The Tempus Project Info Day - Developing Information Literacy for Lifelong Learning and Knowledge-Based Economy in the Western Balkan Countries
University of Sarajevo, as one of partners in the implementation of the Tempus Project: Developing the information literacy for lifelong learning and knowledge-based economy in the Western Balkans, organized the INFO DAY event on 12 January 2012 in the Ceremonial Hall of the University of Sarajevo's Rectorate.
The Tempus Project Developing the information literacy for lifelong learning and knowledge-based economy in the Western Balkans is the direct support of the quality of the study related to the control and supervision of quality in higher education institutions, as well as support the development of information literacy, lifelong learning .
The Info Day was an opportunity for teachers, assistants, librarians, students and all interested parties to inform themselves about the state of information literacy at the University of Sarajevo and the positive impact from this project on lifelong learning.
During his welcome speech Prof. Dr Faruk Čaklovica, Rector of the University of Sarajevo, said that the Tempus project came at the right time at the University of Sarajevo which was working on the implementation of all guidelines that strengthen the reform of higher education.
Rector Čaklovica said: “The information literacy should be incorporated into the content, structure and flow of the curriculum. Students will individually transform collected information into knowledge, thus learning from the teachers, assistants and librarians and all others involved in the teaching process, not only to independently obtain information, but also to manage, analyze and finally turn them into knowledge. They encouraged them on its way how to successfully „process" information into knowledge. Their main task is to teach students how to learn or how to create from them information literate students and, ultimately, future information literate professionals in the field they are dealing with“.
Mr. Suad Muhibić, Director of B&H Tempus Office wished Success to project participants, and stressed that the Tempus program was the most important program in higher education. "This is a program of the European Union, which supports the modernization and reform of higher education. It has been present in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1996. In the past 16 years, 131 Tempus project was implemented which involves institutions in BiH, of which the University of Sarajevo participated in 70% of these projects" stressed Mr. Muhibić.
Doz. Dr Senada Dizdar from the Department of Comparative Literature and Librarianship Faculty of Philosophy, University of Sarajevo in presenting the topic : "Information literacy - the Metacompetence for Lifelong Learning" spoke abut how the concept of information literacy expands the traditional paradigm of education and why it is crucial to lifelong learning.
"The goal of information literacy is to develop and organize the knowledge that will allow developing from the unfiltered and unstructured information, as well as from vast amounts of information in general, skills and knowledge to find a quality, reliable and authentic information that assists in problems solving "said Doz. Dr Senada Dizdar, adding that computer literacy was a key element of learning and therefore it ought to be integrated into the curriculum, and certainly not letting the teaching of the information literacy as partial and unsystematic implementation in higher education institutions.
"The educational institutions that have in their plans and programs built in and integrated programs for information literacy, can say for themselves that have a curriculum for the 21 century, as well as the curriculum appropriate to the demands of a knowledge society, and thus can carry the title of modern and contemporary educational institutions" said Doz. Dr Senada Dizdar.
During the presentation on topic: "Teaching Information Literacy: dilemmas and possible solutions" Doz. Dr Lejla Turčilo from the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Sarajevo, said that the most important thing to teach, all those who were also interested to know and identify their information needs, how to access information sources effectively and efficiently in order to assessed the quantity and quality available information and the sources of that information, how to use information obtained in an adequate manner, and the issue of ethics in all these segments.
"The information literacy is important, especially as the metacomptence for lifelong learning, and the fact that we receive are affecting us on the cognitive, affective and behavioral field, and the fact that the quantity of available information and / or source determines the degree of the reach of our knowledge, as an individual and the society / societies, and their quality determines the ways in which we understand the world" said Doz. Dr Turčilo and pointed out that the ultimate outcome of the teaching in the field of information literacy was to train students not only to gather and use the adequate amounts of useful (and usable) information from reliable sources (offline and online), but also for their transformation into knowledge.
Mr. Beba Ešrefa Rašidović, Faculty of Criminalistics, Criminology and Security Studies held the presentation of this Tempus project, where she presented the objectives of the project, its coordinators and partners, and planned outcomes of and the basic results.
"The main goal of this Project is developing the information literacy, which is a direct support for quality of studies, since the project is closely associated with the control and supervision of quality in higher education institutions. Through the implementation aspects of the Tempus project, as well as library facilities, the importance of information literacy was given both at the local and regional level“ said M.Sc. Beba Ešrefa Rašidović and stated that to achieve this goal it was necessary to define the content of information literacy programs through the use of predefined guidelines, which would lead to the creation of coordinated didactic materials, training of trainers and identifying the information literacy for lifelong learning and the development of innovative online modules. M.Sc. Rašidović also noted: "The visibility and availability of products in the Information Literacy - IL, in particular through the project website, is one of the main goals, so that the target group, consisting of both students and teachers, has the ability to access learning from them, adapt them to their own needs or even upgrade them. Finally, the IL Network of Western Balkan Countries should be created with the aim of constant dissemination, sustainability and exploitation of results arising from this program. "
The participants in this Tempus Project are: Limerick Institute of Technology, Ireland (coordinator), the Transylvanian University of Brasov, Romania, University of Crete, Greece, Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania, the University "Fan S. Noli" in Korca, Albania, the University of Bihac , Bosnia and Herzegovina, the University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the University of Tirana, Albania, the University of Pristina - Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo (Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99), University of Montenegro, Montenegro, University of Sarajevo, B&H , Middlesex University, UK, the National and University Library of Kosovo, Kosovo (Kosovo under UNSC Resolution 1244/99).
