Supporting E‐learning: A Guide for Library and Information Managers

Citation

Barker, P. (2005), "Supporting E‐learning: A Guide for Library and Information Managers", The Electronic Library, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 505-506. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470510611616

Since the early days of “computer‐assisted learning”, which were prominent in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, electronic learning has made significant in‐roads into both academic and commercial organisations. The latest manifestation of this approach to knowledge and skill acquisition (dubbed “e‐learning”) is now having a major affect on strategic planning for learning within organisations (as a whole) – as compared to what has been happening at the departmental and individual‐user levels. Naturally, because of the centrality of e‐learning within organisations, institutional libraries are particularly well‐suited for coordinating and managing activity within this important area. This book contains six “essays” that have been contributed by various groups of authors who have had experience in developing and/or managing organisational e‐learning initiatives. The contributions fall naturally into two distinct categories: the first three essays deal with background concepts and planning issues while the second three essays are more orientated towards applications and support for e‐learning.

This volume of essays starts off with a short introduction by the book's editor. She provides a useful overview of the current status of e‐learning within UK academic institutions and then summarises (and interrelates) the subsequent contributions to the book. In the first of the six essays, Sarah Porter discusses the role and importance of “managed learning environments”. She outlines the functions that they are designed to fulfil and then describes how they can be designed and implemented. This chapter provides a useful foundation for the material that is presented in subsequent parts of the book. The second essay (by Oleg Liber) is entitled “Process and Partnerships”. This contribution discusses the need for change within academic organisations and how this can be achieved. The author illustrates how the TASCOI model can be used to enable an institution to identify the types of action it might need to take in order to respond to change. He illustrates the use of the model by applying it to the changing role of libraries and information services departments. Undoubtedly, handling change is a necessary part of organisational development – particularly in the context of teaching and learning within academic institutions. Bearing this in mind, the third essay in this first half of the book, by Robert Hunter and his colleagues, discusses change management in relation to the uptake of e‐learning within an academic setting. It considers the high‐level strategic issues that need to be addressed as part of the process of developing and implementing an e‐learning environment. The authors use their own institution (the University of Birmingham in the UK) in order to illustrate what can be accomplished.

The fourth of the six essays presented in this book, is called “Support in the Use of New Media”. In this contribution, Frank Moretti provides a landscape view of knowledge, study and learning within the context of digital technologies and the world wide web. He provides two vignettes to illustrate the scope of what can be achieved using digital techniques within e‐learning scenarios. These vignettes also serve to illustrate the underlying “design research process” that is involved in developing multimedia e‐learning materials. In the fifth essay, Peter Stubley explores the information skill sets needed by twentieth‐century students and then discusses information literacy within the context of today's generation of university students. He describes, in some detail, various integration projects (underway in the UK at the University of Sheffield) that are aimed at promoting e‐literacy skills across the whole of the University. In the final essay, Frances Hall and Jill Lambert discuss various aspects of collection management from the perspective of providing support for e‐learning. Their main concern is therefore with electronic resources such as e‐books, e‐journals and digital library collections. Some of the important issues considered by these authors include a discussion of the comparative costs of e‐resources (compared with printed materials), pricing models and access to resources (such as on‐campus, off‐campus and integration within an organisational VLE). This essay also contains a useful discussion of “learning objects” within the context of collection management.

Overall, I thought this book contained some very useful information relating to the problems and issues involved in promoting the use of electronic learning within academic organisations at an institutional level. The various contributions integrate together well in order to provide readers with a useful picture of emerging needs and ongoing activities relating to the potential value and uptake of e‐learning. The need for a “central service provision” for this technology is hinted at, and several authors suggest that this should be provided through the medium of library and information services.