Blended Learning approach for Digital Curation Course with reference to the Library and Information Studies Centre

The rise of online learning in higher education and the convergence of Internet-based and traditional education have given impetus to the open access movement including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). This seems to bring competitive advantage to the institutions that participate therein. In reaction to the proliferation of MOOCs and enquiries from potential students for online courses, the Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC) would like to embark on online course delivery not only to address the competition challenge, but also seize the opportunities of Internet-based learning through online delivery. LISC aims to start with blended learning for the Digital Curation course at a Masters level which is offered as an occasional course to interested individuals and also to registered MLIS students. LISC’s pilot will begin in July 2014. This will comprise of two weeks of contact sessions, in week 2 and week 10 of teaching. In the other weeks, teaching and learning will occur through online delivery which includes collaborative learning through wikis and online chats. This paper shares the experiences and insights of collaborative learning that occurred through a blended learning approach for the Digital Curation Course at the Library and Information Studies Centre (LISC), University of Cape Town.