Content area
Full Text
Abstract
Purpose - To demonstrate how there is an irreversible momentum towards the adoption of online modes of delivery for library instruction, a process which will have distinctive benefits in the promotion of enhanced levels of information literacy (IL).
Design/methodology/approach - The author uses case study and other literature, plus examples from personal professional practice to build an argument.
Findings - The momentum towards "cyber-delivery" is inevitable and is driven by a variety of factors, which can be understood as either external or intrinsic to the arena of IL. External factors include the pressure to find the most effective educational approaches to train students to use tools such as Google appropriately (virtual formats are best to deal with virtual challenges); intrinsic factors include the innate suitability of online IL for encouraging independent learning and student-centred education.
Research limitations/implications - The research technique consists of a dualistic analysis of dynamic factors driving the digital library movement towards online delivery of IL: this has the potential to be extended to other LIS contexts and tested for robustness and relevance.
Practical implications - The paper shows how the LIS practitioner can better understand the relevance of courseware-based models of IL delivery for their user education practice.
Originality/value - An insightful summary and coherent analysis of a range of disparate trends in digital library developments helps provide a coherent overview of a fast-developing aspect of the current LIS world.
Keywords Literacy, Learning, Computer based learning
Paper type Case study
The online trend in higher education
Online teaching and learning in higher education has been growing at a frantic pace. Statistics show a continuous increase in online enrollment, classes, programs and degrees offered. In the USA, nearly half of the 4,000 major colleges and universities offer courses over the internet or use the web to enhance campus classes. About two million students take online courses from higher education institutions and the number is expected to increase to five million by 2006 (Symonds, 2001). The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) estimated that 54,470 different distance education courses, 1,230 degree programs and 340 certificate programs were offered in 1997-1998 (NCES, 1999). Growth in online education is not limited to the USA but rather a world phenomenon. A brief survey of...