Sirje Virkus, Department of Information Studies, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Estonia
Introduction
Estonian librarianship emerged in the first quarter of the twentieth century,
influenced by German and Anglo-American librarianship. Librarians' training
became a regular issue for the Estonian Librarians Association in the 1920's; in
1927 librarianship became an optional subject in the curriculum of Tartu
University; 1944 saw the opening of the Department of Bibliography and 1954 that
of the Faculty of Librarianship. From 1944 to 1965 librarians with a university
degree were educated at Tartu State University.
The Department of Librarianship and Bibliography was founded in Tallinn Pedagogical University (TPU) in September 1966 (the university was called the Tallinn Teacher Training Institute until 1992). In September 1991 it was turned into the Faculty of Library and Information Science. Since 1993 the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tallinn Pedagogical University has housed the Department of Information Studies that has chairs of Librarianship, Information Science, and Book Studies. It has to be pointed out that the Department of Information Studies is the only institution in Estonia giving speciality of information science on all academic levels. Education on diploma level has been organised in Viljandi College of Culture.
During the Soviet regime the unified curriculum, compulsory throughout the Soviet Union, did not allow librarians to prepare for the peculiarities of the information environment in which they had to work later on. The all-Union curriculum could be adapted for only five per cent of local needs. The content of education and its four-year duration were rigidly prescribed for all secondary and higher special education institutions in the Soviet Union.
Current state of LIS education in Estonia
During the last decade the Department of Information Studies (IS) has seen rapid
changes both in its structure and in the curriculum. Systematic modernisation of
the curricula of library and information science started in 1988, since 1991
advanced degree courses (MA, PhD) also have been offered at the Department.
These postgraduate studies lead of two degrees: Master of Information Sciences
(MA) and Doctor of Philosophy in humanities (PhD). Today the Department offers
courses in information studies, not only in librarianship and bibliography as
before.
The mission of the Department is:
For the realisation of this mission, the Department has defined the following
aims (that so far have been implemented with greater or smaller success):
Several concrete steps to improve the administration of the curriculum and the management of the Department have been taken during the last years. In order to promote research, development and continuous training, the Centre for Information Management was founded on a departmental basis in 1995. Since 1999 the Centre for Information Management has been working on the basis of three programs: a program for continuing professional education, a program for research & development and a program for distance education.
The modernisation of LIS education have occurred also in implementing modern teaching methods in education. One possibility to improve university education and continuing education was open and distance learning (ODL). ODL has enabled to widen education possibilities and to change stereotypic teaching and learning models. The process of testing modern ODL methods in education started at the Department of Information Studies in 1994. At present the Department is coordinating several major research and development projects in the field of ODL (Tempus JEP 13188 "Development of an Open University Infrastructure in Estonia"; Estonian Science Foundation Grant 3479 "The Study and Implementation of Distance Learning and Teaching in a New Learning Environment in Estonia", etc).
Admission policy
The admission policy of the Department of Information Studies has been guided by
the obligation to prepare the specialists who can meet the information needs of
the individuals, organisations and institutions of Estonia in all fields of
society. According to the labour market trends the skills, knowledge and
personal characteristics are functioning as basic principles in admission
process. The University Council establishes admission regulations of TPU and the
admission is co-ordinated by the university admissions committee. The admission
committees of every programme and faculty are established each spring by the
Rector's decree.
Each department makes an independent decision about the type and form of entrance examinations. Until 1998 BA entrance exams were an essay in a mother language, foreign language and a professional suitability examination (tests and interview). In 1999 the BA program at the Department of IS will require that essay in a mother tongue and a foreign language exam are taken through the government exams and the results are taken into account for entrance. Suitability and motivation for studying is revealed by the two-part, professional suitability test and through an interview. The aim is to select candidates who are able to make quick decisions, notice important details, and on the other hand to analyse and have appropriate knowledge about processes in society. While interviewing the applicants our aim is to reveal their pre knowledge concerning the future professional area and their previous contacts with the chosen field.
Taking into account relatively low drop out percentage it is a bit difficult to predict if it is connected with the high level competition or the right admission requirements. Taking into account the competencies required from modern information professionals it has been decided to find out also communication skills, teamwork abilities and performance skills of the student candidates.
The prerequisites for acceptance into MA program are BA degree or equivalent university education, acceptance of the Professor of the Chair and the supervisor, and the preliminary title and the structure of the planned Thesis. Both a foreign language exam and examination in the information sciences is required. One of the basic criteria for evaluation is success or grades in the BA program and the level of the work in the final BA Thesis.
The prerequisites for acceptance into PhD program are MA degree or equivalent degree, acceptance of the Professor of the Chair and the supervisor, and the preliminary title and the structure of the planned Thesis. The basis of choice into PhD program is to find qualified future staff for the Department and high-level researchers for academic libraries. The Ministry of Education determines the number of state-financed students of all three programs.
Competition at entrance examinations has continuously increased (1996 - 9,21; 1997 - 14,7; 1998 - 16,1). The Department makes constant analysis of the results of annual admissions and plans ways to maintain the competitive edge. Due to big competition only very capable candidates are allocated state-financed studentships. The Department, taking into account both the levels of candidates as well as own capacity determines the number of fee-based places. At present our aim is to fix the number of fee-based students admitted to 15-20 that would enable to plan and organise the process of studies more efficiently.
Evidence shows that about 70% of the students continue their studies at the university immediately after graduation from the high school. There have been no significant changes across years. However, data about domicile of information studies students vary. If in 1994 the students came from only six counties and Tallinn dominated, then in 1997-1998 the domicile of students has widened geographically. 82 % of the student population are female (65 % of full time BA students, 90% of correspondence students. 88 % of Master students and 60% of PhD students). The number of students from Russian schools is relatively small.
Information studies programme is taught full- and part-time. However, the student may choose to study full-time (i.e. standard workload), which means minimum 17, 5 Credit Points during semester or with part-time workload - not less than 5 Credit Points in semester. A student may choose the suitable workload and place himself, option that is widely used. This enables to combine studies and work, to plan the studies abroad or to graduate the university in a shorter time than standard length of studies.
Nearly 71 % of information studies students are currently employed. More than 20% of the latter works over 30 hours per week. It seems that the employment of student alongside their studies tends to increase and the reinforcement to the student advice service (for example, individual tutors) as well as the increased flexibility of the course studies (including the use of modular studies and individual work) would assist the students.
There are two different attitudes towards student employment. Working students have to be absent from classes more frequently than non-working students and it may cause dropout more easily. On the other hand, majority of the students are working in libraries and information centres and it connects theory and practise and gives prospective for future employment. It should be said that drop out were minimal during 1996-1999.
The students enrolled in the information studies degree program have an opportunity to take courses as visiting students in other universities who provide licensed Bachelor Degree programs. In that case the credits collected at another university will be transferred to the home university.
Curricula
The Academic Council of the Tallinn Pedagogical University adopted current
structure of BA curricula on 28 March 1996. Curricula consists of major subject,
minor subject, general subjects according to the following scheme and
proportions:
In this frame every academic department can work out curricula according to
their needs and specifications, which has to respond to the university
principles. At the same time the structure of major subjects are established by
Academic Council of TPU. According to this the following requirements are
necessary:
Each successive level includes the previous levels
At the lower level of each curriculum all subjects are obligatory, selective subjects are taught since the intermediate level. A curriculum can contain 25 % of the subjects with the extent of 1 credit point.
The Academic Council of the Tallinn Pedagogical University adopted current structure of master and doctor level curricula on 15 December 1997. Frame requirements of MA and PhD curricula's contain instructions for curricula's structure according to which the studies consist from major and minor subjects studies. According to the frame requirements curricula's are compiled at academic department.
Structure of a curriculum:
Different academic units are involved in the development of Information Science curriculum. Selection of faculty compulsory and optional courses is made at the level of faculty. The faculty council also validates annual changes in the curriculum. The Department is responsible for composing and structuring the Information Studies courses in the curriculum. Discussions over modules, in what capacity and order should be included in the curriculum and what is the status of each taught course (compulsory, optional, a modular course in the additional speciality) take place namely at departmental and chair meetings.
Curriculum is discussed at the academic department and approved by the Council of the Faculty. Curriculum approved by the Council of the Faculty is presented then to the Commission of Studies of the Academic Council of the University. The Commission of Studies checks if the form and contents of the curriculum meet the adopted requirements and sends it to the Academic Council of the University for approval or if any amendments are needed, it is sent back to the academic department which is responsible for the curriculum. In order the curriculum is valid from 1 September it has to be approved by the Academic Council before 1 December of the previous year, amendments to the existing curricula have to be approved before 1 April of the same year.
Bachelor studies end with public defence of bachelor thesis in front of examination commission. Full-time teaching staff of the Department of IS takes part in work of commission. There is also an independent member outside the Department who is usually a recognised professional. At public defence of bachelor degree thesis a specialist who works outside the Department reviews the thesis. If the supervisor of the thesis were outside the Department, then the teacher from the Department of IS would be the reviewer. The university grants a bachelor degree diploma and academic certificate in the field of information science to the graduate. The graduate has right to continue his/her studies obtaining a master degree.
The curricula's of the Department of IS are flexibly compiled. The student might create individual curricula depending on his/her professional interests and employer needs, which able him/her to compete better at employment market after finishing it. Modernisation of the information science curricula's and finding the best offers for changing requests is regular process, where directions and trends are considered in education in field of information science as well as in needs of employment market.
Organisation of class-work and independent work
The standards for planning the tuition are defined by the TPU regulation for the
Organisation of studies. Capacity of studies is measured in Credit Points (CP),
whereby 1 CP equals 40 academic hours of work in any form (lectures, seminars or
individual work). Weekly average academic workload on lectures is 24-26 academic
hours, and 400 hours in a semester.
Teaching methods
The Department's strategy for teaching and learning is to apply methods which
emphasise student participation; encourage students to develop research and
writing skills, to be self-confident in articulating and writing. The Department
participate in several research and development projects testing new methods for
teaching and students behaviour in the new learning environment. These methods
were largely based on research work carried out by the Department, development
projects and exchange of experiences with international competence centres.
Since the development of new teaching methods has become very resource consuming
the Faculty of Social Sciences has decided to establish a development fund
within the budget. This would promote lecturers' interest in application of
innovative teaching methods.
However, the share of classroom workload has been by far in the TPU too big. It was caused by the shortage of textbooks and reading materials and by the system of accounting the workload of lecturers on the basis of lectures taught in the class. Last years the Department decided to minimise the share of classroom work and to increase the share of independent study. In the University general courses this proportion has still not changed significantly whereby the students' classroom workload in the first year is very high and the share of independent study too small. This situation is also caused by the fact that the courses are taught for large groups of students and there is a general shortage of young academic staff at the University for carrying out seminars.
It should be said that positive changes are noticeable since seminars constitute a significant part in the information science curriculum. This is a deliberate step towards paying more attention to the development of the skills of critical thinking, selecting and organising points, explaining them orally to peers and using visual supplies and creating preconditions for individual approach to teaching. It requires students to participate in argumentation, debate and discussions. Seminar topics are generally discussed in advance by the lecturer and students so that the students usually have opportunity to develop knowledge of a topic more deeply. Some seminars also tend to be run as problem-solving classes. The students are required to undertake a wide range of directed reading and staff take care of that the students have adequate access to the texts either through the university library, departmental collection or other libraries in Estonia.
Assessment
Continuous assessment forms like: short essays, tests, papers, presentations and
intermediate examinations are more widely applied. Points collected during the
semester constitute a share in the final mark of the assessed course. In some
courses the share of the mark of an examination taken during the exam session
has been limited to 10-20% of the overall mark. This is a conscious move by the
Department towards promoting continuous independent study and towards the
distribution of workload more evenly across the academic year. However, it
likewise increases the complexity of assessment (5-20 short papers by one
student during the course) and demands more time for methodical work from the
lecturers.
Assessment criteria and the marks granted are all public. The scale of marks granted is prescribed in the University tuition regulations. In addition, each course syllabus describes the assessment criteria used in the specific course. The students are thereby given information at the beginning of each course on the set requirements. The failure mark is granted in the cases where the level of knowledge demonstrated is less than 50% of the required standard. In accordance with the study regulations, each student has the right to take the exam three times. The majority of examinations are in a written form and the results are placed on the departmental notice board as well as delivered via electronic list.
Supervision and defending of Student research works
Organisation of supervision and defending of pro-seminar and seminar papers
(first and second research paper) and Bachelor Degree theses is the
responsibility of departmental Chairs. Students compile pro-seminar paper (first
research paper - 3, 0 CP), seminar paper (second research paper - 5, 0 CP) and
Bachelor Thesis (third research paper - 10, 0 CP) during their studies. The aim
of pro-seminar papers is to develop tools for independent analysis and
scientific research. The pro-seminar and seminar papers are assessed publicly at
the general departmental meeting. The final mark is granted after discussion and
agreement among all the participating lecturers. Student's research papers are
connected with the research priorities of the Department. Department looks
research priorities through every second year.
The final BA thesis is a piece of research either presenting an extensive treatment of a theoretical issue or a general analysis of an issue/specific area of research, based on empirical field of study, As a rule, the assignment of an outside reviewer is needed and the departmental supervisor observes the accordance of a written paper to the requirements set by the department. Only those students who have passed all the required course of studies are allowed to defend their thesis. The final theses are defended publicly in front of a committee of experts after hearing the opinion of a supervisor and opponents.
Principles of financing
The Department of Information Studies has its independent sub-budget within the
framework of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the TPU budget. The budget is
composed of a state-financed part of a budget and a self-earned part of a
budget. The state-financed part of the budget is a sum of credit points (SCP),
the students of the department have actually declared during the academic year.
The self-earned part of the budget is formed by the fees paid by the fee-based
students and by income received from different projects. At present 17 % of the
self-earned income must be transferred to the university budget and 6% to the
faculty budget.
The share of self-earned income in the departmental budget has increased
considerably in the years 1997-1999. At present the allocations from the state
budget form only 20% of the annual departmental budget. On the one hand, this is
an evidence of a success achieved in the training market. On the other hand, it
demonstrates how small is the number of state-financed studentships as compared
to the actual information science training needs. No increase in the number of
state-financed studentships is likely to be expected in the near future. There
are five possible lines for development:
The Department has developed its technological infrastructure (computer classes, PCs for staff, presentation and modern teaching technology, for example data projectors as well as video- and audioconference equipment), renovated and equipped the office rooms and computer and lecture rooms from its self-earned budgetary income. For example the departmental computer class was established in January 1997 with the help of Estonian Open Foundation Grant (Project on distance education for library and information professionals "Information technology in libraries"), the Learning Support Centre at the TPU Library will be equipped with computers with the help of the Tempus JEP "Development of an Open University Infrastructure in Estonia" coordinated by the Department of IS.
Internationalisation and international co-operation
Activities outside the Department serve the following goals:
The following factors and developments have to ensure the internationalisation of the curriculum and the Department:
The extent of international co-operation of the Department of IS has been extensive and collaboration with different institutions has greatly contributed to our development. However, we have not developed a clear strategy for the development of international co-operation. Decisions to join with different projects and partners have been ad hoc. This should be replaced with purposefully planned co-operation in the future.
Perspectives for further development
Vision
The Department have intention to be a nationally and internationally recognized
institution in meeting challenges of the future through excellence in education
and research in information science. At Bachelor level, we will have
comprehensive, diverse, and relevant curricula that educate technically
competent, intellectually vital graduates who are creative, effective creators,
collectors, communicators and consolidators in the information-rich environment
and who are aware of the changing social, economic, and cultural values of the
world. At the Master and PhD level and in research, we will focus especially on
growth in interdisciplinary approaches in areas of established strength and
future need. Consistent with this mission, our vision is to be a leader in LIS
education and research in Estonia. Accomplishing our vision requires the
articulation of a strategic plan to guide decision making and against which to
measure our progress. Long-range planning set targets for accomplishing the
vision, but implementation requires strategic goals. Further development of
Department should be based more on Strategic Planning, which is a new element to
be implemented in our management.
The future priorities at the Department of IS should be given to: