Research
UK Survey of Academics 2012
The UK Survey of Academics 2012 examines the attitudes and behaviours of academics at higher education institutions across the United Kingdom. Published in May 2013, the objective of the study is to provide the entire sector with timely findings and analysis that help them plan for the future.
The survey, funded and guided by Jisc and Research Libraries UK and conducted by Ithaka S+R, covers a range of areas: from how academics discover and stay abreast of research, to their teaching of undergraduates; how they choose research topics and publication channels, to their views on learned societies and university libraries, and their collections.
The Survey of Academics 2012 confirms that the open web is the first port of call for academics starting research. It also confirms that libraries have an important role to play in both surfacing open content on the web and ensuring open content is accessible through library systems.
Key findings include:
Access limitations – While 86% of respondents report relying on their college or university library collections and subscriptions, 49% indicated that they would often like to use journal articles that are not in those collections.
Use of open resources - If researchers can’t find the resources or information they need through their university library, 90% of respondents often or occasionally look online for a freely available version.
The Internet as starting point – 40% of researchers surveyed said that when beginning a project they start by searching the Internet for relevant materials, with only 2% visiting the physical library as a first port of call.
Following one’s peers – The findings suggest that the majority of researchers track the work of colleagues and leading researchers as a way of keeping up to date with developments in their field.
Emergence of e-publications – The findings show that e-journals have largely replaced physical usage for research, but that contrasting views exist on replacement of print by e-publications, where print still holds importance within the Humanities and Social Sciences and for in-depth reading in general.
Guidelines for selecting research data
The report “Selection of Research Data; Guidelines for appraising and selecting research data” is the result of a short study conducted by two Dutch data centres: DANS and 3TU.Datacentrum.
Published in 2010, the report summarises the ‘state-of-the-art’ on the subject of research data, based on recent literature, a limited number of interviews with some key players in this field, and the lessons learned at the two data centres involved in the project.
The main deliverable of the document is a set of practical guidelines for appraising and selecting research data, intended for all those who are in a position to do so. The guidelines, in the form of a checklist, can be found in the Management Summary.
Commissioned by SURFfoundation, the report is part of the SURFshare programme, which aims to create a common infrastructure that will facilitate access to research information and make it possible for researchers to share scientific and scholarly information.
The International Institute of Social History Guidelines for Preserving Research Data
The International Institute of Social History (IISH) is an organisation with the strategic objective to facilitate the collection of data for carrying out the long-term research programmes of Global Labour History and Global Economic History.
The collection process is often a collaborative research effort and the IISH aims to become a trusted digital repository of data collections that are significant to social and economic history.
The “IISH Guidelines for preserving research data: a framework for preserving collaborative data collections for future research” is a study carried out in the framework of SURFfoundation’s SURFshare programme, focusing on how to determine what research data should be preserved for the long term and what data should not.
The purpose of the IISH Guidelines is to:
- provide a framework for the understanding and increased awareness of preservation requirements for research data collected by collaborations;
- provide concepts needed by non-archival entities (individual researchers, research collaborations, publishers) to be effective participants in the preservation process;
- suggest selection criteria for the long-term preservation of research data;
- provide a framework for identifying requirements, use cases and data flows necessary for interfacing collaboratories and trusted digital repositories.
International Council for Open Research and Education (ICORE) to be launched in Rome
The International Council for Open Research and Education (ICORE) is a new association bringing together interested experts and stakeholders from the fields of open education and open research. The association will be officially launched on May 16 in Rome (Italy) during the Learning Innovations and Technology (LINQ 2013) conference.
ICORE is a non-profit and requires no membership fees to join. Open to both representatives of organisations as well as individuals, it aims to promote open research and open education as a fundamental social objective. This promotion of these goals will be accomplished through the fostering of collaboration between relevant stakeholders in open research and education, such as national, European and international policy makers, researchers, educators of all levels, students, non-profit educational providers as well as commercial educational providers, among others.
The association's activities will include the administration of an online community portal for information exchange, the organisation of scientific and educational events (conferences, summer schools, etc.) and the establishment of creative partnerships between ICORE members to advance open research and open education internationally.
Interested applicants can register easily at the ICORE website, where the complete first public draft of the association’s statutes can also be found. Joining before the first official meeting of ICORE on May 15 allows new members to be recognized as co-founders.
ICT Role for next generation universities
EUNIS Congress is leading ICT conference in Higher education in Europe since 1998 that attract a large audience (300-400 professionals).
It represents an opportunity for sharing of experience amongst international specialists, users, researchers, decision-makers, and teaching staff from all over Europe. Moreover, it is a very good event to present and publish the latest results of research, development, and deployment of Information Technology in HEIs.
Riga Technical University, located in Riga, Latvia, will host the 19th EUNIS Congress.
Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research (NAER)
New Approaches in Educational Research (NAER) seeks academic articles on educational sciences based on innovative experiences which can contribute the development of the educational sciences in any of their manifestations and provide new approaches to teaching as a response to the deep changes our society is going through.
New Approaches in Educational Research (NAER) is a biannual (January and July) international scientific peer-reviewed journal which emerges from the research groups EDUTIC-ADEI and EDAFIS in the University of Alicante (http://www.edutic.ua.es) and the educational divisions of the projects DIGICOTRACAM (Prometeo Programme for Research Groups of Excellence, Ref. Prometeo-2009-042, financed by the ERDF) and the Project IVITRA (http://www.ivitra.ua.es).
The aim of the journal is to promote research, innovation and transfer of scientific knowledge, and it is defined as an interdisciplinary scientific journal in the educational field of the Social Sciences. Its prioritary audience spans –albeit not exclusively- the scientific and professional Education community.
The human team behind NAER is committed to scientific excellence and the improvement of education, taking as a point of departure research and innovation. The thought of a fair society, democratic and humanized, is the philosophy which guides all the actions developed at the heart of NAER.
Launch of new EARLI Journal Spring 2013: "Frontline Learning Research - FLR"
Frontline Learning Research is an open-access electronic-only journal that publishes articles on issues and trends occurring internationally in research on learning and educational sciences.
Among others, the journal focuses on articles in the following fields of research: Research on learning and instruction in formal and informal contexts, multidisciplinary research on learning and learning environments, new theoretical and methodological approaches in learning sciences, insights into learning research from disciplines other than educational sciences or psychology (e.g., cognitive neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, sociology).
The journal particularly welcomes both short and long, brief, albeit rigorous, articles reporting on emerging theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches. Innovative/risk-taking research in the learning and educational sciences is encouraged. An outlet is provided for publishing in-depth studies, including articles involving a thoroughly elaborated theoretical framework, extensive qualitative data, or complex analytical techniques. As a consequence, also dynamic data material is welcomed in the journal, such as video's, photo's, and other dynamic data.
Furthermore, multidisciplinary research that draws from cognitive, philosophical, sociological, psychological and pedagogical theoretical paradigms is highly-valued. Indicatively, the following research is encouraged to submit its work to Frontline Learning Research:
Studies focusing on issues and ideas encountered in relatively new fields, lacking a long line of research. This lack of well-developed theoretical framings and of articulated theoretical constructs and ideas, provides an avenue for initiating useful and productive scientific discussion on a range of issues. These include internal inconsistencies, phenomena which appear inconsistent with the predictions derived from the corresponding theoretical framework and available empirical evidence, indicating flaws in underlying assumptions or premises.
Studies seeking to make connections between previously unconnected established lines of research so as to integrate different theoretical frameworks
Studies using an innovative research methodology that offers a different perspective on how to conceptualise and pursue certain research questions.
KTH Learning Lab
KTH Learning Lab is part of the School of Information Science and Learning - VIL of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm, Sweden.
Its stands for the development of educational activities at KTH and is responsible, inter alia, to KTH skills, training and development within didactics and pedagogy. KTH Learning Lab promotes continuous quality improvement of all the training, programs, courses, teachers, etc.
"Learning" stands for a vision of education as a dynamic interaction between students, teachers and subjects, pedagogy, technology and physical environment.
"Lab" stands for systematic experimentation, research and methodology development.
IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study
IEA ICILS will measure international differences in CIL and computer use in Grade 8 (or its national equivalent) students. It will also collect information about contexts (at the student, school and system level) in which CIL is developed.
Computer and information literacy refers to an individual’s ability to use computers to investigate, create and communicate in order to participate effectively at home, at school, in the workplace and in the community. CIL brings together technical competence and intellectual capacity to achieve a communicative purpose.
Timeline
Broad Research Questions
- What variations exist between countries, and within countries, in student CIL?
- What aspects of students’ use of computers and other ICT’s are related to student achievement in CIL?
- What characteristics of students’ technological backgrounds are related to student achievement in CIL?
- What individual/personal student characteristics are related to student achievement in CIL?
Instruments
- Computer-based test of CIL delivering a range of authentic assessment modules in a seamless environment.
- Student questionnaire
- Teacher Questionnaire (including links to IEA SITES 2006)
- School Questionnaire (including links to IEA SITES 2006)
- National Context Survey
General information
ICILS will examine the outcomes of student computer and information literacy (CIL) education across countries.
15th Biennial EARLI conference. Responsible Teaching and Sustainable Learning
The conference theme responsible teaching and sustainable learning focuses on elementary issues that educational researchers investigate. Besides, it picks up EARLI’s twofold mission in researching learning and instruction and also connects to recent developments in educational research and practice.
Besides, we focus the responsibility of teachers to provide powerful, motivating and social learning environments. Not only should teachers prepare learners for particular exams, but for being able to develop their character, being open minded and develop own ideas. In other words: teachers should be aware of their responsibility to create learning environments which make sustainable learning likely.
In focusing the sustainability of learning, we mean to highlight learning processes which are meaningful and useful, aware and reflective, focused on higher order skills and deep understanding. Sustainable learning is self-determined and in line with social, global, ecological responsibility, open-minded and a basis for learning across the life span. The concept of sustainability focuses the idea of a system – e.g. an ecosystem – remaining diverse and productive over time. For a psychological system to remain diverse and productive over time, learning is a crucial element. However, it is not understood that learning is sustainable! Often, learning is numb and focused on short term goals. To circumvent this is a challenge for every person involved in researching educational processes!
In sum, we believe that qualitatively ambitious educational research which is carried out in awareness of today's global challenges will contribute to improving teaching and learning by making it more responsible as well as more sustainable.
If you are attending the EARLI 2013 conference to share your research with the community, we encourage you to relate to this general theme of the conference and highlight how your work contributes to it.
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