The Convergence of Learning and Knowledge Management

Ray Sims wrote a series of great posts on „The convergence of L&D and KM“ (Part1, Part2, Part 3, Part 4). Ray pointed to my post related to the same “Learning and Knowledge Management are 2 sides of the same coin” where I argued that learning and KM solutions have to fuse; that we should speak about union and fusion of the two fields rather than intersection or complementary relationship between them and that the two fields are increasingly similar in terms of input, outcome, processes, activities, components, tools, concepts, and terminologies. Ray and I agreed that, though we are not there yet, we are along the convergence path now and that more movement in this direction is suggested.
I would like here to add that this convergence will NOT happen if we keep dealing with “traditional” learning and KM models. In earlier posts, I pointed to some deficiencies in current learning and KM approaches and stressed that a radical revision of traditional learning and KM models is required. In the modern knowledge-intensive era, the one-size-fits-all, centralized, static, top-down, and knowledge-push models of traditional learning and KM initiatives need to be replaced with a more social, personalized, open, dynamic, emergent, and knowledge-pull model for learning and KM.
In my PhD project “Social Media for Knowledge Management and Technology Enhanced Learning”, I’m trying to study how social media can achieve the convergence between learning and KM and bridge the currently existing gap between the two domains. I’m currently working on a social media driven approach to learning and KM that should have the potential to overcome the deficiencies of previous learning and KM models. This approach should reflect the nature of learning and knowledge as being social, personal, flexible, dynamic, distributed, ubiquitous, and complex.
Some ideas related to this approach are available in the previous posts:

• From Knowledge Management to Knowledge Networking
  
• The 3P Learning Model
  
• Learning as the Networking of explicit/tacit Knowledge Nodes
  
• From Knowledge Worker to Knowledge Networker
  
• The future of Learning and Knowledge Management
  
• Deficiencies in Current Knowledge Management Approaches
  
• Learning and Knowledge Management are 2 sides of the same coin