1. Open scholarship in the age of digital competition Gráinne Conole, PhD Research Day BDRA, 21st February 2012

2. Key questions How are new open, social and participatory media changing educational practice? What are the implications for research? How are researcher roles changing? What new digital literacies are needed? How can we effectively harness the power of these new media? Short survey on social media: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3F535LJ

3. Outline Today’s digital landscape Digital scholarship Examples of using social media for research Tips and hints The OU’s approach to openness The change nature of ‘community’ Recommendations Final thoughts Personal reflection Image by Gilly Salmon

4. Today’s educational context Rapidly changing technological environment New digital literacy skills needed for learners and teachers New open practices are emerging New forms of online community and interactivity

5. 5 Media sharing Collaborative editing Social networking Virtual worlds and games Syndication Messaging Social bookmarking Recommender systems Mash ups Blogging Conole and Alevizou, 2010 Social & participatory media http://magicineducation.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/web-2-0-world-map/

6. User generated content Peer critiquing Networked Collective aggregation Personalised Open Social media revolution The machine is us/ing us

7. Evidence Horizon report, 2011 NSF Cyber- infrastructure report, 2008 IPTS e-learning 2.0 report, 2008 Review of Web 2.0 tools & practices, 2010

8. Horizon report 2011 Abundance of resources challenging traditional educational roles People expect to be able to work & learn anywhere, anytime World of work increasingly collaborative Technologies increasingly cloud based Importance of digital literacies New evaluation metrics for new forms of scholarship and publishing New business models needed Challenge of keeping abreast of new technologies

9. Technologies to watch E-books Mobiles Augmented learning Game-based learning Gesture-based learning Learning analytics

10. Horizon reports Mobile and e- books Gesture and augmented Learning analytics http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2011/

11. Ed tech trends Mobile learning Personalised learning Cloud computing Ubiquitous learning BYOD Digital content The flipped classroom Debt/drop out http://learn231.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/trend-report-1/

12. Use in teachingWeb 2.0 toolsUse in research Personalised learning Ability to customise and personalise, use of RSS feeds, etc Personalised digital research environment Situated, experiential, problem-based learning, role play Location aware devices, 3D- worlds Field data collection virtual ethnography Role play, inquiry- learning Resource-based learning Search engines, online resources User-generated content tools, media repositories Access to research materials and expertise, publishing of data and research findings Reflective, dialogic and peer-based learning Blogs, wikis, e- portfolios, social networks Communication and collaboration

13. Conole and Alevizou, 2010 Effective use of new technologies requires a radical rethink of the core learning and teaching processes; a shift from design as an internalised, implicit and individually crafted process to one that is externalised and shareable with others. Change in practice may indeed involve the use of revised materials, new teaching strategies and beliefs - all in relation to educational innovation. Gill Clough Giota Alevizou Research processes Research innovation Research strategies

14. Change+ve impact-ve impact Free tools, resources & services Access, personalisation, supports the long tail Role of institutions, lack of control Ubiquitous access Technology as core tool Narrower, but deeper digital divide Multiple communication & distribution channels Increased peer, tutor and expert dialogue Fragmentation, no central repository Rich media representation New forms of sense- making Lack of new digital literacies User-generated content Increased variety of knowledge, learner control Quality assurance

15. A typology of new technologies TechnologyExamples Media sharingFlckr, YouTube, Slideshare, Sketchfu Media manipulation and mash upsGeotagged photos on maps, Voicethread Instant messaging, chat, web 2.0 forumsMSN, Paltalk, Arguementum Online games and virtual worldsWorldofWarcraft, SecondLife Social networkingFacebook, Myspace, Linkedin, Elgg, Ning BloggingWordpress, Edublog, Twitter Social bookmarkingDel.icio.us, Citeulike, Zotero Recommender systemsDigg, LastFm, Stumbleupon Wikis and collaborative editing toolsWikipedia, GoogleDocs, Bubbl.us Syndication/RSS feedsBloglines, Podcast, GoogleReader (Conole and Alevizou, 2010), Review of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/EvidenceNet/Conole_Alevizou_2010.pdf

17. Digital identity Finding your digital voice Working across tools Degree of opennessPersonal/professional

18. Play Performance Simulation Appropriation Multitasking Distributed cognition Collective intelligence Judgement Transmedia navigation Networking Negotiation Jenkins et al., 2006 Participatory culture shifts the focus of literacy from one of individual expression to community involvement. The new literacies almost all involve social skills developed through collaboration and networking New digital literacies

19. 19 Weller: http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2010/07/thoughts- on-digital-scholarship.html Digital scholar: Open Digital Networked

20. 20 Using new media for research Blogs facebook Twitter Working across social media Courses and conferences Publishing as you go

21. So why use blogs? Of the moment reflections Digital archive The power of peer review Record of events, reviews and resources Wider audience reach and hence profile Link into facebook and Twitter Complements traditional publication routes

22. Blogs: promoting digital scholarship

23. Using facebook

24. Twitter - ideas for harnessing Web 2.0?

25. Working across social media Matt Lindgard set up a quick survey to ask people how using twitter impacted on how much they blog quick survey 49 comments 1027 views summaries & additional content 19 links 6 references http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/2266

26. Twitter and facebook #fb

27. Combine effect and impact Active blog posting Use of Twitter Participation in online conferences Webinars Podcasts Use of social media sites like facebook Publishing online draft publications The role of institutional research repositories

28. 28

29. Open courses: CCK10 and discourse ltc.umanitoba.ca/blogs/futurecourse/

30. OU learning & teaching conference Went virtual in 2010 Use of Elluminate and Cloudworks Ca. 3500 unique views Significant discussions and resource aggregation International participation Works just as well for research events - virtual or blended

31. Open publishing as you go...

32. 32 Tips and hints Think about strategies to make the most of each of the following and then think about how you can do this both in a face-to-face and virtual context Conferences Networking Publishing

33. Conferences Purpose: presentation & feedback Network, network, network! Potential collaborators & bid partners Put in a symposium of experts Expert validation workshops Put papers/presentations online Follow up contacts afterwards: email, fb, Twitter, blogs, etc. Work up into a research paper Work the hashtag Live blog or follow conference-related blogs A personal example

34. Networking Build links with international colleagues Get on national-level committees Invite key researchers in your field to be involved in a joint research activity Invite people to give seminars at your institution Build connections online via Twitter, facebook, etc. Participate in online events Leave comments on blogs

35. Publishing Write books - edited or single authored (post drafts) Become an editor for a special issue of an online journal Keep publication list up to date in your research repository Set up a writing group or workshop (real/virtual) Co-write with lots of different people (using a wiki) Disseminate publications via Tweet, fb etc Post up drafts for comment on blogs etc See Twitter, blogs, journals, books as complementary

36. Open practices Open Design Courses design & shared openly Delivery Use of free tools & resources Evaluation Critical reflection Research Sharing of research data

37. Open Design Open Research X-Delia Open Evaluation Open Delivery

38. Practicing what we preach Adopting open practices: resources, communication, archiving, publishing, reviewing, and data collection OpenLearn - OER repository Online seminars and events Blogging research, events, critiquing on other’s blogs Active use of social media Setting up a departmental collective space - for blogging, aggregation of resources, pod/vid-casts, interviews, etc. Use of the social networking tool, Cloudworks Depositing of publications in our institutional repository An open-review journal JIME Collective intelligence for research data iSpot

39. The changing nature of community New open, social and participatory media enable new means of communication, collaboration, sharing and co-construction of knowledge What does ‘community’ mean in these new online spaces? How can it be fostered, supported? A Community Indicators framework to guide the design and evaluation of communities

40. The nature of community Complex, distributed, loose communities are emerging Facilitated through different but connected social networking tools such as facebook, Twitter, Ning Users create their own Personal Digital Environment Mix of synchronous and asynchronous tools Boundary crossing via the power of retweeting Links between interests, rather than places

41. So what is a community? [Community does not] imply necessarily co-presence, a well- defined identifiable group, or socially visible boundaries. It does imply participation in an activity system about which participants share understandings concerning what they are doing and what that means in their lives and for their communities Lave and Wenger, 1991 Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace. Rheingold, 1993

42. Community as a process Constantly evolving and changing Shifting groups and depths of relationships Dynamic, evolving and potentially transformative Both directed and serendipitous interactions

43. Participation Sustained over time Commitment from core group Emerging roles & hierarchy Identity Group self-awareness Shared language & vocab Sense of community Cohesion Support & tolerance Turn taking & response Humour and playfulness Creative capability Igniting sense of purpose Multiple points of view expressed, contradicted or challenged Creation of knowledge links & patterns Community indicators Galley et al., 2010

44. Participation Three types of hierarchical roles Veterans: support and encourage groups and newbies Trendsetters: make a difference Posters: need to be incentivised to turn from lurkers to active contributors

45. Cohesion Through support, tolerance, reciprocity and trust Language and tone are critical factors in the development of an online community Emotional and peer support

46. Identity Central to the notion of community are issues of membership and exclusion. Some people are in, others are out. Communities range from being open to anyone who shares particular ideas or interests to communities accessible only to those who meet certain criteria of geography, ethnicity, gender, etc Erickson (1997)

47. Creative capability Importance of conflict, disagreement and negotiation in the process of collaborative knowledge creation and developing understanding Social discord as a catalyst for knowledge construction and expansive learning

48. Framework for sociality System needs to accommodate both evolution of practices and inclusion of newcomers Both individual and group identity are important People more likely to use systems that resemble their daily routines, languages and practices Metaphors that mimic real life practices are likely to be more successful Bouman et al., 2007

49. Can social media change academic discourse? Rich multimedia representation of content Multiple communication channels Accessible anywhere, anytime Abundance of free tools and resources Higher impact to wider audience Great peer critiquing Digital divide narrower but deeper Increasingly complex landscape New digital literacy skills needed Access, privacy and ownership issues Balanced portfolio from traditional publishing routes to more ‘open’ ones

50. Recommendations  For learners  Provide support in developing new digital literacies  Facilitate more learner-centred approaches  Encourage communication and collaboration  Shift from a focus on content to activities  For academic staff  New approaches to teaching and research  Adopting more explicit and reflexive practices  Technology immersion – learning by doing, through the technologies  Encourage a networked community of academic staff

51. Recommendations  For institutions  Strategies/policies that reflect the changing context of education  Resources and support to facilitate the shift in practice needed  Strong leadership with an understanding of the issues  Re-visioning structures and infrastructures  Professional development and incentives for academics  Nationally  Free resources - OER, research outputs, etc.  Promote and share case studies of good practice  Appropriate strategies and policies and funding  Professional networks and communities  Ongoing horizon scanning of technology trajectories

52. Final thoughts Open, participatory and social media enable new forms of communication and collaboration Communities in these spaces are complex and distributed We as academic staff need to develop new digital literacy skills to harness their potential We need to rethink how we carry out and disseminate research Open, participatory and social media can provide mechanisms for us to share and discuss research ideas in new ways We are seeing a blurring of boundaries: teachers/researchers, teaching/research, real/virtual spaces, formal/informal modes of communication and publication

53. Can you think of good examples of using technologies? How has your use of technology for research purposes changed in the last five years? What are the pros and cons of these changes? What’s your digital research environment? How might you use technologies more effectively in carrying out your research, communicating with other researchers and disseminating results? What are your strategies for publishing? How are you using technologies to publish and disseminate your research? Personal reflection

54. References Galley, R., Conole, G. and Alevizou, P. (submitted), Community Indicators: A framework for building and evaluating community activity on Cloudworks, Interactive Learning Environments. Conole, G, and Alevizou, P. (2010), A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education, HE Academy commissioned report, http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/EvidenceNet/Conole_Alevizou_2010.pdf http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/EvidenceNet/Conole_Alevizou_2010.pdf Galley, R., Conole, G. and Alevizou, P. (2010), Case study: Using Cloudworks for an Open Literature Review, An HE Academy commissioned report. Alevizou, P., Conole, G. and Galley, R. (2010), Using Cloudworks to support OER activities, An HE Academy commissioned report. Conole, G., Galley, R. and Culver, J. (2010), Frameworks for understanding the nature of interactions, networking and community in a social networking site for academic practice, The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. Conole, G. and Culver, J. (2010) 'The design of Cloudworks: applying social networking practice to foster the exchange of learning and teaching ideas and designs' Computers and Education, 54(3): 679 - 692. Conole and Culver (2009), Cloudworks: social networking for learning design, Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 25(5), pp. 763–782, http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet25/conole.html.