Learning Communities:

A Fundamental shift in the Learning ProcessAn Investigative Study into their Impact on Library

Services

Sohair F. Wastawy, Ph.D.Dean of Libraries

Illinois Institute of TechnologyJune 2003

"Great Uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution. He was attached to his position by the strongest of ties, and his death came as a great shock."

New-Employee Skills Sought by Employers

• Communication

• Computer/Technical aptitudes

• Leadership

• Teamwork

• Interpersonal abilities

• Personal traits (Ethics)

- 2002-2003 Recruiting Trends, Michigan State University

Universities’ Response

Development of:

• Formal Learning Communities

• Collaborative Learning Programs

• Residential Colleges

• Inter-professional Programs

Learning Models are Changing

• Campus-based to asynchronous to ubiquitous learning

• Solitary learning to interactive, collaborative learning

• Linear, sequential curricular to hyper learning

• Classroom learning to learning communities

• Faculty centered to learner-centered learning

• Passive students to active learners

Information Age Mindset

• Computers aren’t technology• Internet better than TV• Reality no longer real• Doing rather than knowing• Nintendo over logic• Multitasking is a way of life• Typing rather than handwriting• Staying connected • Zero tolerance for delays• Consumer/creator blurring

- Frand, 2000

Students Attitudinal Drivers

• Impatience with bureaucracy

• Self-service and self-control

• Desire to be “connected”

• Demand for immediacy

• Integrated environment

• Customer-service

- Adapted from Kvavik, 2001

What Students Value

• Making connections between in- and out-of-class

activities

• Working and studying in groups

• Mentored internships

• Being exposed to people of diverse backgrounds

• Participating in extra-curricular activities

- Light, 2001

Disconnect in Libraries

• Continue to operate in the same fashion while the education, management, psychology, technology, information science and social science literature and research tell us that so much have changed

• There is a huge void in the library literature regarding transformative services to the new information age generation

The “Learning Communities” Concept

• Somewhat vague

• Defined as formal and cross-disciplinary

approach

• Community of Practice (professionals)

Study Definition

Fundamentally self-selected, independently organized,

student centered groups who form their own networks to

achieve a specific academic purpose.

Learning community systems are continually renegotiated

by members who function in mutual engagement that binds

them together into a social entity. They share resources

and norms that they developed over time.

Hypotheses

1. Students are developing new study groups that are different in scope, purpose, and techniques than the ones they are assigned to by their professors,

2. Students are bypassing library resources in favor of instantaneous answers to their queries regardless of the quality of information, and

3. Students lack understanding of the differences among many library resources and therefore follow the principle of least effort and use.

Study Methodology

• A call for participation resulted in 4 groups and 61 individual responses (total of 81 individuals)

• Questionnaires - tested, retested, and approved

• Observation sessions

• Interviews

Study Findings

Group anatomy:

• 79% study in groups

• 92% of the groups are self-selected

• 91% highly benefited from group experience

• 8% work with students from other universities

Study Findings

Communications:

• 97% use email as a communication method

followed by chat and instant messaging at 62%

• 76% always or often meet face to face (92% prefer

meeting face-to-face)

• 56% of these meetings take place with some

members participating on a virtual basis

• 46% meet completely virtually through a chat room

Study Findings

Study Locations:

• 46% meetings occur in labs around the university

• 68% take place at the residence halls and homes

• 29% of meetings take place at the library

Study Findings

Information Sources:

• 80% always or often search the Internet

• 68% use group mates as source of info

• 38% ask upperclassmen

• 29% go to library

• 5% ask a reference librarian

Study Findings

Internet Usage:

• 98% look for the info first in Google

• 55% use library website (2nd option)

• 40% search class homepages (3rd option)

Study Findings

Rating of Sources:

• 59% rated their peers good or excellent

• 79% ranked faculty as good or excellent

• 53% ranked experts in their field as good or

excellent

• 40% considered the Library a good to excellent

source while 26% thought it is fair to poor

• 16% felt librarians were a good to excellent source

while 53% rated librarians fair to poor

Recommendations

1. Acknowledge the presence of Learning Communities

2. Restructure librarians assignment to work with the groups

3. Rewrite library material with groups, not individuals, as the target audience

4. Reconfigure the library’s physical spaces to restore the “human moment” in education

5. Reexamine the use of collections and adjust services accordingly

6. Federated search engines should be seriously examined and made available

Recommendations

7. Offer better availability of “gray literature” in technical fields

8. Reorganize information literacy instruction with faculty “buy-in” as a vital component for its success

9. Instruction needs to be related to coursework – current instructional model does not tie library instruction to class projects

10.Conduct similar study on your community and address trends

11.Learn to see differently

Remember

In a time of dramatic changes it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.

- Eric Hoffer

Study will be published in

Science and Technology Libraries, Vol. 22, 2003

For additional information contactSohair F. Wastawy

wastawy@iit.edu

Thank you