Exploring the potential of e-resources

Updated on: Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The demand for higher education is surging across the Asia-Pacific region, home to over three billion people, and is expected to double in five years and triple in 10 years in many developing member countries, according to an observation of UNESCO.

In the backdrop of knowledge revolution ushering in unprecedented change in the world economy, the delivery system of higher education is bound to have a direct bearing on the economic development through technological progress.

The International Conference on ‘E-Resources in Higher Education: Issues, Developments, Opportunities and Challenges' that Bharathidasan University's departments of Library and Information Science, and Educational Technology, have planned for February 19 and 20, promises to open up possibilities for new methods of teaching, new modes of educational delivery system and new aids to research, bringing into focus the pivotal role of higher education in human resource development. In a ‘knowledge economy' technologies are no longer embedded in capital goods, but rather in the information, according to the Conference Secretary, S. Srinivasaragavan, Librarian & Head, Department of Library & Information Science, Bharathidasan University.

E-resources have already been made available across populations without any discrimination, and have brought new possibilities into the classroom and research. At the same time they have placed more demands on teachers of higher education.

The focus of new technology development must be on exploiting its e-resources to give access to the equivalents of books, libraries, bookshops, broadcasting, films, television, etc. It is imperative that e-resources are utilised very effectively in university/college teaching for enhancing the traditional forms of teaching and administration. Students on many courses in many universities/colleges are now required to find web access to the lecture notes and select digital resources in support of their study. They have personalised web environments in which they can join discussion forums with their class or group, and this new kind of access gives them much greater flexibility of study.

The conference will provide a reference framework for describing the impact of e-learning and web resources on the capacity building of teachers, librarians and research scholars; synthesise the main results of the experience-sharing and progress made in recent years to provide a baseline for discussion on the findings with policy makers, administrators and academics; analyse the barriers to setting up and utilisation of e-resources in higher education institutions; and share the expertise and e-resources of university/college libraries with the other departments.

The 500 academics are from diverse disciplines such as engineering, agriculture, medicine, animal science, biotechnology, geo sciences educational technology, library and information science, computer science and Information Technology.

For further details, contact Dr. Srinivasaragavan (Phone: +91-94869-16358 or +91-431-2407068)

Exploring the potential of e-resources

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