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ALIA 2001 TAFE libraries conferencePower of PartnershipsLibraries and the E-Learning Agenda - a role to play?Maureen Sullivan - Institute Librarian North Point Institute LibraryMaureen has over 25 years experience in both public and academic libraries and has been with NPIT since May 1997. Her particular interests are in expanding the profile and importance of library and information services within the TAFE sector, information literacy, knowledge management and customer service initiatives. Prior to being claimed by librarianship Maureen took a degree in Archaeology and worked as a research assistant in Egypt. She can be contacted at maureen.sullivan@detir.gov.qld.au Steve Fisher - Manager, Delivery Strategies Unit (Path finder) North Point Institute of TAFESteve Fisher has developed and managed online learning projects for Universities, TAFE Colleges, RTOs, Government and private Corporations. He has operated as a private consultant and IT start-up in the multimedia CD and online training environments in Australia and overseas. Resident in Brisbane, Steve is now contracted by North Point Institute of TAFE to manage an online development facility for over 5,000 online students and 200 staff. He can be contacted at sfisher@powerup.com.au and welcomes contact from those wanting to know more about online learning and training Kay Gardner- Coordinator Learning Information Centres North Point Institute of TAFEKay is a Library Technician who has worked in libraries since 1983. Her library career started at the Northern Territory University. In 1988 she undertook a one-year job exchange in England. She has also worked with the Public Libraries Division of the State Library of QLD. Kay has been with North Point since 1993 and has worked at a number of campuses. She eagerly took up the opportunity to work with the Pathfinder Team to develop the Cert 11 in Information Technology online and from there moved into the newly created role of coordinator of the Learning Information Centres. She can be contacted at kay.gardner@detir.qld.gov.au IntroductionUp until 1999, the library was perceived by the Institute, faculty and students in traditional terms. A place for private study, a place where you could get "extra stuff" to do your assignments, a place to relax and a place to maybe use the few Internet connected computers. The library was an under-utilised resource in terms of access to information and knowledge by students and more so by faculty. In other words, the library was staffed with "knowledge workers" in a "chalk and talk" environment. Fuelled by the popular press expectation of e-learning being the nirvana of future education, a small online learning unit was established called Pathfinder, which established a technical capability for online learning. Pathfinder staff were also "knowledge workers" who quickly shared their vision of learner-centred education with their like-minded colleagues in the library. This symbiotic relationship and subsequent lobbying enabled cracks to appear in the "chalk and talk" paradigm to the extent that library facilities now included open access learning information centres and library staff were being identified as having unique skills which created a true "value added" to the students and teachers. The paradigm shift had started. Library staff volunteered for e-learning professional development and then started online courseware production. Some staff completed VET Teaching qualifications online and are now consulted in most new online projects. The shift to a learner centred focus in VET at North Point will see a further integration of librarians as a valuable part of the online learning team. Librarians are being understood as knowledge professionals with a direct role in tutoring online students and supporting online teachers. The story beginsWe want to tell you a story today. A story of a powerful and successful partnership. A partnership between the old and the new; between the comfortable and the sexy; between the non-threatening and the "devil incarnate"; between two seemingly different business units who discovered many common interests, interdependencies and goals. And who together have made some fundamental changes in mindsets, delivery options and student services at NPIT. The two units are the well established, unassuming and 'comfortable' library service and the new, undefined and unknown 'sexy' Pathfinder - NPIT's Delivery Strategy Unit. And despite appearances, Kay and myself are representing the library and Steve the 'sexy' Pathfinder. Never judge a book by its cover! The story begins in 1998 at NPIT where the library was quietly, calmly going about its business, doing what we all do - providing services to staff and students; selecting; purchasing; cataloguing and presenting resources to meet client demands; undertaking user education; liaising as best we could with busy and often uninterested teachers; trying to do a loaves and fishes number with funding and staffing; and struggling with inadequate computer hardware and networks. You all know the picture. The library was attempting to improve our status within NPIT by establishing our information credentials. We were moving into more electronic resources and services, we were grappling with off-campus student needs, we were pushing Copyright, Intellectual Property and Knowledge Management issues, with only snails pace success. In a nutshell we were doing what we could. We were adequately funded, adequately supported, under utilised and under appreciated. A bit like motherhood - everyone agrees it's a good thing but it's not easy to qualify let alone quantify the how and why it is a good thing. Impetuous for change1998 saw a change initiative program become the Management focus at NPIT. The impetuous for change was multi-faceted
The change TO WHAT? Was a little fuzzier. NPIT made two major moves
In the first 12 months these two major initiatives/appointments dovetailed to produce concrete results. North Point had no online learning capability in terms of technology, teaching skills or strategic plan and support systems in place. Pathfinder's first task was to develop the technical infrastructure of technology and courseware production. This was achieved by implementing the learning management system, WebCT that was and still is an academic standard throughout the world. The IT infrastructure was improved to a point where a delivery and developmental platform was possible. At the same time Pathfinder (and friends) went on a crusade of Change Management via staff development and course development programs in an attempt to bring the staff into line with the developing technology and the opportunities this brought. Right from the beginning, the library and Pathfinder discovered that we shared similar professional attitudes and a common philosophy in regard to learning, education, information technology and client services. And of course the library falls under Steve's management wing as part of the Teaching and Learning Business Unit. While the technological courseware production infrastructure was established, there was a shift to distributing these resources amongst the teaching practitioners themselves. Rather than adopt an exclusive multimedia production house which was typical of the multimedia/CDROM era, intensive professional development was conducted that included
Foundations of Online LearningLibrary responses to these initiatives were a very enthusiastic embrace of the possibilities offered via Pathfinder. Six Library staff undertook FOL and developed their theoretic knowledge and gained direct skills. Pathfinder provided the library staff with the opportunity to be the first advocates. This was really an extension of our traditional liaison role but with the Pathfinder aura. This aura was a double-edged sword with both positive and negative connotations. Negative because it was new and unknown and the good old reliable library was somehow "selling out" to gimmickry. Seduced by the devil! But this negative perception was balanced by (ironically enough) the traditional library stereotype - competent, reliable, stable, approachable and friendly. We became a bridge for some. If the library is involved then it can't be too bad (or hard). And our super friendly customer focussed library staff that everyone loves can sell anything to even the most sceptical. Positive, because for the library staff we had finally found a resonance of our ethos and a powerful partner with both the means (lets be crude - Pathfinder was cashed up) and the charter to promote these issues. We were happy! One of the first projects to offshoot from this partnership was the library web site. Sad, but true we had previously been without a web site (as indeed had NPIT). The library (through Madonna Scrase) jumped at the chance to use her newfound skills and contacts to develop firstly our Intranet and then our Internet site. Certificate IV in Workplace Trainer and AssessorThe next project was the development of Cert IV in Workplace Trainer and Assessor. Without any prompting Steve recognised the essential need for library input into both the development and the delivery of the course. A library staff member was included in the project team from the beginning. Library Technician Kym Corfield undertook the Cert IV project role. Kym was chosen because she had recently completed Cert IV f2f; was a FOL graduate and ever eager to try something new. Since 1999 the library has provided library support to the Pathfinder team. The first formalisation of this association was with the appointment of Kym Corfield as the library resource person for Cert IV Online. Kym's initial role was to develop a list of resources to support Workplace Trainer and Assessor to be delivered online and face-to-face. She worked closely with the teacher seconded to the team to develop a cross-section of references including websites, journal articles, books and videos. Copyright, access issues and communication were issues that arose and continue to do so. The course structure includes a "Librarian" button for direct access to the Library for students. A major outcome from this association was that Kym was able to significantly raise the library's profile and professional status with a key teacher via her daily interactions. The Online Cert IV course was also enthusiastically taken up by a number of library staff as part of their personal development. The first four graduates of Cert IV online were all library staff. In the process the library status was raised, the large untapped skills and abilities lurking in the shelves were brought to light and we made a number of influential teaching converts. Certificate 11 in Information TechnologyThe next Pathfinder/Library collaboration was the development of Certificate 11 in Information Technology. Another library technician, Kay Gardner was poached to the development team. Her time spent at Pathfinder helping develop this course online involved:
Kay had already done Foundations of Online Learning and was now involved in helping put all this content together to make it come out as a course. There was a lot of data entry and repetitive work but watching it all come together and knowing that you had just completed some part of it was very satisfying. Kay found that she nearly always went home after a long days work feeling as if she had achieved something worthwhile for that day. Electronic Learning CentresIn 1998 the ELC's (Electronic Learning Centres) were briefly under library "control", but only in terms of supervisory/monitoring role not in terms of direction or delivery or initiatives. It was really a baby-sitting role, whilst major changes were made to the Faculties (we went from 4 to 3). The experience highlighted two valuable lessons -
At the same time the libraries had only limited PCs for student use (9 in the largest library and then 4 and then 2 in the smallest ones). These were all required for OPAC, Cdroms and Internet - our core business. So the Library Service presided over two separate areas which had computers but neither of which separately could match student needs. A very uncomfortable position for a librarian. This is where the idea of access not delivery as the focus for the ELC began. The arrival of the Learning Information CentreAs part of the change management plan, Electronic Learning Centre (ELC) functions were dramatically changed from a tutor-centred facility to a learner-centred facility. This was based on the fundamental precept that the learner is responsible for learning and use of resources and not the tutor/teacher. The change required a symbol, so the title of Electronic learning centre was changed to Learning Information Centre (LIC). This learner-centric approach is fundamental to online learning. A LIC is a Learning Information Centre and yes it's a name you either love or hate, but it is difficult to ignore! In first semester 2001 the LIC's evolved at 2 campuses under Pathfinder/Library and the traditional ELC's continued at 2 campuses under the Business Faculty. Using the NOS modules as a test case in course building and online delivery, we trailed a LIC at both City and Bracken Ridge campuses. The LIC is a student computer access area where enrolled students login using their student ID and password and do what they do.
LIC's DO NOT
LIC CoordinatorKay took on the role of LIC coordinator and this is her story. Jazz it up they said. The sky is the limit (well almost). A new, more colourful, friendly image is what we are looking for. A new brightly coloured lounge to relax in, large colourful posters on the walls, some large green plants around the room and we had our new look "LIC". It was a challenge from the start. Trying to organise a LIC at another campus as well made it just that little bit more challenging. New staff on board and we were off with only one days orientation. Initially we employed people from Job Agencies with computing skills to man the "Help Desks" plus Kay also worked shifts. It started slow. We were faced with the challenge every Tuesday with sharing the room with a group of trainees who had previously had full use of the room. It was not a very sharing caring feeling towards us from the workplace trainers who had this group as we had suddenly invaded their space. After the first few weeks it suddenly dawned on students that they now had this wonderful free use of computers to do assignments, online modules, surf the net etc etc and the LIC is now the place to be. Changing from an ELC to a LIC was a move forward as students really need these type of facilities. As the LIC co-ordinator Kay was based in the back office in that area and also worked on the "help desk". Constant liaison with Pathfinder, enrolments and the Business faculty who had course content online, was a daily occurrence. Having done Foundations of Online learning and working in Pathfinder helping develop Cert II in IT online certainly helped her understanding of what the students needed help with in their online study. We were not there in a teachers role and did not get involved in any course content help, but were there for problems e.g. getting onto the network, getting students their logins for online courses, pc's freezing, crashing, saving/uploading files, how to print, more paper, more paper and more paper for the printers etc etc. Library workers are more than qualified to help the students with any queries they may have in using the LIC. In our daily operations computers are a big part of our life. Word processing, spreadsheets, Internet, intranet etc are programs we use daily so we are all competent to be able to answer the basic questions that are asked. It is also good for the library's usage if the two are integrated; students have better access to reference people when searching the Internet for assignment material etc. Once the LIC was set up and going and the staff were stable it is more than easy to co-ordinate. Kay's time went from more or less full time to just doing a short stint on the help desk of a morning to cover the day and the LIC more or less runs itself. As we moved forward into the second semester of operation all the campuses moved from having two LIC's and two ELC's to all being Library/LIC's and being staffed by library workers. From July 2001, the LIC's at all four campuses became part of the library service and were staffed with library professionals. This was a distinct shift in policy and a sign of the growth in library profile. We are being seen and acknowledged as Information Specialists beyond books and videos. A view to the futureThere is no doubt that online learning has significant benefits in terms of teaching and learning quality and commercial benefits as long as the critical factors for successful implementation and maintenance are followed. North Point has gone a long way to addressing some base level critical factors of sound and robust technical infrastructure and skills of practitioners who will operate in the field. Even at this early stage there are enough internal skills to create significant volumes of quality online courses to sustain a business model and return the investment that the Institute has made so far. However, the skill and knowledge base of the Institute remains low and is not confined to teaching and technical staff. Managers and policy makers must understand the new paradigms of operating in an e-education world and how to plan and operate in that environment. The library (with incorporated skills of a unit like Pathfinder) is well placed to play a role in increasing that skill and knowledge base. The library has the research expertise. The library has a knowledge philosophy and learner-centric approach. The library is not encumbered with the stifling "administrivia" that retards faculty to move into e-learning models. What have we gained?In hard terms
In soft terms
ConclusionPathfinder and the Library represents a new way of thinking about teaching and learning and preparing our students as knowledge workers. Whilst it is difficult for both units to fully understand the complexities of the legislative requirements of the VET system, it is undeniable that human learning will always remain human learning despite the artificial infrastructure that is placed around it. The Pathfinder/Library partnership represents also a vision and goal for those teachers and administrators that are realising that the bricks and mortar industrial model that is trying to achieve results 200 years past its inception is inevitably failing. Pathfinder/Library partnership represents in real tangible terms a means to explore and develop new ways of teaching and learning. References1. Brophy P, Fisher S and Clarke Z (eds) , 2000, Libraries without walls, p.13, London, Library Association.
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