Mapping Educational Specialist knowHow (MESH): The Building of a Knowledge Management System

Abstract

In this invited article the authors present an evaluative report on the development of the MESHGuides project (http://www.meshguides.org/). MESHGuides objective is to provide education with an international knowledge management system. MESHGuides were conceived as research summaries for supporting teachers’practice to make it evidence-based. The aim is to enhance teachers capacity to engage actively with research in their own classrooms. The original thinking for MESH arose from the work of UK-based academics Professor Marilyn Leask and Dr Sarah Younie in response to a desire, which has recently gathered momentum in the UK, for the development of a more research-informed teaching profession and for the establishment of an on-line platform to support evidence-based practice (Leask and Younie with 2001), supported by OECD (2009) . The focus of this article is on how the MESHGuides project was conceived and structured, the technical systems supporting it and the reality for academics and teachers of composing and using MESH guides. The project and the guides are in the early stages of development, and discussion indicates future possibilities for more global engagement with this knowledge management system.