Accommodating ways of human knowing in the design of information and instruction
David H. Jonassen · International Journal of Knowledge and Learning · 2006
The ways that we organise and represent knowledge in curricula, learning environments, and information and knowledge management systems are known as ontologies. Ontologies are meant to reflect the types of knowledge being represented in the system. The most commonly used ontologies reflect ontological knowledge types (declarative, structural, and conceptual knowledge) in hierarchical lists of subject matter topics. Ontologies may also reflect epistemological knowledge types (procedural, situational, and strategic knowledge) based on how processes are performed or phenomenological knowledge types (tacit, compiled, socio-cultural and experiential knowledge) based on human experiences. Ontological representations describe knowing that, while epistemological representations describe knowing how. Phenomenological (experiential) knowledge representations in the form of stories are the most natural, comprehensible, and memorable representations of knowledge. Why is the least meaningful form of knowledge representation the most commonly used to design knowledge-based systems?