Learning area network: information dissemination and online discussion in an education environment: the Capabil‐IT‐y project

The development of undergraduate key skills programmes has been a major concern for some years now, recently given added impetus by the Dearing report. This paper discusses the development, implementation and evaluation of web based key skills materials at the University of North London. Take up of these was positively correlated with academic success, although misuse of online discussion fora was evident. Lecturers and students differed markedly in their perception and evaluation of the system. Many of the advantages trumpeted by academics were dismissed by students, who felt that material posted online gave them extera work; represented an abrogation of lecturers’ teaching duties and shifted printing costs from the institution to the student. Network and other access problems caused further disenchantment. The paper concludes that moree attention needs to be paid both to user needs and attitudes, and to the resource implications of running such a system.