myself recently is through advanced searching skills of information in the University library database. I have managed to learn a few tips on using the matching software which is also able to detect the key words and find them easily. The other options of information access are through search engines that are available online. I have mastered a number of websites that provide information and useful learning materials such as google.com and scribd.com. In the course of my learning process, I have learned to distinguish different types of search engines, metasearch engines and directory sites. I have appreciated the fact that I can select appropriate content that can support my research process and also use Boolean expressions in my search process in order to facilitate a faster and accurate search in the internet. How I evaluate information and ideas I can clearly recall one of my projects that I recently did concerning management; it basically involved collection of materials from both primary and secondary materials for usage in delivering the report. In the course of doing this project, I learnt one fundamental requirement of project accomplishment, not all the information available online are relevant or even accurate for that purpose. It is necessary for information evaluation to be carried out in order to determine the correct and accurate information for the purpose of correct project delivery process. Some of the ways that I have learnt to evaluate the accuracy of information that I get online includes; authority evaluation, objectivity, coverage and even intellectual properties associated with the information that I gather in the process. More so, I have discovered how important it is to keep information source backup by bookmarking the source of information and keeping the URL link for further reference in case I need to revisit the site for clarification purposes. How I organize information and ideas Information organization process reminds me of my first experience lessons in the college level. Our lecturers emphasised on the importance of proper citation of information that was acquired in the online databases and other common search engines. I did not realise the importance of proper citation and the need to have a bibliography at the end of any work that I borrowed Ideas from. The reason for doing so later emerged when I started doing major projects in the college level; I found that it was necessary to do proper citation of information not only as a way of acknowledging the providers of information but also as a way of retrieving the same information when needed for future use. In order to ensure that I can access information at any time, I have learnt strategies of keeping record of my entire information source. One of the most common ways of meeting this obligation that I designed after several methods that failed to meet my obligation was to keep an excel sheet that showed any new information that was added to my local database, the subject of the information and the date of modification. I also ensure that every photograph that is stored in my database is resized and well organized for future retrieval. How I analyse ideas and information Since I started my college studies, I have learnt the importance of data analysis in every aspect of my education system and also my future career. I have therefore exercised several ways of data manipulation and analysis for the purpose of education through research writing process. I have therefore learnt to use statistical tools such as ANOVA, SPSS and Excel spreadsheet to analyse and visualise data in form of graphs and pie charts. Basic use of excel features to calculate the mean, variance and standard deviation of values provide an imperative simple way of data manipulation and analysis for education purposes. More so, data analysis has provided me with fundamental skills of research process. I can remember vividly that it was only last year that I was doing a research paper project that involved a retrieval of data and analysis of the same data to came up with various speculations. I was successful in the manipulation and data analysis by only using excels features, this achievement inspired me to learn other methods of data analysis such as using SPSS confidence level analysis. How I convey information and ideas Throughout my studies, I have appreciated the fact that the presentation of any information either through a word of mouth, web postings or word document, the way of presentation is even more important. I can remember one time when I was tasked with presentation of information to my peers concerning proper management of private information concerning health care system in our country. I decided to use power point presentation because of its features that includes graphs and pictures. I managed to include speaker’s notes at the bottom of the presentation slides that acted as a guiding tool for my presentation process. The success of my presentation was basically based on the fact that I had learnt to analyse organize my information in a logical manner before presentation. The speakers’ notes at the bottom of the page also assisted me to recall some of the basic ideas of the topic presentation. Most importantly also, the use of photographs which are well organized is an important tool for ensuring a successful information presentation process. How I secure information and ideas During my studies, I have realised the importance of securing information that needs to be private and stored also for future use. I protect my passwords by not writing them on any piece of paper. I recall one time that I was used to writing my passwords down in order to ensure that I can go through my notebook if I forgot them. One day my notebook got lost and my mails were hacked because the adversary could read my mails. I developed storage of password skills after this incident that happened to me. With regard to vital information such as data backups that I need while revisiting some of the essential lessons in class, I have learnt to use software backups provided by the operating system companies and also other commercial software available in the market. More so, I recently discovered a site called skydrive that enables one to store information online. It provides a space of about 25 GB which is essentially adequate for my course materials and other relevant information. I also backup my data on CD-ROMs and memory sticks just in case I need to access them quickly. Collaboration and networking skills As one of the most fundamental skills in the learning and future corporate world while pursuing my career, I have learned and incorporated fundamental collaborating and networking skills. I remember one day while discussing and assignment with my peers, I disagreed with one of my colleagues about the fundamental skills of management process. It was difficult to disagree constructively because of the tension that the argument brought. It was through the help of another member of the group that we learned how to disagree and agree without affecting our discussion process. I personally learned that disagreement was part of the growth process. One of the major ideas about collaboration process that I gained this semester is the use of MS work track changes feature, this feature is able to notice the changes that have been done in a document. Through this skill I have managed to acquire new information from my peers and also contribute as well. With regard to information sharing, I have learnt to join chats, blogs and mail collaborating in order to foster our discussion irrespective of our geographical locations. My ethical growth process Throughout my learning process, I have set core values and ethics that define me now and in future corporate world. As I can remember, one day I was reading the case of Enron and Tyco companies of the United States. These companies led to the enactment of SOX act which guides of responsible reporting of financial information to the public. There was a great deal of irresponsibility on the part of the management of these firms. I kept imagining the consequences of such actions in the corporate world and since then I have been practising the most fundamental rules of incorporating responsible and ethical rules with regard to management of my financial status in college and proper reporting my status to my parents. I personally consider this step fundamental in enhancing my ethical journey to the corporate world. My personality growth My personality growth has been fostered by a continuous information storage and regulation process that I have practised with regard to information processing skills. I have been having adequate time dealing with information challenges; this has been a major levering point regarding my personality growth. I have learned to be disciplined in my lesson attendance and when facing challenges. In essence it has taken more discipline to remain focused in my studies despite the few units that I was doing over semester. I have spent adequate amount of time nurturing my core values through a continuous assessment process that again nurtures my personal knowledge journey. Conclusion My knowledge management process has been one of the most inspiring events that I have heard to manage properly over the course of my education process. As evident in this analysis my learning process has been inspired by the way that I have learnt to manage all kinds of information that I acquire and use them appropriately. In doing so these sources of information has been useful in my learning process and even in my future career. References Edmonds, K. A., Blustein, J., & Turnbull, D. (2004). A personal information and knowledge infrastructure integrator, Journal of Digital Information, 5, 1, article No. 243, 2004-05-12. Wagner, C., & Bolloju, N. (2005). "Knowledge Management with Conversational Technologies: Discussion Forums, Weblogs, and Wikis", Journal of Database Management, Vol. 16, Issue 2, i-viii. Read More