New Opportunities: Teacher Librarians Managing Learning Objects

Abstract

Digital learning objects are new kinds of resources which teacher librarians will be required to manage and make accessible to teachers and students. In Australia there are currently large-scale national and state initiatives underway to develop a critical mass of learning objects. The development of a Learning System Architecture has also become a vital step to make it possible to manage these learning objects. Packages that will enable students and teachers to communicate, collaborate, locate and access resources within intellectual property arrangements, assemble digital resources into learning sequences, assess and report are all necessary requirements. The Learning System Architecture emerging in Australia enables these disparate systems to function together as seamless and interoperable packages. A new profile of teacher librarian competency is being developed in Tasmania to assist with planning the professional learning needs of this group. The new profile includes understandings and experience of information communication technologies and online learning. Managing these new digital resources to support the teaching and learning is a key new professional role for teacher librarians.