Supporting the N Gen learner by integrating e-resources within a university VLE.

Abstract

E-learning has become an integral part of many students learning experience. Over the last three years the availability of e-books and e-journals has increased dramatically and in many higher education libraries there has been a steady movement from print to electronic materials. At Bournemouth University over 50% of the total Library budget is now spent on electronic resources. In some Schools within the University it is in the region of 70 %. The ways in which students are using the resources are changing. In 2005, the number of electronic downloads from databases, e-books and e-journals, far exceeded the number of books borrowed. Statistics gathered from the Athens authentication service make it clear that many students access the resources remotely, and some rarely visit the Library. In 2005 Bournemouth University decided to implement a single VLE across the University and following many discussions and an extensive tendering process Blackboard was selected. The aim was to approach the potential of Blackboard from the perspective of our learners and so chose the unit of study as our standard for integration, which is the equivalent of a course in Blackboard. Thus the focus was on providing the materials where they would be most accessible to the students. The first phase of the implementation, involving the roll-out of the Blackboard to four Schools, presented an opportunity to review the Library provision and identify what could be done better at the unit level. There were several areas which had presented challenges for some time, namely the provision of reading lists, management of the Short Loan Collection and the storage of past exam papers. Implementing Blackboard gave us an ideal opportunity to address these problems. This paper will look at what has been done in these areas, and how the use of Blackboard can be tied in with the information skills sessions already being delivered by the Library Subject Teams and materials already available on the Library web page. It will also consider the second phase of the implementation and the opportunities it will present.