DISCUS

And now DISCUS!

What will be served at the Boolean restaurant?
Try to search the catalog of the TUHH library for the journal "Science" oder for literature on the island "Java"! It seems to be easier than it is!

When searching a database did it ever cross your mind that you were not able to use all its potentialities?
Do you know the most important databases for your subject?

Did we arouse your curiosity?

Take a look at our online tutorial!

DISCUS - Description of the project

DISCUS (Developing Information Skills & Competence for University Students) - a driving license in information literacy

In business and industry there is not only a need for subject-specific knowledge but also for information literate people who can work in teams. Competences in self-directed learning and informing as well as in information selection and use as outcome of academic education are absolutely essential for modern enterprises.

The primary local aim of this project is the construction of an online tutorial to convey information literacy to the engineering sciences (especially to process engineering and biotechnology as well as economic sciences). In addition to a module on navigational and retrieval strategies as part of searching information systematically, further modules on electronic publishing (consulting authors: writing, citing, formating) are planned plus a module on social aspects of information systems (intellectual property, copyright, patents, information policy). A general global aim for Hamburg is the promotion of information literacy activities to graduates of the universities of Hamburg and the coordination of the resources in Hamburg.

With our project we want to reach the following goals:

The improvement of the usage of electronic, subject-specific information at the universities of Hamburg which leads to better research results and final examinations as well as to increasing job opportunities for Hamburg's universities' graduates
Creating problem awareness in the area of information competencies for students, faculty and scholars
Creation of a web-based bilingual (German, English) learning tutorial on information literacy in engineering
Realization of a structured, curriculum-based and -integrated learning module on information literacy which can be used independently of time and space
Expansion of this pilot project at the TUHH to all universities of Hamburg
Bundling and coordinating existing competencies in information literacy at Hamburg's universities
Integration of library systems and services into e-learning activities and learning management systems of Hamburg's universities

DISCUS - Detailed reasons and state-of-the-art

"Training for searching of electronic resources can be defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary to realize the potential offered by such resources." (J. Andrew Large, Lucy A. Tedd und Richard J. Hartley: Infomation seeking in the online age: Principles and practice. London: Bowker-Saur, 1999. S. 273)
"Conveying the competence for methodical information retrieval and evaluation is one decisive key skill for the labor market which is - up to now - not taken into sufficient consideration neither by professional training nor by university education." (Wissenschaftsrat (German Science Council): Empfehlungen zur digitalen Informationsversorgung durch Hochschulbibliotheken. Juli 2001. S. 9, in German electronic edition on page 8)
Rüdiger Klatt u.a.: Nutzung elektronischer wissenschaftlicher Information in der Hochschulausbildung : Barrieren und Potentiale der innovativen Mediennutzung im Lernalltag der Hochschulen (Use of electronic scholarly information in higher education : barriers and potentials of innovative media use in every day's learning at universities) ; eine Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung, Projektträger Fachinformation / Sozialforschungsstelle Dortmund. Dortmund, 2001. www.stefi.de (Available in the book trade as: Elektronische Informationen in der Hochschulausbildung : innovative Mediennutzung im Lernalltag der Hochschulen / Rüdiger Klatt u.a. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 2001)

Learning and teaching calls for information for learners and teachers. Relevant information has to be filtered out of the information oversupply in a secure and fast way. The online tutorial conveys the knowledge of relevant sources of information and enables descriptive and self-acting formulation and awareness of essential concepts and strategies for the retrieval of electronic databases to search information and literature systematically.
In the study courses of the TUHH in process engineering and biotechnology autonomous searching for information and literature is inevitable for research papers or master theses as well as in the context of lectures (Biotechnical processes, process design courses and other courses, where substance conversions will be treated). There is a need for theoretical knowledge as well as practical skills in handling literature and patent databases but also substance databases (physicale, chemical, biological properties, security information). Important is the ability to evaluate these databases (comprehensiveness, quality, in comparision with printed reference works, long-term availibilty etc.). Furthermore process (reaction, metabolism, (bio-)catalysator) databases play a very important role in research. The newly established study courses Biotechnology/Process Engineering (Diplom) and Biotechnology (Master) of the TUHH include explicitly lectures on "Data banks and information systems" as well as "Bioinformatics".

The online tutorial should convey the content of the subject so that the presentations of the specific subject librarian could be used to introduce the electronic media and for answering specific questions and for consulting. With the help of the tutorial, the already existing integration of conveying information literacy in study courses in the area of process engineering and biotechnology will be more independent of the personal library contact. Nevertheless, because 'high tech needs high touch', personal involvement of the library can not be replaced by the tutorial.

The term 'Information Literacy' means a set of abilities that "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" to become autonomous life-long learners. Media literacy relates more to the technical side of this ability and is one part of information literacy.
Information literacy includes the ability, to find and use these information you need for work, study and research. In the case a specific information system has top priority, information literacy means the ability to use this system efficiently. The knowledge of information sources, the creativity to design an information process as well as the ability to cope with information overload (selection of relevant information, structuring and retrieving information) is also often called information literacy.

As background of the activities of the TUHH university library in the area of information literacy see the slides and text of a (German !) lecture on 'Information literacy and student learning in the electronic age : fields of problems and practical approaches at an university of technology (Informationskompetenz und studentisches Lernen im elektronischen Zeitalter : Problemfelder und Praxisansätze in einer Technischen Universität)' at the 8. Congress of the IuK Initiative (Information and Communication of the Learned Societies) in Germany, Ulm 10. - 13. March 2002, (Session 6: Information competence in science and the public - Informationskompetenz in Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit) as well as on the TUBHH WWW site, containing further links on the subject.

Very interesting are the web pages of the British project "Big Blue - information skills for students" with an overview about the state-of-the-art. American und Scandinavian Universities offer long-established Information Literacy Programs with strong participation of their libraries. An excellent model of an online tutorial in terms of structure and possibilities for interaction is e.g. TILT, the Texas Information Literacy Tutorial. This is also true for the Tutorial LEARN Information Literacy Initiative. The British eLib- (The Electronic Libraries Programme)-Programm contains a lot of projects in the area of "Training and awareness". In his article the Dutch Hans Roes pointed out the important connection between digital libraries and e-learning (Digital libraries and education : trends and opportunities. D-Lib Magazine 7 (2001) 7/8 Online: www.dlib.org/dlib/july01/roes/07roes.html). He described information literacy as the "core competence" of the "knowledge economy".

The current state of using electronic subject-specific information sources is described in the final report of the project "Stefi - Studieren mit elektronischen Fachinformationen (Studying with electronic subject-specific information)" (www.stefi.de), on behalf of the German government (bmb+f/Projektträger Fachinformation (GMD)). In addition to an evaluation of the actual state the primary objective of this project was the formulation of provisions and recommendations to improve the use of electronic subject-specific information sources in higher education.

Results of the Stefi-Project are (see also the English talk on Barriers in using digital scientific information at German universities and other higher education institutions - How to develop potentials in academic education)

The use of electronic, subject-specific information sources is not yet implemented sustainable in form and content in study courses
Compared to their use of electronic information media, the information literacy of students is relatively low. Electronic search for information is too often limited to "browsing" with the help of free search engines. Students often don't know whether they get valuable and helpful information, because German universities do not teach them how to use the new media systematically. That is why students have to acquire this knowledge autodidactically.
Also quite a few lecturers - having acquired their knowledge in information lietracy as autodidacts - give away the chance of a well directed access to systematically evaluated academic information sources in favor of easily accessible information paths suscectible to random.
The majority of lecturers feel that they need further education in using digital scientific information and they think that it should become a subject in introductory and higher classes for students.

The Stefi prject proposed a catalog of measures including e.g. the conceiving, developing and assessing courses and learning modules for professional use of digital scientific information. Therefore, intra- and inter-university cooperation of lecturers, libraries and information brokers is absolutely necessary for the further development of virtual learning modules on information literacy and the creation of exmamples of best-practice.

DISCUS - Link to the online tutorial

You can take a look at the online tutorial DISCUS at discus.tu-harburg.de. We would appreciate a feedback!

DISCUS - Objectives and contents of the tutorial

Learning Objectives

A constructivist-didactic concept serves as a basis to convey information literacy in this project (it is based on Kersten Reich according to Christian Grune: Lernen in Computernetzen : Analyse didaktischer Konzepte für vernetzte Lernumgebungen. (Learning in computer nets : analysis of didactic concepts for networked learning environments.) München: KoPäd-Verl., 2000). It is important not only to convey knowledge or abilities but to convey the different point of views of observers. Reflexion on your own learning process is necessary, that means an orientation towards the individual. Libraries as well as this tutorial should help you to become aware and to develop your own style of how to deal with information (How do I actually inform myself?). Didactic tasks are supporting, consulting, orientating, changing of attitudes, improving critical thinking as well as cooperating via the electronic learning environment.

Promoting the awareness of the potential of electronic reference databases and other sources of information for the particular information needs of the customers
Development of the ability to locate appropriate and qualified tools for searching information
Realization of the large range of of academic media for information.
Developing the ability to select the sources which meet your own demand for information in research, study and at work
Self-dependent exploration of the practical handling of all kinds of text-oriented databases
Promoting critical competence

After completing the tutorial the users will be able to explore any user-defined database autonomously to get the most out of their inquiries.

Learning contents

The comprehensive dimensions of information literacy will be become apparent through the planned modules of DISCUS:

DISCUS 1: Systematical information and literature retrieval/reserach, navigation and retrieval strategies
DISCUS 2: Evaluation of information, "critical skills"
DISCUS 3: Organization of information (document management)
DISCUS 4: Presentation of information (rhetoric, oral skills, graphical treatment, ...)
DISCUS 5: Electronic publishing (consulting authors: writing, citing, formating)
DISCUS 6: Social aspects of information systems (intellectual property, copyright, patents, information policy, freedom and dependency, security, cultural heritage)

The modul DISCUS 1 will be realized during this project. Subject-specific examples from chemical engineering and biotechnology (including facts or substances databases) will be integrated. Further subject-specific modules can be added over the course of the project (e.g. economic sciences). On a general level - in addition to an orientation on the information market in general - modules on searching information and literature systematically (the basis of the contents will be the existing web site) and on the survival guide to explore databases will be built. All contents will be offered in German and English. The tutorial might contain for example: surveys on scholarly communication and literature (as content-pool, glossary or/and mind map), introductions to the retrieval of specific electronic databases with slide-shows and video streams for visualization (e.g. screencams with audio descriptions), interactive exercises and simulations, evaluated selection of subject-specific sources for information on the net.

DISCUS - Partners of the project

University Library, TU Hamburg-Harburg
Project team: Detlev Bieler, Thomas Hapke, Oliver Marahrens
Research department 2-10, Biotechnology II, TU Hamburg-Harburg
Contact: Prof.fil.Dr. Volker Kasche
Research department 6-05, Chemical Engineering IV, TU Hamburg-Harburg
Contact: Prof. Dr. Frerich Keil
University Library, University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg
Contact: Dr. Johannes Marbach

The project is supported by the E-Learning-Consortium Hamburg (ELCH) via the Multimedia-Kontor Hamburg (MMKH).

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