The E-learning Curve at Edublogs

In the 21st century, comparative advantage will become much less a function of natural resource endowments and capital-labour ratios and much more a function of technology and skills. Mother nature and history will play a much smaller role, while human ingenuity will play a much bigger role.

(New Tools, New Rules: Playing to win in the new economic game. p.101)

As I discussed in much finer detail (and in the context of e-learning rather than the economy) in this post, in my view we as a society are on the cusp of a knowledge revolution akin to the explosion of information made possible after the general availability of printed texts following the invention of movable type and the printing press in 1440.

As this century unfolds, the skills used by people will increasingly be those that are complementary with information and communication technology; not those that are substitutes.

Now read on…

What makes the emergence of the knowledge economy important is that it is, in some significant respects, different from the industrial economy we have known for most of the last two hundred years. Some of the key differentiators include:

Information revolution

The IT revolution has intensified the move towards knowledge convergence, and increased the share the knowledge stock of advanced economies. All knowledge that can be distilled as information can be transmitted globally at relatively little cost. Knowledge per se has attained more of the properties of a commodity. [1]

Flexible organization

Flexible organizations reduce waste and increase the productivity of both labor and capital by integrating worker cognition and action at all levels of their operations.In doing so they eliminate many layers of middle management, which are dysfunctional in terms of information flow[2]. Flexible organizations also avoid excessive specialization and compartmentalization by defining multi-task job responsibilities (which calls for multi-skilled workers) and by using teamwork and job rotation.

Flexible organizations merge agility and high product quality with the speed and low unit costs of mass production. They do this by more fully utilising the human capabilities of their workers.

Knowledge, skills and learning

Information and communication technologies have reduced the cost and enhanced the capacity of organizations to converge knowledge, and process and communicate information. In doing so they have substantially altered the ‘balance’ between explicit and tacit knowledge in the overall quantum of knowledge. As access to information becomes easier and less expensive, the skills and competencies relating to the selection and efficient use of information become more crucial, and tacit knowledge in the form of the skills needed to handle explicit knowledge has become more important than ever.

Information and communication technology investments are complementary with investment in human resources and skills[3]. Whereas machines replaced labor in the industrial era, information technology will be the locus of explicit knowledge in the knowledge economy, and work in the knowledge economy will increasingly demand uniquely human (and tacit) skills – such as conceptual and inter-personal management and communication skills.

Innovation and knowledge networks

The knowledge economy increasingly relies on the creation, distribution and use of knowledge assets. The success of enterprises will become more reliant upon their effectiveness in creation, harvesting, absorption and utilization of knowledge.

A knowledge economy is driven by the acceleration of the rate of change and the rate of learning of the contributors to the economy, where the opportunity and capability to get access to and join knowledge-intensive and learning-intensive relations determines the socio-economic position of individuals and firms[4]. Companies must become learning organizations, continuously adapting management, organization and skills to accommodate new technologies and grasp new opportunities. They will be increasingly joined in networks, where interactive learning involving creators, producers and users in experimentation and exchange of information drives innovation.

More…

References:

Sheehan, P. Tegart, G. (Eds.) (1998) Working for the Future: Technology and Employment in the Global Knowledge Economy. Victoria University Press.

Thurow, L. (1991) New Tools, New Rules: Playing to win in the new economic game. Prism.

Footnotes:

[1] This post is primarily drawn from Sheehan, P. Tegart, G. (Eds.) (1998) Working for the Future: Technology and Employment in the Global Knowledge Economy. Victoria University Press.

[2] Oman C. (1996) The Policy Challenges of Globalisation and Regionalisation, Policy Brief No. 11, OECD Development Centre, OECD, Paris, p. 19. [Internet] Available from: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/51/8/1913021.pdf [Accessed 20 August 2008]

[3] Soete, L. (1997) Macroeconomic and Structural Policy in the Knowledge-based
Economy. In: Industrial Competitiveness in the Knowledge-based Economy: The New Role
of Governments, OECD, Paris, p. 136.

[4] David, P. Foray, D. (1995) ‘Accessing and Expanding the Science and Technology Knowledge Base,’ STI Review, No 16, OECD, Paris.

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