Educational Information Systems As Relevant Structures in Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice

Digital platforms may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when searching for relevant structures to bridge the gap between research and practice. Still, they can act as intermediaries by creating a centralized space where different communities are brought together. Their basic function for the transfer process is to provide access to knowledge, structure it and connect it (Hepp 2013). Furthermore, they have the potential to offer new communication channels and complementary mediated transmission forms, enabling alternate access to knowledge (Bernhard-Skala, Sonnenmoser &, Tombeil 2023). Their function in the transfer process is at the same time limited to the features they provide for their users thusly setting boundaries to the production, dissemination and use of knowledge (Hartong & Decupere 2023). For our research, we explored the intermediary role of a specific set of digital platforms in Europe in the context of knowledge transfer. They all focus on the dissemination of information on education and they are open and freely accessible to all. A further specificity is that they are government initiated platforms with a national scope that were established to collect, produce, organize, and distribute educational information and make it available to a wide audience (Kühnlenz et. al 2012, Ramsayer & Lorenz 2001/02). We analysed these portals using, adjusting and adding to the 17 activities of knowledge mobilization compiled by Rycoff-Smith (2022). The analysis revealed similarities as well as differences in the knowledge transfer activities of portals in various countries that we want to exemplify comparing France and Germany. Are there lessons to be learned in the conceptualisation of these portals and in the way they put transfer into practice?