Online Learning Options

With the online courses and programs offered through IAKM, current and future professionals can take advantage of graduate education offered through an established university online. Building formal credentials is one way to help advance your career and in IAKM students can do that through coursework developed and taught by experts in the various content areas in information architecture and knowledge management.

Master's Degree Online in Knowledge Management

Beginning in August 2008 the core courses for the master's degree will be offered online allowing students to begin their master's in the Fall 2008 semester. Knowledge management (KM) courses were first offered online in Fall 2007, so those interested in KM can begin their full master's degree in the Summer 2008 semester if they wish with a KM course.

To complete the Master of Science, students must take a core program and select a concentration. All three concentrations share a 5-course, 15-credit hour core and require a thesis (3-6 credit hours) or project (3 credit hours) for completion of the degree. The program's core courses provide a cross-section of the information-related disciplines.

To find out more about the organization of the 42 credit hour (14 course) master's degree, see the IAKM curriculum page.

Certificate in Knowledge Management

Currently IAKM offers an online certificate in knowledge management.

The certificate programs consist of two core courses, 3 elective courses selected from available options, and a capstone experience that is a guided real world project to bring together all that has been learned throughout the program.

Click here for more information about the KM certificate.

Taking Individual Courses as Continuing Education

Students can choose to take courses of special interest without having to join a certificate or master's program. Kent State University offers a Guest student status or Non-degree student status. Both applications are abbreviated over the regular university application and allow students to take advantage of learning opportunities at Kent State University.

Online Certificate in Knowledge Management

Beginning August 2007 IAKM began offering an online graduate certificate program in Knowledge Management through Kent State University for individuals seeking to improve skills and employment opportunities in the knowledge management field. Online courses link students, instructors, and guest speakers on a global scale and offer the flexibility of coursework completion at times convenient to the student.

This certificate is a valuable component to business, computer science, information science, management, and other similar degrees. Employees with knowledge management training are highly valued by many organizations and agencies. Kent State graduates are employed by leading firms in the region and nationwide.

For the first year of the program, we will offer two courses per semester. That's a total of 6 courses. The courses that will be offered in the first year include their projected offering semesters with their listing below. New courses will continually be added to the roster.

Program Outline
Visit the Certificate Courses page for more information about the program organization as well as course descriptions. You can download a PDF copy of the program outline. You can find the schedule of courses for the certificate on the KM Certificate Schedule page.

Faculty
The faculty and course developers are experts in the KM areas covered in IAKM's courses. You can find more information on the faculty on the KM Certificate Faculty page.

Technology Requirements
Because this is a fully online program, there are some basic requirements necessary to be able to participate successfully. The details for technology requirements can be found on the Certificate Technology Requirements page.

Tuition
Tuition is the same for our online program as it is for our on-site program. You can find the current tuition rates on the Bursar’s site.

Admission requirements:

• University Application
  
• Bachelor's Degree and significant experience in the information or knowledge fields
• Minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA (out of 4.0)
• Evidence of computer literacy
• Three letters of recommendation
• Application letter

You can find all application materials on the application page.

Time Limits
Students are required to complete the certificate program within four calendar years but can complete the program requirements in as little as 12 months by taking two courses each semester (Fall, Spring, and Summer).

Multiple Degree Option

Students can pursue multiple degrees of Master of Science in Information Architecture and Knowledge Management (MS in IAKM) or a Master of Science in Library and Information Science (MLIS) and an MS in IAKM. Students must apply to each program or school from which they wish to earn a degree. Each program or school makes an independent admission decision. If approved for admission by both, students may doubly count up to 27 credits for each degree, although, based on the combination of the concentrations taken in each degree, the actual number will range from 12 to 27.

For more detailed information about the Multiple Degree Option with an MLIS and MS in IAKM, please see the LIS Multiple Degree Option page .

Advising
There is a strong advisory component to the IAKM degree program. Students interested in the Multiple Degree Option should contact their IAKM advisor with any questions at (330) 672-5840 in order to be guided through the courses to ensure an appropriate balance of IAKM and LIS courses, requisite shared content and novel content.

Information Use in IAKM

Like information architecture information use can be approached from two perspectives: a broad approach and a narrow approach.

In the broad approach , information ergonomics is central. It is adapting the information system or sources to fit the environment of users and information needs so as to achieve goals of maximum access, usability, efficiency and effectiveness. This concentration entails four areas:

(1) Users, their needs and experience;
(2) Communication processes and strategies within and across organizations and systems;
(3) Information content creation, development and deployment; and
(4) The interoperability of information systems for the sharing of knowledge.

The narrow approach is concerned with usability, particularly usability testing, of the effectiveness and efficiency of web interfaces.

The IU offering encompasses the study of:
• User and Task Analysis for Information Systems
• Usability Engineering
• Usability Laboratory
• Information Needs, Uses and Users
• Computer-Assisted Collaboration and Virtual Communities
• Information Seeking Behavior
• Human Information Processing
• Methodologies and Software for Usability Engineering and Evaluation
• IU Successes and Failures: Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Students interested in IU have the benefit of access to the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) Usability Lab, a state of the art facility for studying human-computer interaction. For more information about the features of the lab and how it may be used for research and education, see the SLIS Usability Lab page.

Additional Resources
Additional information to help prospective students learn more about IU is available on the Resources page. Students may also gain insight by visiting the websites of relevant Professional Organizations and browsing a list of Potential Employers for IU graduates.

Information Architecture in IAKM

Information Architecture is approached from two perspectives: a broad approach and a narrow approach.

In the broad approach, all information systems, whether an organizational brochure, a conference presentation or an online public access catalog involve information architecture. The information architect designs and implements a specific system and interface or information space, based on organizational requirements and aesthetic and usability considerations in ways similar to the ways an architect deploys a building in physical space concentrating on aesthetic, functional and usability or user-experience goals.

In the narrow approach, the focus is on world wide web interfaces, the dominant form of access to information systems. Both approaches involve the use of graphic, multimedia, labeling, and information and/or navigation design to facilitate access to content. These tools are used to resolve information needs including making it easier for site visitors to seek the product they wish to purchase on an e-commerce site.

The IA offering encompasses the study of:
• Information Design
• Visual Communication Design for Information Architects
• Project Management and Deliverables
• Online Branding
• Content Management Systems
• Interaction and User Experience Design
• Metadata, Indexing, Thesauri and Ontologies
• Writing for the Non-Linear Media
• IA Successes and Failures: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
• Needs Analysis
• Usability Studies

Learn more about the curriculum for the master's on the IA Curriculum page. Find out more about career options for information architecture graduates on the IA Careers Page.

Additional Resources
To learn more about IA, prospective students can browse helpful websites and tutorials on the Resources page, explore relevant Professional Organizations and view a list of Potential Employers for IA graduates.

Knowledge Management in IAKM

Knowledge management is a discipline that takes a comprehensive, systematic approach to the information assets of an organization by identifying, capturing, collecting, organizing, indexing, storing, integrating, retrieving and sharing them. Such assets include intellectual capital, employee expertise, business and competitive intelligence, and organizational memory. It strives to make the collective knowledge, information and experiences of the organization available to individual employees or organizational groups for their use and to motivate them to contribute their knowledge to the collective assets. It seeks to create or identify communities of practice or interest, especially to identify lesson learned and best practices.

Knowledge Management versus MBA
Knowledge Management takes a comprehensive approach to the knowledge and information assets of an organization. It includes intellectual capital, such as an employee's expertise and customers' knowledge as part of an organization's assets and part of its balance sheet. Informal knowledge, such as employees' know-how, is lost with employee reductions, turnover or retirement. It must be anticipated and replaced with formal knowledge that allows for easy management of these intellectual assets. Traditional Master's programs in Business do not teach the skills required for managing intellectual capital and tacit knowledge. Furthermore, they do not teach knowledge organization methodologies, collaboration modalities, enterprise content management or document engineering that make the organization efficient, effective, innovative and competitive. There is the need to capitalize on what an organization collectively knows and a need to manage complexity, not only the internal dynamics of the organization, but in its ability to cope with governmental requirements at all levels and other environmental changes.

Our KM Program Will Offer Courses in Topics Such As:
• Ontologies, Thesauri and Knowledge Discovery
• Business Process Management
• KM Successes and Failures: Best Practices and Lessons Learned
• Intellectual Capital, Assets and Valuation
• Collaboration Strategies and Technologies for Knowledge Sharing
• Knowledge Management, Innovation and Creativity
• Metadata Management and Information Architectures
• Intelligent Complex Adaptive Systems
• Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence and Knowledge Management
• Knowledge Discovery through Data and Information Mining
• Visionary Leadership for Knowledge Managers
• Knowledge Management and Learning Organizations
• Strategic Knowledge Management (Communities-of-Practice and Communities-of-Interest)

Studying KM in IAKM
There are several ways to study knowledge management in IAKM. Students may choose to undertake the Master of Science Degree (42 credit hours), the Certificate in Knowledge Management (18 credit hours), or take individual courses for continuing education as non degree students. Those who are interested in taking individual courses as they become available may enroll in Kent State University as non-degree students. Please contact Janna Korzenko at 330-672-5841 for more information about any of these options.

Additional Resources
For more information on KM, browse collected KM Resources, relevant Professional Organizations and Potential Employers for KM graduates.