The Resource Discovery Network...

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The Resource Discovery Network...
helping you make the best of the Web
RDN Focus Group, Loughborough College, January 31
2002 Tessa Griffiths RDNC Development Officer
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Overview

• What is the Resource Discovery Network?
• What do we do and why?
• How can you use it?
• How can we improve the service?

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What is the RDN?
The Resource Discovery Network

• A national collection of Internet resources
• 43,000 resources and rising
• Additional services supporting teaching and
  learning
• Subject-specific services via hubs
• RDN Virtual Training Suite
• Behind the Headlines
• JISC-funded a national service

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The problem....
finding relevant, high quality, authoritative
information on the Internet
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Commercial search engines?

• The limitations
• The Invisible Web millions of Internet
  resources cannot be indexed by search engines
• Automated descriptions these do not always
  convey what one really wants to know about a site
• Indiscriminate automatic search engines cannot
  judge the quality or provenance of data.
• The result? Lack of precision in search
  resultsdifficulty in identifying relevant, high
  quality resources

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Resource Discovery Network

• Our solution
• Use of subject specialists to identify, assess,
  and describe high quality Internet resources
• Walled garden- somewhere learners/teachers can
  go to find reliable information
• The result? Greater precision and relevance in
  search resultseasy and reliable identification
  of authoritative resources

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Some background
The RDN is a partnership of over 70 institutions
(universities, colleges, museums) bringing
together a wealth of expertise
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Our lead partners

• Currently the RDN offers five subject hub
  services
• Biome - health and life sciences
• University of Nottingham
• EEVL - engineering, maths and computing
• Heriot-Watts University
• Humbul humanities
• Oxford University
• PSIgate - physical sciences
• Consortium of Academic Libraries in Manchester
• SOSIG - social sciences, business and law
• University of Bristol

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The network
Royal College of Nursing Natural History
Museum Royal Veterinary College Royal Free
Hospital LTSN for Biosciences
Coming soon
three new hubs
Geography environment Arts creative
industries Sport, tourism and leisure
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Using the RDN
ResourceFinder Multidisciplinary search engine
Hub catalogues Business BIZ/ED Engineering
EEVL Humanities HUMBUL Law SOSIG Life Sciences
BIOME Physical Sciences PSIGATE Reference
Resources RDNC Social Sciences SOSIG
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ResourceFinder
you will need to know how recent legislation,
policies, reforms and proposals have affected the
structure and funding of services for example
the Mental Health Act.. AVCE Health and Social
Care, Unit 5, from AQA
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ResourceFinder
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Searching the RDN
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Using BIOME
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Using BIOME
you will need to know about the basic anatomy
and physiology of the major organ systems of the
body AVCE Health and Social Care, Unit 3, from
AQA
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Using BIOME
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Using EEVL
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Using EEVL
You will need to produce a study of an
organisation involved in significant engineering
activity within any engineering sector AVCE
Engineering, Unit 1, from AQA
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Using EEVL
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Using SOSIG
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Using SOSIG
You need to produce a case study on one local
health, social care or early years organisation
that is part of a national framework AVCE
Health and Social Care, Unit 5, from AQA
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Using SOSIG
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Using Humbul
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Using Humbul
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Using PSIgate
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Using PSIgate
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Coming soon three new hubs

• Hospitality, Sports, Tourism and Leisure
• (FE partner Birmingham College of Food, Tourism
  Creative Studies)
• Arts and Creative Industries
• (FE partner South Cheshire College of Further
  Education)
• Geography and Environment

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Behind the Headlines
Background information from the RDN on the latest
news stories
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War on Terrorism
Anthrax scare
Aviation security
Middle East
Security at nuclear power stations
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War on Terrorism
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Virtual Training Suite
www.vts.rdn.ac.uk

• Designed to teach Internet information skills
  to the higher and further education communities
  in the UK
• Subject-based, teach yourself tutorials
• 40 tutorials currently available

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Virtual Training Suite
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Internet Psychologist
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Take the tutorial
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Take the tutorial
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Take the tutorial
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A new project
A Virtual Training Suite for Further Education

• Complete redesign of tutorial model for post-16
  learners
• Shorter, snappier learning chunks
• Vocational subject coverage
• By the community for the community- Advisory
  Group, Editors and Authors drawn from further
  education community

Keep in touch with developments Contact
tessa.griffiths_at_rdn.ac.uk Join our mailing list
http//www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/comingsoon.htm
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A developing service

• ? The RDN was initially established for the HE
  community
• ? But now our remit extends to FE!

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A developing service

• We still have a lot to do
• Some contrasts with HE...
• Diverse learning community
• Multi-disciplinary
• A different subject breakdown
• More vocational subject coverage
• A different language register
• The RDN...
• Was originally set up for the HE sector will now
  develop its services for post-16 sector
• Needs feedback from FE learners and teachers
• Needs partners within the sector

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A developing service

• What we are doing now.
• Creating eleven new tutorials for the RDN
  Virtual Training Suite specifically aimed at FE
  students ready for you to use June 2002
• NEW! Commissioning 24 FE practitioners to write
  case studies based on the RDN (see
  http//www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/rdncase/)
• Encouraging all the RDN hubs to have FE
  representatives on their steering
  committees/advisory groups

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Keep up to date - keep us up to date

• Join our mailing list
• see http//www.rdn.ac.uk/feedback/
• Suggest how our services could be improved
• see http//www.rdn.ac.uk/feedback

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And now. your turn!
tessa.griffiths_at_rdn.ac.uk
www.rdn.ac.uk