Results of a digital library curriculum field test

Edward Fox

Abstract

The DL Curriculum Development project was launched in 2006, responding to an urgent need for consensus on DL curriculum across the fields of computer science and information and library science. Over the course of several years, 13 modules of a digital libraries (DL) curriculum were developed and were ready for field testing. The modules were evaluated in DL courses in real classroom environments in 37 classes by 15 instructors and their students. Interviews with instructors and questionnaires completed by their students were used to collect evaluative feedback. Findings indicate that the modules have been well designed to educate students on important topics and issues in DLs, in general. Suggestions to improve the modules based on the interviews and questionnaires were discussed as well. After the field test, module development has been continued, not only for the DL community but also others associated with DLs, such as information retrieval, big data, and multimedia. Currently, 56 modules are readily available for use through the project website or the Wikiversity site.