Access for Distance Learners

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Access for Distance Learners

• Elizabeth Heaps
• University of York Library

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Task Force on Access for Distance Learners

• Purpose
• to advise SCONUL on services for DL
• Audience
• practitioners
• policy makers

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Environment

• UK Higher Education
• growth in student numbers
• widening access
• work-based learning
• continuing professional development
• student support funding
• globalisation of the market place
• CIT

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Definition

• distance learners are those who are separated by
  distance or by available time from the
  institution at which they are registered for a
  course of study
• no statistics available!

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Principles

• Institutional responsibility
• educational/pedagogic value of the course
• provision of resources for information etc
• equity (if not equality) of provision

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Organisation and management

• Course planning and validation
• Funding
• Staffing
• Policies and procedures
• Legislation, guidelines and codes of practice

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Organisation and management (2)

• Collaborative provision
• Communication
• Quality assurance

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Users needs and expectations

• Access
• space
• information
• help

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Access to space

• For study
• Group study
• Equipment

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Access to information

• Remote registration, flexible loans, online
  reservations etc
• Document delivery and postal loans
• Course packs and tailored resources
• Mediated services
• literature searches, photocopying
• Remote access to electronic services and resources

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Access to help

• Advice on IT use and software applications
• Help and enquiry desk services
• Information and advice on learning
• Information skills training
• searching, retrieval, evaluation, document
  management
• Library and information services

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Services to meet users needs

• Context of delivery
• home library, remote or direct
• department and related services (e.g. IT)
• collaboration with external library and
  information service or agent
• between HEIs
• cross-sectoral
• other agencies
• examples of good practice

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Reciprocal access schemes

• UK Libraries Plus
• borrowing scheme for
• distance learners
• part-time students
• placement students
• access scheme for
• all students and staff

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UK Libraries Plus

• Principles
• mutual benefit between institutions to avoid
  imbalance and inequity
• the home library takes responsibility for
  providing core services, for ensuring that the
  users are in good standing, and for guarantees to
  reimburse the host library or any abuse

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Cross-sectoral collaboration

• Local schemes, for e.g.
• Sheffield ALL
• West Midlands
• Sunderland
• London and BL
• National initiative
• SCONUL/SCL/BL referral scheme

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Access to electronic resources

• Licences and drop-in access
• Authentication and authorisation
• Campus network security
• UK Computers Plus?

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E-University

• Marketing of UK plc and global positioning
• 60 million for development of online learning
• Higher degree level
• Fast-track pilots and developing systems

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Business of borderless education

• New partnerships
• Corporate universities
• NHS University
• Horizontal mode of delivery
• curriculum development
• reversioning and delivery
• assessment

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Opportunities and challenges

• New partnerships
• New funding sources
• New market
• Widening access
• social exclusion, disability, poverty, mature
  students
• Equity/equality
• Quality assurance

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Recommendations

• General recommendation
• SCONUL accepts the TF report as the basis for a
  standard for distance learning provision for
  member higher education libraries

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Recommendations

• Funding implications
• Quality assurance
• Cross-sectoral partnerships
• UK Libraries Plus
• UK Computers Plus
• SCONUL and UCISA collaborate over e-University

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Task Force report

• http//www.sconul.ac.uk/Conference/presegm01/dista
  ncelearners_summary.doc
• http//www.sconul.ac.uk/Conference/presegm01/dista
  ncelearners_report.doc