Drift without direction: how information and technology change the education paradigm

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Drift without direction how information and
technology change the education paradigm

• Stephen Parnell

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Key drivers

• Changes in academic work
• The changing information environment
• Accountability for libraries and academics
• Life long learning

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Changes in academic work

• Growing pressures on time, workload and morale
• Growing emphasis on performance standards and
  accountability
• Shifting from local control and individual
  autonomy to a collective and institutional focus
• Academic work becoming more specialised and
• New tasks blurring distinctions between
  categories of staff

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The changing information environment

• Information available online continues to grow in
  volume
• Reliance upon material readily available rather
  than that which is reliable and relevant
• Easy to confuse use with value
• Divide between academic student use of
  information is increasing

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Sources of information

• Internet
• University supplied readings
• Another institutions library
• Agents library
• Colleagues or personal library
• UniSA databases

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Change in information resources

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Electronic journal additions
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Myths about information online

• Internet information is free(quality information
  is expensive)
• The Internet is easy to use(finding and
  evaluating quality information requires
  information literacy)
• Information availability is uniform across
  subject areas
• Universities control access to the information
  used by students

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Electronic collection issues

• Use versus value
• Undergraduate vs. postgraduate
• Content continuity
• Access versus authority
• Privacy plagiarism

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Electronic resource usage cycle
Reluctance or inability to recommend
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Two culturesChauffeured or self-drive

• Many academic staff are unaware of what is
  available
• Few academics know how their students find
  information
• Some academics refer students to resources they
  know of, but do not use
• Some restrict reference to known resources

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The value of a library service

• good course packages stimulate the desire for
  access to other information resources
• students who use libraries do better academically
  than those who dont
• libraries are seen as a safety net by some
  students - even if not used
• libraries are regarded as an indicator of the
  reputation of the course provider

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• What most users want is unmediated access to the
  full-text of research literature, only a relative
  few are seeking bibliographic information Univ
  ersity Librarian, Sydney

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Changing face of libraries

• Between 1999 and 2000
• Use of bibliographic databases at UniSA fell by
  19
• Use of Australian databases fell by 27
• Use of full-text services increased by 33

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• The entire eBook Business School Collection of
  618 titles is included here

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• Even for those distance education students with
  large bandwidth, information available via the
  Internet is not yet the solution

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Reference or requirement?

• Are all students required to read a defined
  range/number of articles
• Are references evaluated by faculty for authority
  / relevance
• Is it an expectation that all essential
  information will be incorporated in the course
  package?

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Why a literature search?

• Demonstrate an ability to find information?
• Develop an awareness of the range of
  information available
• Demonstrate an ability to evaluate and use
  different sources
• A combination

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Reasons for failure to locate information

• Unsure where to locate information
• Lack of access to library
• lack of guidance by faculty
• lack of Internet search skills
• choice of topic

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Training for all?

• Levels of access to, or familiarity with,
  information technology cannot be assumed by
  providers of international courses who will
  definitely need to invest in training to enable
  students to make best use of the resources
  offered Vassie Woodhead, 1998

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An assumption

• The assistance and resources we know are needed
  for on-campus students, are also needed for those
  studying off-campus.

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Actions Information in teaching and learning

• Consider the relationship between the amount of
  information that needs to be assimilated and
  good teaching practice
• Review the purpose of information finding
  component in courses
• Move from identifying additional information
  resources to determining and promoting quality
  resources

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Drift without direction how information and
technology change the education paradigm

• Thank you
• Questions?