SCONUL

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SCONUL Autumn Conference November 2001
Supporting the development of scholarship skills
through the online digital library
Diana Laurillard Open University
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The Reflective Practicum
Needed where existing professional knowledge does
not fit every case, there may be no right
answers. Practitioners make sense of uncertain,
unique, or conflicted situations of practice
through reflection-in-action. Going beyond the
rules devising new methods of reasoning,
strategies of action, ways of framing
problems. SchÖn, 1987
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Characteristics of Learning Communities
For acquisition of knowledge Give newcomers
access to competence Offer a personal experience
of engagement Enable competence through
participation
For creation of knowledge Explore radically new
insights Mutual engagement around joint
enterprise Strong bond of communal
competence Deep respect for particularity of
experience Wenger, 1998
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Academic Communities of Practice
In the new model, research and teaching are both
viewed as activities where individuals and groups
negotiate meanings, building knowledge within a
social context Teachers and students
activities are not viewed as separate students
engage as legitimate peripheral participants in
academic communities of practice The
professionalism embodied in the way academic
work is done is a foundation for whatever the
student engages in when they graduate. The
ability to carry out a rigorous systematic
process of enquiry in whatever field they are
engaged in is vital. (Brew,
Inquiry-based teaching and learning in HE, 2001)
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Academic Communities of Practice
In the new model, research and teaching are both
viewed as activities where individuals and groups
negotiate meanings, building knowledge within a
social context Teachers and students
activities are not viewed as separate students
engage as legitimate peripheral participants in
academic communities of practice The
professionalism embodied in the way academic
work is done is a foundation for whatever the
student engages in when they graduate. The
ability to carry out a rigorous systematic
process of enquiry in whatever field they are
engaged in is vital. (Brew,
Inquiry-based teaching and learning in HE, 2001)
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Teaching for the Knowledge Economy

• learners are engaged in challenging academic
  activities, building their own professionalism
• academics use the full range of methods to
  support these activities

Activities Media Technologies
Attending Narrative Print, DVD,
e-books Investigating Interactive
Library, DVD, Web Discussing Communicative
Seminar, online group Experimenting
Adaptive Laboratory, simulation Articulating
Productive Essay, product, model
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Teaching for the Knowledge Economy

• learners are engaged in challenging academic
  activities, building their own professionalism
• academics use the full range of methods to
  support these activities

Activities Media Technologies
Attending Narrative Print, DVD,
e-books Investigating Interactive Library,
DVD, Web Discussing Communicative Seminar,
online group Experimenting Adaptive
Laboratory, simulation Articulating
Productive Essay, product, model
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Learning activities to support scholarship skills

• Generate objectives that address needs
• Design ICT activity to meet objective
• Keep form separable from content
• Test prototypes against objective
• Generalise form to customise with content

- grounded generic design tools for academics
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Investigation activities
Scaffolding help
Conditional access to model answers
Links to digitised resources
Guided investigations and analyses of the
relationships between source materials, with
expert analyses as feedback.
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Creating the generic learning activity.
Objective To analyse and articulate the
internal relations within complex resource
material. Generic activity Goal-oriented
investigations of hyper-linked material with
conditional access to expert analyses and
capability to produce and edit outcomes of
investigations. Content to be provided Resources
investigations expert analyses.
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Structured topics for discussion
Structure of article
Full text of article
Comments on that section
A discussion environment for any text, or
article, with discussion around the structure of
the article, and defined general topics.
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Creating the generic learning activity.
Objective To build a collective understanding
of a digitised resource. Generic activity An
asynchronous conversation through structured
annotations of the digital resource. Content to
be provided Digital document/resource structure
of document/resource
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Synchronous discussion of shared resource
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Construction tools for use in shared space
Digital document copied in for members to share
Members currently online via audio link
A synchronous discussion environment for a small
group of students, or alumni, talking around a
set of shared resources
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Creating the generic learning activity.
Objective To investigate or build an object
collaboratively. Generic activity A synchronous
conversation around the collaborative
investigation/production of a digital
object. Content to be provided Graphics/Web
resources tasks.
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The e-Library - supporting scholarship skills

• Create a gateway to the range of digital
  resources
• Offer information/research skills courses and
  support
• Offer the generic learning activity design tools

• Enable individuals and groups to negotiate
  meanings, building knowledge within a social
  context
• Support students in learning to carry out a
  rigorous systematic process of enquiry in
  whatever field they are engaged.

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OU students survey (n 1350) - going beyond the
information given
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OU students survey - going beyond the
information given
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ROUTES - resources for library skills

• Variable quality of Internet information - ROUTES
  acts as a filter
• Resources selected by librarians course teams
• 2500 resources, supporting gt 80 OU courses
• Evaluation guidelines based on source - ease of
  use relevance currency stability content...

It is a valuable tool for use in the initial
stages of research" "Opens up new areas of
information that you may not be aware of"
"Excellent service.....lots of useful
information and links
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SAFARI - support for research skills

• SAFARI (Skills in Accessing Finding Reviewing
  Information) package
• Induction project
• Key skills assessment unit - pilot May 2001
• Short Course - pilot May 2002
• Students have access to highly targeted, relevant
  sources
• Contributes towards core skills requirements in
  ICT

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1 Introduction 2 What is information? 3 The
information age 4 Everyday uses 5 Types of
information 6 Information universe 7 Mapping
sources 8 Identifying needs 9 Summary
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Information Literacy Short Course

• A 10 point course (100 hours)
• Library with Faculty of Education Language
  Studies
• Content based on SAFARI
• Web-based with additional print materials and
  assessment
• Working with other UK university libraries via
  SCONUL Task Force
• Pilot May 2002

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What the online digital library can do

• Provide opportunities to enhance course materials
• Encourage development of research skills
• Prepare students for independent study and
  lifelong learning
• Develop information literacy skills useful for
  everyday life

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Supporting the skills of scholarship
Implications for library staff?

• Librarian as coach in the reflective practicum?
• As co-learner in the learning community?
• As co-researcher in the pedagogy of online
  scholarship?

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RETHINKING UNIVERSITY TEACHING a
conversational framework for the effective use
of learning technologies 2nd Edition Routledge,
2001 DIANA LAURILLARD