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Integrating digital libraries and VLEs in higher & further education

Cross-cultural communication within multidisciplinary task groups

Finding a common language between technologists, educationalists, librarians, different departments in the same university and even members of a project board can prove difficult, as can understanding different professional standpoints and priorities. Many projects of this type have to deal with multiple stakeholders, and this can have a significant impact on the development of the project. One of the DiVLE projects, for example, described how a cross institution team had different understandings of the terms 'copyright', 'resource', and 'medium' and how an emerged perspective had to be achieved before the project could move forward. This problem is likely to be mirrored and amplified in the different communities when the project has to present its outputs to different audiences, and needs to be given careful consideration.

There is no easy solution to this problem as a single project will have little or no impact on the ongoing practice of the various disciplinary groups. However remedial action can be taken if the potential difficulaties are recognised at the outset.


Additional Resources

EDNER Project Issue Paper 7 This Issue paper from the Evaluation of the JISC DNER discusses ways in which projects can surface implicit understandings.

EFX Project Logic page This web page contains an explanation of how defining a project's logic can be used to surface implicit understandings. It also contains links to relevant literature.


Acknowledgement

These webpages have been assembled by the CERLIM and CSALT team working on the JISC-funded project LinkER. Contents of the web-pages may be used freely for non-profit purposes, provided that this acknowledgement is included. Click here for further information about LinkER