Articles
‘Real Challenges in a Virtual World’ or ‘Can I get full text from ERIC and what on earth is Dialog Datastar?’
Authors:
- Philippa SheailEmail Philippa Sheail
Abstract
Based on a breakout session presented at the 33rd UKSG Conference, Edinburgh, April 2010 by Philippa Sheail, who submitted the winning essay in response to UKSG’s invitation to give an original and personal perspective on ‘Real Challenges in a Virtual World’
‘Can I get full text from ERIC and what on earth is Dialog Datastar?’ was a Facebook status update by the student author of this paper in 2009.The post highlighted the some- times confusing experience of working with journal articles online.This article provides an introduction, from a personal perspective, to some of the joys, fascinations and frustrations of being both a real and virtual student in real and virtual worlds. It suggests that e-learning should be considered a broad term which covers a variety of digital tools, environments, peda- gogies and experiences. For students taught fully online, e-learning can mean experiencing the university, the library and its resources purely ‘at the interface’. However, it is argued here that e-learning incorporating social net- working, online communication tools and virtual worlds can be a socially and culturally rewarding learning experience which can cross boundaries of ‘place’ and ‘time’.
- Year: 2010
- Volume: 23 Issue: 2
- Page/Article: 103-108
- DOI: 10.1629/23103
- Published on 1 Jul 2010
- Peer Reviewed