New Learning Communities

DESCRIPTION

The Coalition for Networked Information seeks assistance with identifying teams who are implementing projects which strive to develop new learning communities through the integration of networking and networked information into postsecondary teaching and learning.

This initiative is co-sponsored by Educom, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) of the American Library Association and the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE).

The program is designed to promote cross-fertilization of professionals in higher education institutions across the country who use networks such as the Internet to enrich their curriculum and broaden their students' learning experiences. The program brings together institutional or inter-institutional teams of faculty, librarians, information technologists, instructional technologists, and students, to share perspectives, critique each other's programs, and develop a set of "best practices" for the benefit of the larger educational community.

The goals of the program are:

1. To provide a mechanism and a venue where experienced, collaborative teams of individuals who have already implemented curricular programs involving the use of networks and networked information can benefit from peer advice, moral support and program critiques.
2. To provide the means for others in the academic community, nationally and internationally, to benefit from the expertise and experience of teams who have implemented teaching and learning programs using networks and networked information.
3. To encourage and assist librarians and information professionals to serve as partners with teaching faculty members in the design and delivery of instruction using networking and networked information.

Ten teams consisting of three to five members each, all early adopters of networking technologies, who are collaborating on a project (faculty, librarian, computer and media technologists, instructional design professionals, and others, including hardware and software vendors, and information providers) will be invited to participate in a workshop at Indiana University/Purdue University of Indianapolis on November 17-19, 1995.

The event will consist of:

• Small group problem-solving discussions by paired teams who have successfully offered programs using networks and networked information in higher education institutions.
• Presentations of documented projects successfully completed.
• Guest speakers on technology and education trends.
• Identification of significant issues and "best practices" for discussion by the entire group.

Criteria by which the candidate projects will be evaluated for invitation to the workshop:

1. Team involvement at every stage of the project.

2. Imaginative use of networked information resources, combined with traditional learning resources and services.

3. Students as participants, active learners and direct beneficiaries of the project.

4. Demonstration of the new information literacy which involves retrieving, analyzing and using digital and print-based information resources in a problem-solving context.

5. Direct relationship to specific undergraduate courses and curricula.

6. An approach worthy of sympathetic replicability in other institutional settings because it suggests a learning environment with new roles for instructors, students, librarians, computer and other learning professionals departing significantly from the dominant lecture-listener metaphor in higher education.

7. Differences in approach to teaching and learning as reflected in research institutions as well as four-year and community colleges devoted exclusively to teaching and learning.

The projects should have already been implemented and should not be in the initial planning phase. Participants must also be willing to participate in interviews and submit program materials that will contribute to the development of case studies by the project organizers.

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PROCEDURE

Institutional teams who are willing to submit a project description are encouraged to send via e-mail information about their project, using the form provided below, to the person identified below. Responses to this call must be received on or before September 25, 1995.

Projects proposed will be read and ranked by volunteers under the general supervision of the Coalition for Networked Information and the other sponsors using the stated criteria. Teams invited to the workshop will be notified by October 13, 1995 of their selection, and will be awarded a $2000.00 stipend toward the team's workshop travel and lodging expenses. A minimum of three participants representing different parts of the organization (as suggested above) must attend. Expenses above the $2000.00 grant must be borne by the participating institution. Awards of $2000.00 per team are contingent on continuing availability of funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

Individuals, organizations, and institutions do not have to be affiliated with the Coalition or members of the Coalition Task Force to respond to this Call.

Please submit proposals to:

   Joan K. Lippincott
   Assistant Executive Director
   The Coalition for Networked Information
   21 Dupont Circle, N.W.
   Washington, DC 20036
   Voice: 202-296-5098
   Fax:   202-872-0884
   Internet: joan@cni.org

The Coalition for Networked Information is a joint project of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), CAUSE, and Educom that was organized in March, 1990 to promote the creation of and access to information resources in networked environments in order to enrich scholarship and to enhance intellectual productivity.

Currently over 200 organizations and institutions belong to the Coalition Task Force, a group of institutions and organizations that make special contributions to the Coalition's projects and activities. Included in the Task Force membership are higher education institutions, publishers, network service providers, computer hardware and system companies, library networks and organizations, and public and state libraries.

Periodically the Coalition issues a Call as a vehicle for pursuing a Coalition interest in a manner that promotes the widest and fairest possible identification of individuals, institutions, or organizations that are willing and able to share the experience that they have that is relevant to that interest. Each Call provides a description of the interest in question and some Calls include supporting documents.

The Coalition is issuing this Call in partnership with Educom, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) of the American Library Association and the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE).

Educom is a nonprofit consortium of colleges, universities and other organizations dedicated to the transformation of higher education through the application of information technologies. Educom's National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) seeks to demonstrate how information technology can increase both the quality of learning and the cost effectiveness of instruction on a national scale.

The Association of College and Research Libraries provides leadership for development, promotion and improvement of academic and research library resources and services to faciltitate learning, research and the scholarly communciation process. As a professional organization with some 11,000 members ACRL promotes the highest level of professional excellence for librarians and library personnel in order to best serve the users of academic and research libraries.

The American Association for Higher Education is a national organization of over 8,500 individuals dedicated to the common cause of improving the quality of American higher education. AAHE's Technology Projects aim to improve and extend academic programs by building better bridges between academic leaders - including faculty and others committed to improving teaching and learning - and campus professionals and vendors who have expertise in information technology and information resources.

Individuals, organizations and institutions do not have to be affiliated with the Coalition or members of the Coalition Task Force to respond to a Call. The Coalition encourages responses from the international community.

Responses to the Call are reviewed by relevant Coalition leaders with the support of the Coalition staff and guidance from the Coalition Steering Committee. Other parties may be involved as explained by an individual Call. Additional information is sometimes requested during this review process.

Reviews of responses are carried out in as expeditious and as flexible a fashion as possible, taking care to balance the benefits of a wide and fair search for individuals, institutions, or organizations willing to share the experience that they have which is relevant to Coalition interests with the benefits of focused and timely action on those interests.

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