::::::::::::::::::::
INTRANET
::::::::::::::::::::

The proposal for a European project for archival training: Dutch innovation in records education and training

Thijs Laeven
Archiefschool, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Introduction

The project, E-term, seeks to develop a common European framework model for electronic records training, to produce a core curriculum and to pilot the model in three EU regions. E-term, the European Training programme in Electronic Records Management for administrators and archivists, provides an opportunity to build on existing experience and develop a Europe-wide training course. In particular, E-term seeks to continue, extend and adapt the five day seminar cycle on digital archives that is currently and successfully being executed in the Netherlands. This seminar cycle was invented and developed by the Netherlands Archiefschool.

This paper will give a sketch of the Dutch seminar cycle and outline the European developments in the field. The complementary paper by Elizabeth Shepherd will discuss the project proposal, funding and the results to date.

:: RETURN TO TOP :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The five day seminar cycle

Fast developments in information technology (IT) and their impact on modern record keeping and archival research and practice require records managers and archivists to be trained to deal with the consequences of these developments. In response to this, the Netherlands Archiefschool has run a training course since 1997 which consists of a cycle of five seminars. An essential aspect is that participants learn to consider the developments from the point of view of their own role, responsibilities and functions, in order to define a strategy and policy for the management of electronic records in the organisation for which they work. The target group for this course is senior records managers and archivists working in both government and private organisations, as well as in archives. The seminar cycle’s motto is “change of perspective” and its subtitle is “towards a new role for the records manager and the archivist”.

This paper will, first, compare the future and traditional record keeping roles. It will emphasize the main points of view from which the change of perspective can be attempted. It will then present the leading pedagogical concepts that underlie the design of the course, crucially, the so-called learning cycle. Next, it will present the results of the evaluation of the series of courses that have been executed since 1997 and the measures the Archiefschool has taken to improve the contents and the concept.

:: RETURN TO TOP :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Towards a new role”

In the view of the developers of the Dutch seminar cycle, the records manager and archivist must develop himself or herself into the specialist who is engaged, from the earliest possible moment, in defending the interests of record keeping and archiving in the company of information, organisation and IT specialists, who are generally not concerned with records. The following table shows the traditional and the future conception of the role of the records manager and the archivist, and indicates the path that has to be completed eventually in order to assume the new role.

The five day seminar cycle supports this migration to a new role by the transfer of expertise. This required the development of a rather new pedagogical concept.

:: RETURN TO TOP :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The pedagogical concept

The leading elements in this concept were as follows:

• Dual learning: there should be a continuous movement from “theory” to “practice” and back.
• Active learning: all of the material should be designed to enable students to formulate and analyze the problems they face or expect to face in their organizations and to work out solutions and to contribute to designing and implementing a policy for electronic records management.
• Experience-based learning: students are challenged to bring their experiences (successes and failures) and to learn how to exploit them as learning moments. These individual experiences will be enriched by treatment within the student group and by the experiences of the workshop leader and of the ‘best practices’ in the case studies.
• Anticipation learning: the course material should facilitate learning by anticipation in preparing students to read texts that are not designed for use in training circumstances. This can be done by introducing the text, highlighting the main points, and by giving steering or control questions.
• Network learning: the students are invited to use intranet or internet facilities to communicate with each other and with the seminar leaders and to find interesting material from all over the world.
• Collegial learning: the seminar cycle should stimulate collegial learning. It is not designed to transfer all of the required competences. On the contrary, it should bring about readiness to transfer expertise between colleagues and awareness to learn from others who might also learn from you.

:: RETURN TO TOP :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The cycle of learning

In fact, this is the major design principle for the seminar cycle. Each of the five days presents a learning cycle in itself which consists of four phases:

1. Orientation: preparation by reading state-of-the-art literature which is embedded in a pedagogical context.
2. Exploration: adding experiences to the “theoretical” insights that result from the reading of the preceding phase.
3. Application off-the-job: application to well designed cases in a “secure” context during the seminar days.
4. Application on-the-job: application in daily practice and transferring new ideas and concepts to the employing organisation.

This learning cycle is illustrated in the following graph:

:: RETURN TO TOP :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Students’ reactions and evaluation

The seminar cycle has run five times since the fall of 1997, and new cycles are scheduled for the coming months. Nearly 100 students have followed the course. Recently, we evaluated the course and collected students’ and teachers’ reactions and suggestions. Although some adaptations have proved necessary since 1997 they have not affected the basic principles. Adaptations mainly concerned the replacement of learning materials by actual versions of texts and legislation.

The students and the seminar leaders are very positive about the design and the pedagogical principles that underlie the material they have worked with: the seminars are very well structured. Criticisms deal with the relationship between the seminar cycle and the daily work practices of students. Too few students complete their practical tasks successfully. The seminar cycle is quite far ahead of developments in employing organisations, which limits the opportunities for transfer of learning. The students are ready to propose a new policy for electronic records management, but the organisations are not ready to implement it. In future, effective learning in the ‘application off-the-job’ phase will be stressed by developing two new cases which will be used as a common thread through each of the five seminar days. Of course the seminar cycle should not only affect the students, but should, crucially, influence their organisations. So application on-the-job remains an important objective. One could start to use a kind of “learning agreement” in order to stimulate organisations both to send staff to the course and to accept changes, and so offer a rich context for the transfer of learning. At the intake of new students such an agreement should make clear to all parties the common objectives of the individual student and of the organisation in which she or he is employed. These objectives must stress opportunities for the transfer of learning. This probably implies more restricted admission to the course but it should reduce frustration.

Further innovations of the seminar cycle could include such developments as distance learning.

:: RETURN TO TOP :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Taking the project forward in a European context

In June 1997, a presentation of the Dutch seminar cycle, presented at an experts’ meeting held in the Hague, Netherlands, enthused colleagues from all over Europe.[1]  We were invited to translate it into English. At the same time, an evaluation by Torbjörn KJÖLSTAD challenged us to investigate the possibility of incorporating the course into a distance learning system.[2] In time this led to a collaborative project, E-term, the European Training programme in Electronic Records Management for administrators and archivists, which is discussed in Elizabeth Shepherd’s complementary paper.

[1] European Experts’ meeting on electronic records: Proceedings 18 June 1997 (The Hague: Rijksarchiefdienst, 1997) Thijs Laeven, ‘Change of perspective — towards a new role for the records manager and the archivist’, 25–33

[2] European Experts’ meeting on electronic records: Proceedings 18 June 1997 (The Hague: Rijksarchiefdienst, 1997) ‘Evaluation of curricula’, 42–50

Extended abstract :: Full text :: Powerpoint show [80 Kb]

:: RETURN TO TOP :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::