Theory and Practice of Online Knowledge Sharing

Nature of Individual Knowledge Sharing and Learning

A popular socio-cultural theory of learning is that of Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, who explained the mechanism by which knowledge is acquired and represented through knowledge sharing and social interaction (Vygotsky, 1978). This mechanism comprises two planes: the social/individual plane and the public/private plane. Learning starts on the social plane, with learners acquiring new concepts and strategies through interactions with more knowledgeable others. Individual learners then use and extend the concepts and strategies thus acquired to other contexts, and meanings and interpretations are initiated through social interactions (social to individual). Learning then emerges in the public domain, with the knowledge being used by more knowledgeable others and made available to learners. Through interactions within the public domain, individual learners understand, adjust, and implement the knowledge they have learned in the private domain (public to private). Harre (1984) and Wertsch and Bivens (1992) concluded that the success of learning is based on the assumptions that knowledgeable members of a culture will assist others to learn and that learners will actively engage in learning activities to facilitate higher mental functions. Social interactions are initiated among individual learners and naturally result in knowledge sharing.