The Browsable Classroom: An Introduction to E‐learning for Librarians

Citation

Fourie, I. (2002), "The Browsable Classroom: An Introduction to E‐learning for Librarians", Online Information Review, Vol. 26 No. 6, pp. 425-425. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2002.26.6.425.1

Carolyn Noah and Linda Braun have considerable practical experience in the field of educational technology and Web‐based distance learning programmes. In The Browsable Classroom they succeed in offering clear, to the point guidelines for the novice electronic librarian becoming involved in Web‐based courses. Unfortunately, they do not offer much more.

The Browsable Classroom is divided into a preface and seven chapters that address the following issues: options for distance education, strategic issues and distance education models, the library’s role in distance education, the design of creative distance education programmes, the skills required by the distance educator, the needs assessment of distance education students and some future trends that may be expected in the electronic classroom.

A very basic glossary of useful distance education terms is included. The rationale for some of the terms, and their explanations, are, however, somewhat dubious – for example, “comp – a composite, a look and feel plan for a Web site”, “walk‐through – a Web design’s structural layout, showing links and feel but devoid of content”. Important terms such as “distance education”, “pedagogy”, “learning theory”, “learning styles” and “online teaching”, on the other hand, are not listed.

The bibliography is also very basic and gives hardly any indication of the wealth of literature on distance education, Web‐based teaching and the role of the library in such distance learning programmes. Twenty‐one resources are listed, including resources such as eCollege <www.ecollege.com>, Element K <www.elementk.com>, Itchaca College Library <www.lii.org> and WebCT <www.webct.com>. Since The Browsable Classroom is aimed at the novice electronic librarian, I would expect to see a more extensive bibliography helping the reader to move beyond the basic topics.

On the one hand I appreciate the basic, simplified and easy‐to‐follow guidelines on e‐learning and its implications for librarians. Practical hints on communicating with students and dealing with e‐mail queries are invaluable. On the other hand, I expect to see a bit more substance: the authors tend to focus very strongly on their own personal experiences and experiences gained by other institutions, without offering any theoretical support to their viewpoints.

Experienced LIS professionals or lecturers in the electronic learning environment, may pick up a few useful hints from The Browsable Classroom. Novices may find it a comforting point of departure but will certainly have to supplement it with further reading. In conclusion, although I enjoyed reading the text, at times I found it too “personally based”. It is certainly worth borrowing from a library, but before purchasing it one should consider other titles in the same field.