Media-supported distance education for library and information science at the HU Berlin

The introduction of the "Postgraduate Library Science distance education pr ogram" in 1995 at the Institute for Library Science (IB) at Humboldt-Univer sity Berlin marks the beginning of the development of media-supported dista nce courses. Since 1998 the Institute has offered in addition the completel y ICT-based Magister/Master program ''Library and Information Science Dista nce Education". With the latter, a transparent system of media-supported di stance courses, for different conditions of entry and grades, was de ve lop ed. This paper discusses the two-year experience and problems of the applic ation of information and communication technologies in Magister/Master Dist ance program. The information component as one of the crucial conceptional elements is based on a hypermedia concept. The communication between the le cturer and students is realized by a video conference technique. The proble ms of media-supported distance courses are concentrated in setting-up inter active communication between lecturer and students. Technology-supported di stance learning and teaching is regarded not as a substitution of services with a new technique, but as a completely new beginning using new media.