On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
discuss methods of assessing educational and training needs for information service users and information service staff
discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various teaching methods, and devise suitable approaches
formulate evaluation criteria for a teaching session or programme and devise an appropriate strategy for supporting trainees
develop and justify designs for the organisation and management of a help desk and similar user support services
explain the process of software support, with reference to personal bibliographic software, for example
discuss how organisational structures and policies can alter the effectiveness of client support for education and training
Brief description
The terms information skills, information literacy, IT literacy, IT competences are all part of the vocabulary of information services trainers, and educators. Educating users is in one sense a marketing exercise as educators need to know how training meets needs, and the success of the training product needs to be evaluated. Supporting professionals in their work often requires a broader vision than simply meeting needs for additional skills. The module?s title is intended to convey the importance of the organisational perspective on training and education, as well as dealing with the needs of the individual members of the organisation ? or the customers of the service. Unit 1 of the module covers training needs analysis, and how to develop realistic learning objectives. Unit 2 discusses various approaches to teaching and learning, including problem-based learning, group or team-based learning, coaching and mentoring. Once having developing the programme, the learning and teaching need to be evaluated, and methods of obtaining feedback, and the development of an evaluation strategy are covered in Unit 3. The principles of call centre and help desk operations are discussed in Unit 4, as these form an important part of informal user support. Unit 5 encourages you to try out a software tutorial package available to you, to trial it and consider its usefulness as an e-learning package for you and your colleagues. Unit 6 examines how virtual learning communities may be supported on Intranets (or on the Internet), and how the existing organisational structures may influence the type of organisational learning that is possible.
Reading Lists
Books ** Essential Reading
There is no core text for this module. The resource pack for the module contains essential readings for each Unit, and the module conference area contains Web site links.