1、翻译 外文资料原文 Distance education as a new possibility for librarians in Estonia Distance higher education in Europe is at the beginning of the third phase in its evolution (Bang 1995) and distance learning, flexible learning, resource-based learning, open learning and computer-mediated learning are beco
2、ming commonplace in the progressive educators vocabulary. Still, there is no widespread familiarity with the concept of modern distance education in Estonia. Distance education is associated by most people with the kind of correspondence education that was offered under the old regime and is often a
3、lso associated with its most evident manifestation, i.e. technology. It is therefore important to convey an understanding of modern distance education to the Estonian educational systems (Distance 1993). At their meeting January 29, in 1993, the Nordic Council of Ministers made a ruling to support t
4、he Action Programme for the Baltic countries and neighbouring areas. In this Action Programme provisions were also made for educational projects in distance education. On this basis, the Council accepted an application from the President of the European Distance Education Network (EDEN) on behalf of
5、 the national associations of distance education in Finland, Norway, and Sweden to perform a feasibility study in the Baltic countries. The aims of the feasibility study were to: assess the state of art of distance education in the three Baltic states, as well as to identify the needs that exist for
6、 further development of distance education in the region (Distance., 1993). In March 1993 the Central and Eastern European countries proposed, in the framework of the working group on regional initiatives in human resources, to establish a Regional Distance Education Network in co-operation with PHA
7、RE. As a first step a feasibility study on the development of such a Regional Distance Education Network in Central and Eastern Europe was commissioned and the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) was contracted to carry out this study with the Ministry of Culture and Educa
8、tion of Hungary as co-ordinator. Feasibility studies on the development of modern distance education were carried out in 1993 by groups of experts engaged by the Nordic Council of Ministers and PHARE. In October 1993, at a seminar in Budapest for the official representatives of all eleven PHARE coun
9、tries, it was agreed unanimously that a Regional Distance Education Network should be set up with a long-term perspective. Following the feasibility study, a financing proposal was agreed in 1994 for a three million ECU pilot project called PHARE Pilot Project for Multi-Country Co-operation in Dista
10、nce Education. The pilot project aimed: to act as a catalyst for national policy formulation in the field of distance education through measures for awareness raising, staff development, the presentation of existing models and mechanisms of distance education； to establish a network of National Cont
11、act Points in the participating countries and to develop the necessary infrastructure in all countries to allow them to co-operate on an equal basis； to develop on an experimental basis two pilot courses (European Studies and Training of Distance Trainers), thereby testing the feasibility of joint d
12、evelopment by the participating countries of core course modules which can then be adapted to national requirements and context； on the basis of the above items, to define areas of common interests in which regional co-operation can produce an important added value, in terms of enhanced quality of o
13、utputs, speed of development and/or economies of scale (Benders, 1996). The Estonian National Contact Point was established on 7th November,1994 and Regional Centres were set up at the Tallinn Pedagogical University, the Tartu University and the Tallinn Technical University in the framework of PHARE
14、 Programme for Multi-Country Co-operation in Distance Education. On August 22nd 1996 the international seminar Modern Training and University Education was arranged at the Tallinn Pedagogical University to discuss what has happened in the field of distance education in Estonia. At this Seminar the m
15、ain obstacles to delivering distance education widely in Estonia were pointed out: lack of appropriate literature and printed materials； lack of modern knowledge； old-fashioned academic staff and subject-oriented teaching； lack of ideology and/or policy at the strategy level about distance education
16、； few active learners (Jgi 1996). Still, it was mentioned that the rapid development of a national telecommunication network provides a possibility to make use of the most recent information technology in the field of distance education. Connecting the libraries, information centres, universities an
17、d schools to the Internet gives good opportunity to disseminate distance education all over Estonia. Distance learning pilot project for school librarians The distance education pilot project for school librarians is the first project in the Centre adopting flexible learning methods. Steps in the de
18、sign and development of courses, identification of areas of need, selection of appropriate learning media, etc. began in 1995. The distance education pilot project for school librarians started in May 1996 and will end in June 1997. The Aim of the Project The aim of the project is to bring quality i
19、n service and continuing education to school librarians in Estonia. This project also aims to enable participants to become aware of the potential of network possibilities, to gain some basic skills about network information seeking and retrieval, publishing on the Internet via the World Wide Web, p
20、ublic relations and marketing, user education, etc. Today, from the computer at home or at workplace, the educator or learner can access to the vast amount of library catalogues, journal indexes, reference books, full text of journal articles and books, art exhibits, employment notices, discussion g
21、roups, business data, etc. The learners in schools need help to convert information into knowledge, to avoid information overload and to identify the best sources for the specific needs and abilities of each learner. We do hope that the school library will play an active part in the educational proc
22、ess of every school in Estonia and will support the work of teachers and students in showing how to make use of the modern information sources available to them. The content The Pilot project consists of four modules. Each module consists of 40 hours and includes face to face session, self studying,
23、 tutorial and group works. An introductory session of 16 hours was given during the first module using the traditional face-to-face method and 12 additional hours were offered in order to prepare students for the telematics-based components of the course. Key aspects of distance education were cover
24、ed and terms as distance education, flexible learning, resource-based learning and open learning were introduced to school librarians. An overview about challenges and school possibilities was also given. Topics covered include basic network concepts, Internet basic tools, network information seekin
25、g and retrieval, publishing on the Internet via the World Wide Web, public relation and marketing, user education and consulting. Some of the advantages and difficulties experienced up to the present in using the Internet for educational delivery have been described below. The complete evaluation of the Pilot Project will follow in June 1997. sirje virkus Information Research, Vol. 2 No. 4, April 1997 中文译文
