Chowdhury, G. and Chowdhury, S. (2006) e-learning support for LIS education in UK. In: 7th Annual Conference of the Subject Centre for Information and Computer Sciences, Aug 2006, Dublin, Ireland. Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in Strathprints to facilitate their private study or for non- commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the url ( of the Strathprints website. Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to The Strathprints Administrator:

e-learning support for LIS education in UK Gobinda G. Chowdhury and Sudatta Chowdhury Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

The eLLIS Project  eLLIS (an investigation of the e-Learning environments in the LIS departments in British universities) is a project, funded by the Higher Education Academy Subject Network Development Fund

eLLIS: Aims  how the LIS departments in UK support e- learning by providing access to information resources and services on the intranet, and manage courses through the intranet  how the university libraries provide support for e- learning of LIS students by making information resources and services available specifically to the LIS courses, and  how the students perceive and use these intranet and library services.

Data Collection  Through Department Webpages  Through the University library webpages  By contacting the department  Students survey

General findings  Fifteen UK departments now offer LIS courses  Name of the departments offering such courses differs: while some are Information Science/Studies/Management departments or schools, others are Computer and Information Sciences, Business Schools, and so on  Title of the courses varies from Information and Library Management to Information and Library Studies, Information Services Management, Information Studies, Librarianship, Library and Information Studies, etc.

General findings (2)  Most of the LIS courses are offered at PG level, though there are some UG (Hons.) courses too  LIS courses are offered in both fulltime and part-time modes in most universities  Some departments also offer courses in the distance learning mode

e-learning support from the Departments  All the concerned LIS departments have embraced ICT for providing e-learning support services in some form or the other  Some departments use VLEs (like WebCT) used in their university while others use in-house systems (such as by the department of Computer and Information Sciences at the university of Strathclyde and Department of Information and Communication at Manchester Metropolitan University) for managing online learning environments.

e-learning support from the Departments (2)  The degree of support for online learning varies from little (such as in case of the department (SLAIS) at UCL, to moderate such as at CIS at Strathclyde, or IS at City to very high such as at RGU.  Students usually get information about the course modules, handouts, and other course related information including timetables, etc., though in some cases access to such services can be obtained through central services (such as through MUSE at Sheffield).

CIS, Strathclyde Page

Courses  Some universities offer complete courses online; RGU and Strathclyde are specific examples  Some departments provide one or more modules online, City University is a typical example  Some universities have a centrally managed e-learning service or portal that is the first port of entry for students, e.g. MUSE at Sheffield

Assignments and Assessment  Some departments have gone completely paperless in case of assignment and dissertation submissions, and assessment; IS at City university is an example.  Most departments require both an electronic and hard copy submissions, CIS at Strathclyde is an example  There are also departments that require only hard copy submission, SLAIS at UCL, and Information Services Management at London Metropolitan University are examples.

Library Support  Libraries provide access to a variety of electronic resources  Organization of resources vary from one library website to another  Some libraries have organized web resources to match students’ activities, e.g., London Metropolitan University Library categorises information resources in the following categories: Directories, Documents (like CILIP- Framework of qualifications), Gateways and Search Engines (like HERO, SOSIG), Information Skills (like LSE guides to using online resources), etc.

LMU library LIM Guide

Information Skills Tutorial  Information Skills Tutorial is a unique feature offered by the university libraries. Information Skills Tutorial Information Skills Tutorial  However, the nature of training and tutorial facilities vary significantly  In some libraries the modules have been contextualized to serve the students in a given discipline. See for example, LJMU

Help and Support  University libraries often provide access to digitized collections of the most frequently used resources. For example, at LJMU the Electronic Key Text is a digitized collection of mostly requested journal articles and book extracts that can be accessed on or off-campus  Online information databases and services come with their own help files to support the users. However, in order to maximize electronic access, and thus e-learning, some university libraries provide additional help facilities. See for example, the RGU library website

160 responses were received Table 1: How do the students get access to Online Course Information? University (N) Department website (%) University VLE (%) Either of these (%) None of these (%) The Robert Gordon University (37) Loughborough(35) Liverpool John Moores University (1) MMU (29) University of Sheffield (13) University of Strathclyde (15) University of the West of England (UWE) (4) UCL (26)

Availability of lecture notes, handouts, etc. University (N) Every module (%) Most of the modules (%) Some of the modules (%) None of the modules (%) Loughborough (35) MMU (29) RGU (37) Sheffield (13) Strathclyde (15) 861 UCL (26) LJMU (1) UWE (4)

Availability of assignment/exam. guidelines etc. University (N) Every module (%) Most of the modules (%) Some of the modules (%) None of the modules (%) Loughborough (35) MMU (29) RGU (37) University of Sheffield (13) University of Strathclyde (15) UCL (26) LJMU (1) UWE (4)

Conclusion  Despite these myriad of research and development activities in relation to building VLEs, digital libraries, electronic coursepacks, institutional repositories, and so on, there are currently no systems that provide seamless access to scholarly as well as course and module related information, and a variety of information that are currently hidden under several layers of institutional intranets and web and local databases and files.  LIS departments and the corresponding university libraries, although are trying hard to create an environment of technology-enhanced learning, the current level support for e-learning is far from ideal.

Conclusion (2)  As may be noted from some of the students’ comments, and the discussions earlier in this report, the current levels of services are inconsistent, and in many cases, lack standards and uniformity.  Concerted efforts are to be made by the departments, university libraries, ICT and learning services to come up with a standard and uniform practice, and guidelines for creating a student-centred and technology-enhanced learning environment.  We suggest that in order to build a true managed learning environment, we need to build a student-centred and integrated technology.  A managed learning environment should not only support e-learning, but should also enrich the overall ‘student experience’ that includes not only the learning facilities, but the overall life and experience of a student at a university.

Thank You Any Questions?