Competencies in Organizational E-learning: Concepts and Tools [Hardcover]

Miguel-Angel Sicilia (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2006

Competencies in Organizational E-Learning: Concepts and Tools provides a comprehensive view of the way competencies can be used to drive organizational e-learning, including the main conceptual elements, competency gap analysis, advanced related computing topics, the application of semantic Web technologies, and the integration of competencies with current e-learning standards. Competencies in Organizational E-Learning: Concepts and Tools is the first book to address competencies as a key observable workplace behavior, driving learning and knowledge dissemination processes inside organizations. This book works as a guide for implementing or improving competency-based approaches to e-learning.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dr. Miguel-Angel Sicilia is an Associate Professor, Computer Science Department at the University of Alcalá. He is currently the head of the Information Engineering research unit, where he leads several European and national research projects in the topics of learning technology and Semantic Web. He obtained a University degree in Computer Science from the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Madrid, Spain and a PhD from Carlos III University. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, published by Inderscience, and serves as member of editorial board of many other scientific journals in the area of Semantic Web, Computational Intelligence and Information Systems. He has been active in metadata research and was awarded the 2006 Cyc prize for the best research paper. Dr. Sicilia leads the Special Interest Group on Reusable Learning Objects (SIGRLO) in the Association for Information Systems, and chairs the SPDECE conference series, the premier latin-american pluri-disciplinary event on learning objects.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 374 pages
• Publisher: IGI Global; 1 edition (November 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599043432
• ISBN-13: 978-1599043432
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,618,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Perspectives on Competencies and Knowledge Management, February 4, 2009

By 

John M. Ford "johnDC" (near DC, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Competencies in Organizational E-learning: Concepts and Tools (Paperback)

Miguel-Angel Sicilia has assembled useful papers about competencies from a geographically dispersed set of authors. He defines competencies as "observable capabilities of individuals for specific work situations." (p. vi). The focus of this collection, however, is at the organizational level. The editor's stated purposes are to clarify how to define competencies, suggest how to identify "competency gaps" at the organizational level, and integrate this competency work into larger knowledge management activities. Most of the contributed chapters deal with knowledge management and software systems that support it.

The book is divided into three sections. The first five chapters introduce the basic concepts of competencies, review a broad selection of current and historical competency models, and describe their implications for employee development. They also discuss how human resources management software supports organization-wide use of competencies. These initial chapters have a practical, present-day focus that support decision-making by human resources managers.

Section II discusses competencies as key components of organizational memories--the editor's preferred term for the institutional knowledge retained as individual employees come and go. These chapters are diverse, covering such topics as knowledge management software tools, lifecycle management of knowledge, effective use of competency taxonomies, and development of e-government systems for knowledge management. Chapter X suggests we tighten our definition of competencies by considering their relative specificity, coherency, durability, activity and trainability. The trainability distinction is valuable, given that most competency approaches assume that all competencies are equally trainable. As the authors emphasize, organizations must pursue different strategies for acquiring competencies depending on whether or not employees can easily learn them.

The final Section considers what can be done with competencies as components of the "semantic web." This is an envisioned future enhancement of the web in which automated search routines create new knowledge from competency definitions and other information. These chapters are more speculative, departing from current human resources conceptions of competencies. They explore the most efficient data structures for representing competencies. Authors describe automated software that can identify "competency gaps" and support both hiring and employee development activities to close them.

This is a useful set of articles for specialists working with competencies, particularly those focusing on enterprise-level HR software systems. Good as it is, don't buy it without reading the chapter abstracts. It's more the kind of book you borrow from a university library and copy one or two chapters.