Lyn Hay

Moving from LIS to IS+L: Curriculum renewal at Charles Sturt University

The paper describes a recent review of Library and Information Management courses offered by the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, and the resulting program of curriculum renewal and expansion. This program aimed to address concerns over the long-term sustainability of the courses and respond to an increasingly converging professional landscape. The courses were redesigned in a way that allowed them to maintain their relevance to the School’s established librarianship market, while at the same time develop a significant application to other information fields. This was achieved by essentially turning the curriculum on its head. Instead of a library focussed core with electives in other information areas, the new curriculum offers core subjects that cover the information-people-technology nexus in generic fashion and provides a foundation for a wide range of specialisations. This transformation represents what could be described as a move from a traditional Library and Information Studies (LIS) approach to a broader Information Studies (IS) orientation, accommodating advanced areas of study in specific fields, including Librarianship (L). The paper goes on to discuss key issues concerning the implementation of the course redesigns, and the results of their implementation to date.

Using Etherpads as Platforms for Collaborative Learning in a Distance Education LIS Course.

This poster presents findings of a project which explored the online collaborative learning experiences of distance education (DE) students undertaking an undergraduate information studies. The School of Information Studies (SIS) at Charles Sturt University (Australia) is a leader in the provision of library and information studies education by distance. A recent review of undergraduate and postgraduate courses resulted in greater integration of Web 2.0 technologies to support DE teaching and learning. This included the redesign of the collection management course which serves approximately 100 undergraduate students per year. The aim of this project was to encourage greater communication and collaboration between students to address the challenges of isolation and lack of student community reported by previous cohorts. The researchers found the use of a collaborative document sharing platform, Etherpad, an effective tool in developing students’ skills in critical thinking and collaborative practice, leading to an enhanced DE learning experience.