The first issue of the Journal of Library Services for Distance Education offered innovative perspectives on the future of library services for off-campus/distance education. The scenarios envisaged by its authors are increasingly the reality in higher education library and support services. As we move towards a fuller and varied range of online services, information and communication technologies play a key role in bridging the gulf between the "more" and the "less" - demand for more services at multiple locations at any hour, versus fewer staff, funds and resources. The hybrid library of the future, with electronic and traditional services operating side by side, is developing already; it tends to be characterised by increasingly close co-operation between learner support units and, often, structural convergence. In this context, professional roles are blurring and relationships changing, to enable services to offer the blend of IT and information support which is required by end-users if they are to become effective networked learners, teachers and researchers.
Our interest on the NetLinkS project is in the field of continuing professional development (CPD) for this new environment. Are hybrid libraries to be staffed by hybrid information professionals? And how will the relationship between support and teaching staff develop, in the networked environment? Recent research in the UK (for instance, by Garrod 1997) suggests that as online approaches to both campus-based and distance learning are adopted, we are witnessing the beginning of a merging of library, computing and academic roles, with opportunities for information professionals to make an important contribution to designing and supporting rich environments for networked learning at both departmental and institutional levels. The functions of librarians, other learner support staff and academic staff are changing and seem likely to continue to change at an accelerated pace in response to the demands and opportunities created by the networks.
In the UK, the Electronic Libraries (eLib) programme, which takes forward the recommendations of the 1993 Follett Report, addresses the challenges of delivering high quality information support online. NetLinkS is one of the programme's training and awareness projects. Based in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield, the project began in September 1995 and will run until May 1998. NetLinkS has been aiming to encourage the further development of networked learner support (NLS) within higher education, by investigating its potential and providing a range of awareness-raising and professional development activities and resources. NLS is the term used by the project to refer to the educational role of information staff in support of online learning, encompassing the provision of online approaches to user education, information skills training and reference/enquiry assistance, using technologies such as electronic mail, the Web, asynchronous computer conferencing, real-time chat, multi-user environments and video-conferencing (see Fowell and Levy 1995, for further discussion of what is meant by NLS from the perspective of information services). A key challenge for this role is to work more closely with academic staff as they begin to use the Web and other networked technologies in their campus-based or distance teaching, in order to provide support for resource-based learning approaches and to embed opportunities for information-related skills development more securely into the learning experience.
In its first year, the project held focus group discussions in nineteen UK higher education institutions. The main aim was to gather information about the range of local and cross-sectoral issues affecting the development of NLS, while at the same time raising awareness at a local level to stimulate further NLS activity. A range of "stakeholders" in the development of networked learning were invited to attend the discussions at each institution - including library and information professionals, computing staff, academics, staff development and teaching/learning support staff, and distance learning specialists - in order to encompass the breadth of perspective involved. The NetLinkS research report presents the main themes of the discussions.
The second phase of the project has principally aimed to support a networked "community of interest" for NLS. Via its Web site, the project maintains a resource base of materials and information sources including current awareness information on UK and international NLS practice, technologies relevant to NLS, and organisational and professional issues. The project also hosts a programme of networked professional development activities, namely a series of "mini-conferences" led by guest speakers on the project's discussion list, nls-forum (archived on our Web site) and an online course entitled "Networked learner support in higher education." We would like to focus here on the latter in particular.
Educational expertise for the online environment
"We need to be able to understand the pedagogic environment we're working in."
"I think you need an awareness of how people learn... a teaching community, a lot of librarians don't come from a teaching background."
"Knowledge of the diversity of ways people learn and how the technology is working - pedagogic practice and information about what technologies exist."
During the focus group discussions, IT and information support staff were asked to consider current awareness and training needs associated with their further development of NLS, and to consider the potential value to them and to their institutions of an online, distance learning course designed to meet some of these needs. "Skills gaps" were identified in the areas of IT, the use and evaluation of networked information resources, and educational applications of the networked environment, as well as in cross-disciplinary team-work and the management of change and innovation. A need was identified for cultural change in relation to role perceptions and the way learner support is conceived of in organisations.
These staff indicated interest in a wide range of issues related to the educational dimension of NLS. Awareness of emerging educational uses of networked technologies was seen as the foundation for more in-depth specialisation, and it was felt that a good deal of general awareness-raising in this respect still needed to be done. A desire was expressed for information-sharing between institutions about the use of networked methods for information support and for teaching/learning more generally, and participants were keen to have access to illustrations of good practice. Involvement in professional forums dealing with educational issues was also seen as vital for library and other staff likely to be involved in NLS.
Learner support staff in focus groups also highlighted the need for a general understanding of the way people learn via online methods, as a pre-requisite for designing online learning materials and courses, and for working with teaching colleagues. As an extension to this, some suggested that in order to work closely with academic staff and to tailor support to local needs, it was important to be aware of differences in teaching/learning cultures at the level of disciplines and departments.
More specifically, participants emphasised the design and tutoring skills which would be required to create or adapt online learning resources and deliver programmes using CMC:
"I think from my user education perspective developing learning packages is very time-consuming and is a different set of skills from those which I've had and I think that's a challenge. I think training people how to use networked information and evaluate it is fine and I've got every confidence that the people who do user education would be able to do it and do it very well, and I think that supporting enquiries that come through email and that kind of thing, and writing Web pages would not be a problem in terms of the staff skills. I think having the space to develop electronic learning packages would be profoundly different and would be difficult."
"I feel I need to know more about how we could use the network as a learning medium. It's terribly primitive at the moment... the library has only got as far as saying what resources are available, and we've got a growing number of links to material...there's a possibility of a link to a worksheet. That strikes me as very rudimentary, I just wonder whether there are ways of doing something more with the resource we've got, actually perhaps a bit more dynamic for learners... something more than just the equivalent of the pieces of paper."
Developing the educational expertise associated with NLS often struck participants in the groups as more problematic than skills development envisaged in the areas of IT or information expertise. For instance:
"Computer-services need more information skills and we have some of them, and Library staff need more computing skills and they already have some of them. Then there are these teaching and learning skills and I'm not quite sure how we acquire them."
Online Professional Development Course
Focus group discussions confirmed the potential value of a flexible CPD model for NLS, based on online, experiential and collaborative learning. The project is, consequently, currently piloting a 16-week, Web-based, distance learning course which aims to provide an overview of current trends and issues in NLS and to offer concrete, practical support for participants' workplace activities in this field. In particular, the course aims to enable participants to focus on the potential of CMC and the Web in the provision of reference/enquiry services and user education/training, and on the organisational and professional issues associated with their educational role in the on-line environment.
The course is accessed entirely via the Internet, using the Web and a range of electronic communication facilities. Participation is based on a mix of individual, small group and larger-group activities, supported by both asynchronous and real-time discussion (main communications media are a Web-based conferencing system called Focus and a MOO). Course tutors and technical support are provided by the NetLinkS team, as are Web-based tutorial resources and a collection of links to external resources on the topics covered. The course is aiming to introduce participants to:
Throughout the course, which has been designed from a broadly constructivist point of view (see, for example, Grabinger and Dunlap 1995), participants are encouraged to take a self-directed approach to their learning, and link their course activities to issues and practical initiatives at work. Activities aim to provide a basis for developing work-based projects, which there is an opportunity to plan and, perhaps, begin to implement, within the 16-week timescale. Emphasis is also placed on exchange of experience and ideas between participants, and developing a professional learning community which may extend beyond the course itself. The experiential and collaborative design is fundamental to gaining practical understanding of methods and issues in on-line teaching and support, and to developing skills in using the online learning environment. On presentation of a portfolio of work demonstrating their overall participation in all aspects of the course, participants will receive a certificate of completion. This may subsequently be used for accreditation of prior learning purposes, perhaps on the year-long Postgraduate Certificate in Networked Learner Support, offered by the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield.
Forty people are enrolled on the pilot course, from 32 higher education institutions around the UK. All currently have responsibility for developing online approaches to user education, information skills training or enquiry/reference services, or are interested in doing so in the future. They are expected to devote at least 6 hours per week to the course. Some are strongly supported by their managers and have been freed from their normal duties to participate; others take part largely in their own time. The course is accessed mainly from workplace terminals but a number of participants (mostly librarians/information support staff, plus some computing and IT specialists) also access it from home. None had prior personal experience of this mode of learning, although they were nearly all experienced Internet and Web users at the start of the course. In the introductory Unit, they expressed a range of motivations for enrolling on the course:
Main concerns at that time revolved around pressures of work, perceived lack of time, how to manage personal participation most effectively, the level of IT and technical expertise required of them, and interacting in an online environment without the immediacy and personal contact of face-to-face learning.
There has already been a good deal of on-going feedback and discussion about the pedagogic model we have adopted and participants' experiences of this mode of professional development. The course is being evaluated as part of the NetLinkS project, and is also part of a separate action research project, which aims to assess the following elements of the model, including the interaction between them, their role in the learning environment, and their effectiveness from a variety of perspectives:
It is hoped that the model will have relevance for online professional development in a range of areas in the library/information field, as well as for continued CPD for NLS; piloting the course has proved to be a rich learning experience so far from where we stand as tutors and course designers, and we are eager to find out more about participant perspectives in the coming months.
References
NetLinkS (Collaborative Professional Development for Networked Learner Support) [http://netways.shef.ac.uk/] (12 Dec. 1997)
Garrod, P. New skills for information professionals. Information UK Outlooks. London: British Library and South Bank University, 1997.
eLib: Electronic Libraries Programme [http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/services/elib/] (12 Dec. 1997).
Report of the Joint Funding Councils' Libraries Review Group (The Follett Report). Bristol: Higher Education Funding Council for England, 1993.
Fowell, S. and Levy, P. "Developing a new professional practice: a model for networked learner support in higher education." Journal of Documentation, 51, no. 3 (1995): 271-280. [Also available at [http://www.aslib.co.uk/jdoc/1995/sep/4.html] (12 Dec.1997).
Levy, P., Bowskill, N., Worsfold, E., Ashton, S. J. & Wilson, T. D. NetLinkS Research Report. 1997. [http://netways.shef.ac.uk/rbase/reports/content.htm] (12 Dec. 1997).
nls-forum [http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/nls-forum/] (12 Dec. 1997).
NetLinkS, "Networked Learner Support in Higher Education" [http://netways.shef.ac.uk/online/nls_publicity/] (12 Dec. 1997).
Grabinger, R.S. & Dunlap, J.C. "Rich environments for active learning: a definition." ALT-J Association of Learning Technology Journal 3 no.2 (1995): 5-34.
Sarah Ashton
University of Sheffield
E-mail: s.j.ashton@sheffield.ac.uk
Web: http://netways.shef.ac.uk/about/staff/sarah.htm
Sarah Ashton is Research Associate and Information Officer for NetLinkS, a training and awareness project funded by the UK Electronic Libraries programme.
Philippa Levy
University of Sheffield
E-mail: p.levy@sheffield.ac.uk
Web: http://netways.shef.ac.uk/about/staff/phil96.htm
Philippa Levy is a lecturer in the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield, and manager of NetLinkS. Her research interests are in curriculum and institutional development for networked learning in higher education, and the educational role of the information professional in the networked environment.
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State University of West Georgia - Carrollton, Georgia Vol. I, No. 2 - June 1998 - ISSN: 1096-2123 |