Dec 2006 - Volume 5 Issue 4
eLIT 2006 Special Issue

Editorial by Joanne Marsh and Ruth Stubbings
HEA-ICS and Loughborough University

eLit 2006 was held on the 28th – 30th June 2006 at Loughborough University . The conference brought together academics, teachers, IT trainers & support staff, librarians and learning technologists from around the world to share experience, good practice and to discuss issues relating to the embedding of e-literacy skills into the curriculum and society as a whole. This is a special conference issue of ITALICS, jointly published with the Journal of e-Literacy (JelIT- http://www.jelit.org/), and includes a selection of papers submitted to the conference and expanded for this publication.

e-Literacy can be described as the “the awareness, skills, understandings and reflective–evaluative approaches that are necessary for an individual to operate comfortably in information–rich and IT–supported environments.” (Martin 2003). The development of these skills and understandings is increasingly important if we are to ensure that students and society as a whole can effectively utilise developing technologies for study, work and personal life. Web 2.0 technologies including blogs, wikis and podcasts, together with wireless and broadband access technologies, prompt us to re-evaluate learning activities to make the most of these new technologies, as they provide powerful tools to engage learners. As Cooper et al note in their paper, in an increasingly diverse global culture where multiple information and media technologies are central, literacy has moved beyond reading, writing and the written word. Consequently, learning and teaching must develop in order to enable students to successfully utilise a variety of literacies that are relevant to, and meet the challenges of contemporary society (p.78).

The themes of this conference focused on pedagogy and the digital learning environment; the development of digital literacies as cultural tools; emerging technologies and literacies and the challenges of the information society; the relationship between IT and information literacy. This broad focus attracted submissions which considered a wide variety of learning methodologies and educational opportunities from school and formal learning to community learning. For example, in his case study on Testbed learning communities in Carven Arms, Nash describes the development of learning communities that can be offered learning opportunities which meet local demand and in doing so can develop the skills required for the local economy.

Many of the papers included in this issue consider aspects of formal education at different levels, in different countries throughout the world. Russell provides an insight into the creation of a learning space which is beyond the confines of the classroom to aid high school pupils in New South Wales , Australia , in developing an individual social research project. This case study discusses the evolution of the learning space on the internet, how it evolved and the cultural shift away from traditional teaching methods and roles for both the teacher and the students.

In their paper, Madigan and Sirum explore the overall impact of digital technology on student learning in undergraduate biology courses in the United States of America , and offer readers a framework for a focused understanding of how digital technology can enhance teaching.

Picking up on an issue raised in Beeson’s paper regarding the value of collaboration across the university departments to ensure students develop critical information skills, Martin and Rich consider issues of collaboration among staff and students in two British Universities. This paper focuses in particular on collaboration between academic and information professionals with regard to using electronic resources effectively to support learning and teaching, and suggests that effective collaboration can help to foster greater comfort with the use of electronic resources.

Please note that the paper by George Geddes  entitled 'Old dogs new tricks : teaching computer skills to adults', is a submission from the 2005 eLit conference held in New York.

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