Digital libraries and the changing world of education

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Digital libraries and the changing world of
education

• trends in education
• initiatives at Tilburg University

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Topics

• trends in education
• towards competences and information literacy
• the role of digital libraries
• two stages Tilburg University
• staff development
• facilitating networked organisation

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Trends in education (1)

• growing number of students
• different types of students
• combination of work and study
• need for more flexible arrangements
• more competition
• lifelong learning
• emphasis on learning how to learn

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Trends in education (2)

• need to accomodate different learning styles
• budget pressure
• students become clients, more choice
• job hopping teaching staff
• too many dropouts

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Global learning infrastructure

• delivery of courses through the Internet
• global access to the Internet
• information available through the Web
• increasing modularisation
• groupware
• realtime market research
• global competition

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ICT in education

• society transforms into an information society
• ICT skills needed in more and more jobs
• ICT will change the educational process itself

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Digital learning environments

• time and place independent
• students set their own pace
• developed by teams
• emphasis on self-study and group interaction
• goal competences and information literacy

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Information literacy

• ...to be able to recognize when information is
  needed, ... to identify, locate, evaluate, and
  use effectively information needed for the
  particular decision or issue at hand.
• ALA, 1998

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Digital libraries

• are a natural, enabling component of the learning
  environment of the future
• they enable time and place independency
• librarians will become members of teams designing
  course material

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Tilburg University

• Stage I
• staff development
• Stage II
• integrating ICT and education

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Staff development

• existing courses dont meet needs of educational
  staff
• application oriented vs problem oriented
• obligation is no option (yet)
• gain support of faculty boards
• aim at small groups doesnt work
• individual route, 100 customization

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Individual approach

• at the desktop of educational staff
• in a pace set by staff
• problem oriented, individual needs
• preparation hardly needed
• personal relationships
• gaining insight in problems of teachers

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Second stage integration

• external scan
• scan of the literature
• assesment of situation at Tilburg
• goal a central facility

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Current situation

• student-centered learning
• no clear vision yet on the role of ICT
• university lacks didactical expertise
• technical expertise is scattered
• HRM rewards research
• good infrastructure

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ICT facility tasks

• central counter
• knowledge sharing, FAQs
• staff development
• expertise in educational software
• projects with teaching staff
• advise faculty and university board

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Organizational issues

• invest in didactical expertise
• bundle scattered technical expertise
• low overhead
• flexibility and scalability
• no new organizational unit

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Network organization
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Conclusions

• education will change
• digital libraries will play a central role
• librarians become members of educational teams
• no clear vision yet
• invest in flexible experiments
• rethink university strategy