The ‘Bibliographic Control’ of Learning Opportunities
| Date | 01 January 1992 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040469 |
| Pages | 24-27 |
| Published date | 01 January 1992 |
| Author | John Allred |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
The 'Bibliographic
Control'
of
Learning
Opportunities
by John
Allred,
Information Consultant
Increasingly,
information about a wide range of
learning opportunities
is
being made available
on
public
access computer
systems.
Allred argues
the case
for
bibliographic-type standards for the
control
of
the information stored
and
presented by
such
systems.
The aim
is to
ensure full and
com-
prehensive
data,
thereby avoiding confusion
on
be-
half
of
the
user,
and to facilitate the transfer
of
infor-
mation between
systems.
The background
An adult learner has access to a wide range
of learning opportunities, long and short
for-
mally taught courses, open learning pack-
ages,
broadcasts with excellent backup ma-
terials, audio and video tapes and software.
All this provides choice and yet the need for
a comprehensive, public access, machine-
readable information system listing all kinds
of opportunities for education and training
has been recognised surprisingly only re-
cently considering the long history of print
directories to these opportunities. There
are probably two reasons for
this:
one, the
scattered nature of the information, and
two,
the absence, until the publication of
the "Using learning information: a guide to
handling information in education and train-
ing databases" (1), of a standard convention
for recording and indexing the information.
Put in bibliographical terms there are very
many 'publishers' of learning opportunities
(the generic term for education and training
courses of all
kinds),
and, until recently,
there has been little agreement on what con-
stitutes the equivalent of
title,
the author,
the series, or the subject for the records of
these opportunities.
The first move to create a public database
of learning opportunities came following
the Department of Education and Science's
Credit Transfer Study conducted by Peter
Toyne at Exeter University (2). The study
found that it would be possible to list oppor-
tunities in higher education with the 'cre-
dits'
you needed to start them, or that you
could carry away from them. This meant
listing Further and Higher Education cours-
es and describing them in terms of their
entry qualifications, start date and contents,
and applying some index codes. From this
was born the ECCTIS database. The De-
partment had the sense to appreciate that,
to 'Educational Credit Transfer Informa-
tion Service', had to be added another 'C' -
Counselling. I say sense because informa-
tion about learning opportunities is far from
easy to understand. The Department of
Education and Science also funded a data-
base of vocational short courses called the
PICKUP Training Directory. This is now
managed by Guildford Educational Ser-
vices.
ECCTIS 2000 is managed now by a
consortium of the Careers Research and
Advisory Centre, Hobsons Publishing plc,
British Telecommunications plc, the Poly-
technics' Central Admission System and
The Times Network Systems Ltd. Both
ECCTIS and Guildford Educational Ser-
vices put considerable effort and experience
into making their records consistent and re-
trievable.
The MARIS-ONLINE Materials database,
which covered explicitly open learning ma-
terials, ie distance learning packs had its
origins in 1983 as a listing of Open Tech
projects and was originally funded by the
Manpower Services Commission. It ceased
24 -
VINE
86 (March 1992)
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