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Introduction:

Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness or understanding of someone or something, such as 
facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or 
education by perceiving, discovering, or learning. Knowledge can refer to a theoretical or 
practical understanding of a subject. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) 
or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); it can be more or less 
formal or systematic. 
 
Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge. Epistemology asks the &#39;&#39;why?&#39;&#39;, the 
&#39;&#39;for what?&#39;&#39; and the &#39;&#39;how?&#39;&#39; knowledge is produced. It also treats the relation between 
knowledge and belief. As an example, Plato&#39;s philosophy defines knowledge as &#39;&#39;justified 
true belief&#39;&#39;. The relationship between belief and knowledge is that a belief is knowledge if 
the belief is true, and if the believer has a justification (reasonable and necessarily 
plausible assertions/evidence/guidance) for believing it is true. 
 
A false belief is not considered to be knowledge, even if it is sincere. A sincere believer in 
the flat earth theory does not know that the Earth is flat. (This example is treated 
extensively in the subject Epistemology.) 
 
In relation to learning, the question of how to create and how to acquire knowledge is of 
essence. For ages, acquisition of knowledge was an objective in itself in schools. During 
the past 30 years, new paradigms have become dominating, among them the paradigm of 
&#39;&#39;learn to learn&#39;&#39; and that building competences within specific areas that make you fit for 
the labor market is more important than having broad knowledge. 
 
The value and the meaningfulness of acquiring knowledge depend on the same questions 
as the epistemological questions asked above: Why this knowledge? For what purpose, for 
whose purpose? How? 
 
Who asks these questions? For students, these are important questions, because their 
answers influence heavily how they spend their time as students, their autonomy as 
persons and in their groups, and which directions their efforts take. 
 
In DmM as the overall pedagogical method used in the context of a well-defined program, 
these questions and their answers are pertinent. With a fundamental principle of the 
student being the navigator of his own training, with the organized dialectics between the 
individual student, the group and the teacher, with the principle of having access to all 
study material at any time, and with structures in place for deliberation and dialogue in the 
study process, DmM creates conditions for acquiring knowledge to become a lively, 
enriching and formative part of the training.The knowledge represented in DmM is 
considered relevant because it relates to the program. For further elaborating on this 
aspect, you can study the program you are in at the moment. It has a declared purpose, a 
declared direction. It is on this background that knowledge elements are selected.Another 
aspect is the creation of knowledge. Students in the present program create knowledge, by 
investigating and researching the reality, by acting together with other people to make 
changes in the reality, by creating new levels of understanding in the process. All this can 
be programmed in DmM, as study tasks, courses or experiences &ndash; but just as important, it 
can be created in DmM format by students and teachers together. 
 
In this task you will explore the significance of knowledge in learning with DmM.

Directive:

1. Read the introduction and extract what it says about the nature of knowledge. 
 
2. Read the file F1 &#39;&#39;Invitation to Epistemology&#39;&#39;. 
 
3. With these two texts in mind, go searching in the DmM database for your 
program and identify 10 examples of knowledge oriented DmM units &ndash; it can 
be study tasks, courses or experiences. 
 
4. Answer the questions: Why? For what purpose, for whose purpose? How? for 
each of the knowledge elements. 
 
5. Evaluate as a student: Is the identified knowledge of importance to you? 
Why/why not? Are the methods to acquire or create the knowledge adequate 
for the purpose? Why/why not? 
 
6. Discuss if the knowledge presented and the way it is presented in the selected 
DmM units promote a broader or deeper understanding of the topics in 
question. 
 
7. Write 1-2 pages about how you understand the concept of knowledge and its 
significance in learning with DmM, using some of the selected examples and 
your discussions about them. 
 
8. Get comments from your tutor to your writings.

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