Opportunities and Challenges of the Knowledge Management Approach to E-Learning: A Case Study in Al-Bayan Model School for Girls, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The digital divide between developed and developing countries is increasing rapidly. However, a number of developing countries are striving to narrow this gap by enriching their societies through the introduction of ICT based business activities. Knowledge management and E-learning are examples of such ICT supported activities. Knowledge management applications are aimed to provide organizations with tools to manage their business knowledge, while the focus of e-learning has always been on managing the delivery of academic knowledge. Efforts to integrate both areas of research are lacking. This paper presents a knowledge management approach for e-learning applications. It highlights the joint characteristics of the two concepts and proposes a KM view of e-learning. The aim is to streamline the transfer of educational content among the stakeholders of a typical e-learning environment. The proposed approach has been implemented in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is a developing country where many cultural issues have to be taken into consideration