The role of search in corporate learning programs
Enterprise Search as Learning Technology
With the current training industry interest in elearning trends like informal learning, social and collaborative Web 2.0 learning technologies, it’s easy to overlook the importance of the humble search box as a learning tool.
More important now than ever
As companies seek to increase productivity with fewer people and resources, one way to improve efficiency is to create better connections between people and the information they need to do their jobs. It’s not hard to make big improvements in the search situation companies’ internal networks: the barriers that exist between knowledge workers and and information resources within company intranets are profound and economically significant. They fall into several categories:
- Information is hidden away in personal folders in documents that cannot be accessed through the web, and are not searched by a search engine.
- Web-based information that could have wider access is locked down to a small group of people.
- Information is available, but not located where people think to look for it.
- Information is available and can be searched but there are problems with the search engine’s judgement or display which prevent the user from finding it.