Web course in eLearning and information retrieval prepares students at Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic for study and career in the Finnish knowledge society.
Visionaries like Alvin Toffler predicted twenty years ago the coming of the information age. Today we find ourselves in the middle of the tumultuous changeover from a system based on paper data to a system relying on electronic, digital, information. The information and communication technology has penetrated every sector of society and is leading to profound and inescapable change in the ways we go about our business in our everyday lives. Whether one is part of the process or not, the changes will affect us all. We need to develop new approaches to old challenges so as to ensure the success of the information society we are building here in Finland.
The last two decades of the twentieth century saw a development in the field of computers and computer networks that had a dramatic effect on the way Western societies organised their economy and, eventually, even their education system. The advance of small affordable personal computers, starting in the 1980's, and their subsequent networking first within organisations and then to the Internet, heralded new opportunities for the access to and exchange of information. This development matured with the creation of the World Wide Web in the early 1990's. The Web grew in popularity at a staggering pace, which created a market for services, delivered via this information super highway. It opened up new opportunities for commercial activities that became known as eCommerce.
Education in Western countries followed in the wake of the business sector, as the education system is expected to prepare their students for working life. The web revolution opened up unheard of opportunities for education via computer networks. Access to information and education grew exponentially almost overnight and educators realised that the education system needed to come up with an answer to the challenges posed by the new economy. Students had to be prepared for remote work, telecommuting and eCommerce situations and for lifelong learning in the ever-evolving learning society. This demanded that education be made more flexible and accessible and soon the solution presented itself: eLearning.
eLearning
In the general sense of the word eLearning refers to all ways of learning that involve the use of electronic equipment, including 'older' media like CD-ROMs. However, most people associate eLearning with learning via computer networks and in particular via the Internet, i.e. on-line learning or web learning. This kind of eLearning involves putting study material and exercises on the Internet where students can access them. The material can then be used in three educational set-ups: on-line learning content for self-study, on-line content combined with tutoring through the web (via e-mail, or videoconferencing, for example) and on-line content used to support contact teaching (i.e. common classroom teaching). Naturally, any combination of these three is also possible.
Since the educational system has to cater to the changing needs of the labour market in the new economy, education is justly expected to be at the forefront of developments so as to guide the changeover to the knowledge society and prepare present and coming generations for life and career in the new economy. The information technology at the heart of the information society is evolving with such speed that lifelong learning is no longer a prospect for the future but an everyday reality in most branches of the economy.
eLearning is the answer to many of the problems faced by a learning society, such as geographical dispersion of students as well as varying agendas. It makes lifelong learning an option even for employees previously too busy or too isolated to qualify for job-related training or further education. It makes education largely independent of time and place and breaks down barriers that existed in the traditional system.
Need for access to information
Access to information is an essential prerequisite for the success of eLearning programmes in particular and for the information society as a whole. In this respect the library system in a knowledge society has a central role to play in offering ready access to proper information sources to the citizen as well as disseminating the skills required to make optimal use of these information sources. The need if not hunger for information in Finland's evolving knowledge society is reflected in the rising lending rates both of hardcopy and electronic materials and a growing demand for library information services. The information society is an everyday reality at the library and information services in Finland.
The Library and Information Service at Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic has been aware of its role at an institute where eLearning programmes are under full development. Students require new skills and attitudes in order to make optimal use of eLearning opportunities and the library has perceived the need for targeted information retrieval training for students and other clients, so as to prepare them for their studies in the learning society.
eLearning and Information Retrieval course
To this end, the Library and Information Service at Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic has co-operated with the eLearning Centre of the school to create a basic web course introducing and discussing the concept of eLearning and its backgrounds as well as teaching and training the information retrieval skills that are vital to a modern student. This one-credit on-line course is offered to all students entering the polytechnic as well as to interested parties outside the polytechnic. The course comes in a Finnish and an English version, so as to be available both to Finnish and foreign students. The two versions differ somewhat in so far as foreign students can't use Finnish language databases, but the same skills are trained in both versions.
The eLearning and Information Retrieval course consist of two main parts. The first half introduces electronic learning and discusses its advantages and drawbacks with the students using the communication tools of the eLearning environment. It also comprises contact lessons in the use of the school's eLearning environment, Web CT. The second half of the course focuses on library services and on information retrieval. The students can train and improve their information retrieval skills in a number of practical exercises that can be entirely carried out on-line. Introductory visits by the students to the library and information service at their polytechnic units are also included. The course is concluded a monitored on-line test which exists in various versions and which differs per unit of the polytechnic.
In the course of the eLearning and Information Retrieval course, students are required to carry out various information search assignments. In order to turn the database search into something of an adventure the assignments are in the form of puzzles that have to be solved. The assignments focus on the utilisation of the various electronic databases of the Library and Information Service as well as the Internet at large. The search assignments vary depending on at which polytechnic unit the course is running, so as to cater to the specific information needs of students in different fields of study. Thus the students can put into practice what they learn from the course while simultaneously becoming acquainted with the wealth of information available to them via the library website, Kullero, which is a hub shared with the city libraries of Kemi and Tornio and several other regional organisations.
Skills for the future
Student response and feedback about the course have been quite positive and critical opinions have contributed to the fine-tuning of the course set-up. With a continuing effort to improve and extend the course, updating it every year to keep up with the tide of change, the eLearning Centre and the Library and Information Service at Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic mean to ensure that the students of the polytechnic will be well prepared for their studies and future careers in the information age, thus disseminating the very skills on which a functioning knowledge society depends.
A knowledge society relies heavily on the empowerment through information of its citizens. Thus, unhindered access to reliable sources of information becomes one of the pillars of democracy in the information age as well as a condition for economic success. And as electronic information sources are slowly overtaking the traditional ones in popularity and efficacy, the virtual library is an indispensable asset to a modern economy. Seen from their traditional role in educating the public, libraries will be the primary construction sites in any attempts to bridge the upcoming digital divide. The generation gap is becoming equal to the division between 'have Nets and have nots'. Libraries need to meet the challenge of opening up the new technology for everyone and making electronic information as easily accessible to the public as printed matter. With the eLearning and Information Retrieval course, the Library and Information Service at Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic has provided its users with a practical beginners guide to navigate the information oceans of the digital age.
Paul Nijbakker, Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic, eLearning Centre, paul.nijbakker@tokem.fi