Elective Courses

This course will equip students with skills and strategies on how to plan, design, develop and deploy knowledge management programs for different types of organizations as well as for different sectors of the global economy. A hallmark of the course’s approach is that students will learn the steps from planning to deployment from a systems standpoint, i.e., students will learn how to use systems engineering principles as an analytic and structured framework for designing and implementing knowledge management programs that are responsive to organizational needs.

The course first provides an overview of the strategic value of institutional and project knowledge when properly managed, shared and applied, or leveraged to support decision making.  Next, a system’s view and analysis of knowledge management (KM) is introduced as critical to business success because of the strategic value of knowledge assets. The knowledge management “system” as used in this course comprises of all the organizational elements that go into formulating a knowledge management strategy and its related implementation programs. Such system is made up of a defined KM strategy, appropriate information technology (IT) tools, processes, teams and leadership engagements, implementation programs delivery, institutional learning, lessons learned, knowledge sharing and transfer methodologies. Further, students will learn how to conduct organizational KM needs assessment, define institutional KM drivers, strategy formulation and knowledge sharing protocols. Students will also acquire skills for developing robust knowledge management practices and programs that support business objectives, enable project success, and sustain improved organizational performance. Additionally, students will apply the structured KM design principles they learned to real-world organizational challenges and opportunities. Assignments comprise a combination of individual exercises, a group project, and a final exam.

Pre-requisites: There is no pre-requisite knowledge or specific competency required for taking this course, because the instruction will include knowledge management fundamentals as well as systems engineering basics.

The fusion of traditional information science principles with advanced AI technologies is revolutionizing knowledge management. This course explores how artificial intelligence, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), is transforming information organization, retrieval, and utilization in digital environments.

Students explore the world of AI-enhanced findability, learning to architect intelligent knowledge platforms that maximize the value of structured and unstructured data. The course covers:

• Large Language Models (LLMs) and their game-changing applications in information retrieval

• Vector databases and cognitive search capabilities

• Advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) and semantic technologies

• Knowledge graphs and how they are being used to add meaning to LLMs

• Machine learning for sophisticated classification and categorization

• Ethical considerations in AI-powered information systems

Through hands-on projects culminating in the design of real-world applications, students will gain practical experience in architecting AI-enhanced information systems. You'll learn to make informed decisions about integrating AI technologies into information architecture, balancing traditional methods with cutting-edge solutions.

This course is ideal for future knowledge strategists, information architects, and AI enthusiasts who want to lead the next generation of intelligent information systems. Join us to explore the intersection of AI and information science and prepare to shape the future of knowledge work.

No programming experience is required—just your curiosity and readiness to engage with the forefront of information technology.

The exponential growth of information and data—combined with software that can understand and learn from experience—provides entrepreneurs with tremendous opportunities to bring innovative customer-focused solutions to market. While there are no direct paths to bring a new product idea to market, there are easily identifiable milestones that can guide the way from idea generation to product profitability. This course will explore the process of early-stage development of knowledge-driven, data-intensive digital products like Spotify, Netflix, Watson, and TripAdvisor. The goal is to create a hands-on entrepreneurial experience at its most elemental and visceral level—ideation, brainstorming, interacting with customers, building a founding team, developing a business model, managing risk, investigating competitors, pitching the business to potential investors, and creating an interactive mobile app prototype (a design proof of concept for your business idea) through an iterative user-centered design process.

In this course, we use Eric Reis’ startup method from his book, Lean Startup, as a foundation for creating and testing new ideas. Students learn to validate their new product ideas in the market by immediately engaging with customers to gauge whether their idea solves a problem better than alternative solutions. Building on the insight generated by customer interviews, students design a business model using the Lean Canvas approach designed by Ash Maurya and iterate their ideas based on Design Thinking (Tim Brown) principles. Throughout the course, we will shift from learning to the rapid application of new frameworks to speed up product design and development.

Students will be exposed to all the pressures and demands of real-world start-ups by participating in teams tasked with creating weekly deliverables required to launch a new business. The user-experience skills and methods that are taught in this class are in demand by employers and startups across nearly every industry and reflect the latest best practices used to create today’s most widely used and award-winning digital products. The skills developed in this class apply to many real-world business problems that require an agile and iterative approach.

Fall: in-person; Summer: online (synchronous)

Overview: Within this course, students will explore how practices from human-centered design (HCD) can be applied to the end-to-end data science workflow—problem (use case) definition, data collection & preparation, data exploration, data modeling, and communicating and visualizing the results— in order to build trust in data that is used to drive strategy and decision making and impact organizational change. Students will learn about fundamental human values and how methods from the behavioral sciences and HCD can inspire ethical use of data to drive strategy and change in the modern, data-driven workplace. Students will understand how keeping “humans in the loop” is beneficial, and they will develop a critical eye for assessing whether the data they rely on to make decisions at work is human-centric, particularly as we become more reliant on data science and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to inform our insights, strategies, and decision making at work.

Content & Goals: Through hands-on, project-based work, students will work individually and in project teams to practice designing human-centric information and communication experiences, leveraging audience-focused data visualizations and storytelling techniques to drive a strategic workplace objective, motivating leaders and employees into action to create traceable organizational impact that benefits people. Students will have an opportunity to practice their writing and presentation skills through practical course assignments.
 

Logistics: This graduate-level elective course is designed for students in Information & Knowledge Strategy but is open to other students at Columbia University. This course would be relevant to students studying management and technology more broadly. The course will be delivered in person on Columbia’s campus during the spring semester. No prerequisites.

Overview: This one-semester course (elective, IKNS students only, hybrid) provides an opportunity for a student to extend or supplement their educational experience via a deep-dive into an established or novel area of research of their choice (the topic), under the guidance and supervision of a faculty member (the supervisor). An independent study course allows a student to work one-on-one with a faculty member to gain and contribute new insight into the discipline of Knowledge Management.

Topic and objective: The topic can be chosen freely by the student as long as it falls within the general realm of Knowledge Management or its specific content areas in the IKNS curriculum, such as IT systems, knowledge organizing systems, data repositories, business data analytics including machine learning and AI, learning processes, collaboration, dialogue, team and project management, transformational leadership, change management, digital transformation, or digital product innovation. The course will therefore serve the dual purpose of allowing a student to pursue their own intellectual curiosity and to make a contribution to the wider discipline of Knowledge Management. In addition, students will deepen their understanding of the content they acquired in other courses, by applying this content to the specific topic chosen for the Independent Study.

Logistics: Ahead of registration in this course, the student meets with the supervisor to discuss and agree on (i) the topic and the relevant IKNS curriculum area(s); (ii) the timeline of deliverables, milestones, and contact hours for the semester; and (iii) the number of credits. The student summarizes these points in a ~1 page Independent Study Proposal (template is available from IKNS). The student can register for the course only once the supervisor and the Academic Program Director agree to and sign the Independent Study Proposal (which includes the topic, the IKNS curriculum area, the number of credits, and the assigned supervisor). The number of credits (1-3) will be commensurate with the scope of the Independent Study. The scope can range from a summary of existing sources (typically 1 credit. 5-10 page report), to a synthesis or meta-analysis of existing and new sources, e.g., interviews with subject matter experts (typically 2 credits, 10-15 pages report), to a comprehensive study which adds the student’s own critical discussion and suggestions to the topic (typically 3 credits; 15-20 pages report).

Academic Commons: Upon completion of the Independent Study, students may choose to submit their findings to Columbia University's Academic Commons.  Materials submitted to Academic Commons are accessible to anyone in the world, free of charge. It is the responsibility of the submitting student to make sure that the submitted material is free of confidential or otherwise sensitive data or information that may have been part of the student's research process (e.g., names of interview partners who may not want to be named, company-proprietary data or business strategies, etc.). Please consult with your supervisor to consider sanitizing respective portions of your Independent Study report before submitting it to Academic Commons.

Pre-requisites: PS5300 (Foundations of the Knowledge-driven Organization) or instructor permission.

Students enroll in this course (for credit) in parallel to carrying out an internship with a non-Columbia entity (private sector, NGO, non-profit, or government). International students can enroll in this course as part of their optional Curricular Practical Training (CPT). Please contact the IKNS program administration for details.

This course requires you to experience firsthand a program-related job in a real working environment. You will engage in personal, environmental and organizational reflection. The ideal Internship will provide you an opportunity to gain tangible and practical knowledge in your chosen field by taking on a position that is closely aligned with your coursework and professional interests. Before registering for this course, you must have completed the Internship Application Form in which you will describe your internship sponsor and provide details about the work that you will be doing. This form must be signed by your internship supervisor and approved by your program director BEFORE you register for this course.

To receive instructor approval, the internship:

• Must provide an opportunity for the student to apply course concepts, either at the organizational or team level
• Must fit into the planned future program-related career path of the student

You must identify your own internship opportunities. The internship must involve a commitment to completing a minimum of 210 hours over the semester.

Project management has been important to many types of missions, projects, and activities for many years; however, it has been especially critical to the success of large complex projects across decades and centuries.  Large complex projects span the globe across all industries and sectors. They also span concepts, product design, development, manufacturing, operations, and logistics, etc. Products may include hardware, software, services, product support, systems, and systems of systems, etc.

The primary focus of this course will be around project leadership as projects are planned and executed (project management).  The course will start by recognizing the need and benefits of project management for large complex global projects, explore characteristics of project managers, and study the commonality and differences in types of projects.  The course will continue with understanding the essential capabilities of project management, and analyze the variations in project lifecycles. The course will address managing risk throughout the project lifecycle, controls, and performance measurement, and maximizing the use of knowledge.  Lastly, the course will visualize the future of projects and project management structure and core capabilities.

Our fundamental goal is to better prepare leaders for large complex global projects.  This will be gained via readings; real-world case studies; and study, research, analysis, and exploration by the students.  Therefore, the course will require students to engage in reflection, discussion, activities, and assignments aimed at personal unlearning and learning.  The assignment and class discussions will be quite provocative to drive maximum learning.

This course is offered in block week format, typically held in January.

The economy of the world is changing. The goal of this course is to understand the drivers of the change, study organization exemplars innovating to harness these drivers for advantage, and provide the tools and strategies for staying competitive and successful. We will explore the changing nature of work, provide the means for better understanding what is occurring, and develop strategies for successfully navigating this new world.

This course will start by noticing how platforms, robotics, AI, automation, data, digitization, and the speed of technology has changed work. We will then connect technology innovation with the ultimate advantage of people and the adaptive and value-centered capabilities of leaders that are taking these advantages to the next level of delivering notable value.

This will lead to learning from the forward leaning “See’ers and Do’ers” from teams and organizations that are harnessing successes in three vital areas of “intangibles” — leadership, knowledge, culture — the pillars necessary for success in the many potential futures of work organizations are facing. The course focus will be on offering students an understanding of the critical capabilities necessary for success, and providing skills that can be applied to successfully navigating the future of work for themselves, their team, and their own organization.

Our core question is, how to start, build, and sustain capabilities for successfully navigating the future of work? The course will answer this question by looking to current leaders and success organizations who are demonstrably leading the way. This will be combined with research that validates a set of core principles. Our learning bias is based on action and doing. Therefore, the course will require students to engage in reflection, discussion, activities, and assignments aimed at personal unlearning and learning.

Invited Speakers

• Alicia Aitken, Executive Investment Management, ANZ Australia 
• Alison Bakken, SVP, Thomson Reuters 
• David Dabscheck, GIANT Innovation 
• Stephane Kasriel, CEO, Upwork 
• Navy Tactical Advancements for the Next Generation (TANG) Design Team 
• Greg Robinson, NASA, Program Director, James Webb Space Telescope 
• Barry O’Reilly, CEO, Unlearn, Best selling author 
• Alan Richter, QED, Ethical Standards and Decent Work 
• Lt. Gen, Sattler, Chair – US Naval Academy Center for Ethical Leadership 
• Ben Williams, COO Exyn, Entrepreneur in Residence, UPenn

The primary objective of this course is to become familiar with the typical phases of an internal or external consulting project. The course is designed to provide a deep understanding of the typical challenges, opportunities, phases, and methods for conducting a successful consulting assignment for knowledge-based organizations. A typical strategic consulting assignment includes the following phases: organization assessment, sponsor/client relationship, gathering data, diagnosis issues, implementation, and measurement. Drawing on examples from a variety of organizations, this course will focus directly on strategies for building a successful knowledge service or product for organizations or institutions. We will provide knowledge of foundational frameworks and theories and the need for tailored approaches for different clients. Students will get hands-on experience diagnosing and proposing knowledge strategies for improving organizational effectiveness and competitiveness. 

Successful consulting, whether internal or external, requires many capabilities and, at heart, is dependent on the client-consultant relationship. Students will be engaged in working on a simulated consulting assignment based on the current organization in which they work. Alternatively, students may discuss with the faculty to be assigned to work with a voluntary organization seeking student input. During the term, each student will complete individual and team assignments that build on the deliverables needed for an actual consulting assignment. By developing expertise in strategic leadership consulting, students will gain credibility, competence, and confidence in their ability to communicate, design, develop, and provide knowledge and change services to an organization and society. During the semester, students will learn strategies for building knowledge services, including the models, methods, processes, and social factors that promote successful change. 

This course is designed for students who are or will be working in positions that require internal or external organizational consulting skills or in positions that require managing organizational change initiatives. No prerequisites.