Student learning in the information age

Abstract

Student Learning in the Information Age, by Patricia Senn Breivik. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1998. 120+ pp. $34.95 There can be little doubt that the age is a reality and that it has changed the face of college campuses in dramatic ways. Students receive data from every direction with new gathered from the internet, the worldwide web, various databases, and from instantaneous e-mail sources. Learners are no longer challenged by top-down education, and the teacher who attempts to impart knowledge from behind the podium is no longer as effective. Libraries are not just massive buildings housing towers of books where students spend little time, but are resource centers that challenge them to create and evaluate as well as to absorb it. Patricia Senn Breivik's monograph, Student Learning in the Information Age, highlights the problems and the challenges of facilitating in the age and directs the reader toward a more comprehensive and collaborative resource-based environment. She asserts that educators need to limit the reserves-lecture-textbook approach in favor of more active methods of learning. Students, she says, need to become more literate. It is not enough for them to acquire data, but they must learn what to do with it once they have it. Breivik's thesis centers around two main concepts: resource-based and lifelong learning. She describes resource-based as a commonsense approach to learning where students use a number of sources (books, journals, television, online databases, the Internet, CD-ROMs, etc.) to access, evaluate, organize, and present information (p. 25). Students involved in resource-based would solve their communities' problems by researching and documenting issues important to them. Faculty members and librarians would collaborate and be on hand to guide the students through the process, directing them in ways that are meaningful to them as individuals. In this way, students learn how to address important concerns, research alternatives, and evaluate data as it is presented to them. They are not just reporting the facts, but are how to discern truth from fiction and to make the process relevant to their own lives. This in turn creates individuals who are prepared to continue thei r outside the classroom. While Breivik's argument for resource-based is convincing, she also addresses the challenges that institutions face in creating such an environment on their campuses. As with any major initiative, funds and personnel are the major challenges. Campuswide literacy programs will require additional personnel, especially in librarian positions. According to Breivik, institutional leaders who want to improve literacy across their curriculum would be best advised to create more librarian positions, because librarians make the most impact across disciplines. In addition to increased personnel needs, Breivik also outlines the need for new technology. If institutions plan to make literacy a priority, they must provide computers for student and faculty use, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Training on the proper use of software is also a necessity. …