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52 stories
Week 15: Making information more accessible
ACER’s Cunningham Library provides resources to support a learning society, in which every learner experiences success and has an opportunity to achieve their potential.
Cunningham Library is a unique information source for the entire education community. As well as holding an extensive collection of Australian education publications, the library provides easy electronic access to information about hundreds of thousands of international publications. Research databases on distance education and international education are among Cunningham Library’s many services.
Consider some numbers: the Australian Education Index (AEI), maintained by the Cunningham Library at ACER since 1957, contains 200 000 items; two slices of the AEI are indexed and updated monthly by a team of four Cunningham Library staff to create the DEHub Database of Research on Distance Education and the IDP Database of Research on International Education; the combined databases reach 3700 key researchers, policy makers and practitioners in international education and 1600 in distance education. We’re talking specialist.
The databases offer rich, searchable content, says Lance Deveson, Manager of ACER’s Cunningham Library, because each includes full-text journal articles and research papers, policy documents, book chapters and reports, not simply abstracts, and even news items. ‘Both are also freely accessible,’ Lance says, ‘thanks to the support of DEHub and IDP Education.’
Lance’s team of four is working hard, but also smart, he points out. ‘We add approximately 100 items to each database every month, but because we’re doing that for the AEI already, and cutting a slice each for distance education and international education, we can do that very efficiently.
‘Both DEHub and IDP Education recognise the Cunningham Library’s 80 years or so of expertise. With 200 000 items and counting, the AEI is an incomparable resource to support research and the development of evidence-based policies and practices in the education sector. DEHub and IDP Education both recognise that, and understand that managing data like this is our core business.
‘The Cunningham Library is unusual,’ Lance says, ‘in that it generates products in a way that few academic libraries do, so we’re well placed to do this sort of work.’
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Week 52: State of the art psychometric and statistical analysis
Week 51: Assessing civics and citizenship
Week 50: International research into teaching and learning
GOAL 1
Learners and their needs
every learner engaged in challenging learning opportunities appropriate to their readiness and needs
GOAL 2
The Learning Profession
every learning professional highly skilled, knowledgeable and engaged in excellent practice
GOAL 3
Places of learning
every learning community well resourced and passionately committed to improving outcomes for all learners
GOAL 4
A Learning Society
a society in which every learner experiences success and has an opportunity to achieve their potential
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Pursuing Quality and Equity through Evidence
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