Abstract
The term "learning organization" (Senge 1990) has come into wideuse. Watkin (1996) reported that 300 organizations professed to be learning organizations, although many were not. Now the Knowledge Management movement has superseded the learning organization fad. In abandoning the learning organization, the fundamentalimportance of learning may also have been given short shrift. The purpose of this paper is to reinforce learning's preeminent role in the building and sustaining of the knowledge management philosophy. The emphasis should be on the process that enhances knowledge: the capacity for effective action. New computer augmented learning applications can enhance the individual's knowledge that leads to effective task performance. The technology embodied in user interfaces, computer memory, and data bases (or knowledge bases) has evolved so that it is now capable of doing what Doug Englebart (1963) envisioned with his term "intellectual augmentation." New learning applications have been developed that have a critical and basic role in the achievement of knowledge management. Several examples of applications in widespread use are provided as evidence of the maturity of computer augmented learning systems. Many leading firms are employing systems that are aimed at capture of critical knowledge, placing it in knowledgebases, and facilitating access for those in the organization who need to learn from that knowledge. A review of some of these knowledge management developments underway and in research underscores the importance of this foundational approach.
Recommended Citation
Synder, Charles A. and Wilson, Larry T., "Computer Augmented Learning: The Basisof Sustained Knowledge Management" (1997). AMCIS 1997 Proceedings. 81.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis1997/81