Past Event details

Critical Perspectives on ‘Open-ness’ in the Digital University

Friday, 02 November 2012

Critical Perspectives on ‘Open-ness’ in the Digital University

University of Edinburgh- David Hume Tower conference room -
map at www.ed.ac.uk/maps/?building=david-hume-tower

Friday November 2^nd 2012, 12-4pm

Openness and impacts in academia using social media

Jane Tinkler, London School of Economics

Academic communication is changing. Traditional dissemination methods are being supplemented by digital technologies that academics can use to share their research with each other and external stakeholders and thereby help their work to create impact. But what are the real benefits of using social media to share academic work? How does this openness lead to greater impact? And what are the potential problems with this form of short, immediate and frequent communication? This session draws on the findings of a three-year research project examining the ways that academic work can be better communicated in order to maximise its impact.

Is University Scholarship becoming more Open? Or just more Digital?

Robin Goodfellow, Open University

The developing digital context for scholarship in the University brings pressures and opportunities for change in both the established practices of scholarly communication and conventional ideas about who participates in it. But how far is digital practice amongst university academics really open to the engagement of non-professional scholars, and what are the implications of internet knowledge cultures for the processes and ethics of academic scholarship? In this talk I will use examples of work in the field of Digital Scholarship that is currently going on at The Open University (see http://www8.open.ac.uk/iet/main/research-scholarship/our-research-scholarship-programmes/digital-scholarship) to explore these questions, and to work towards a concept of scholarship in the digital university that is committed to both the democratisation of the academy and the furtherance of academic approaches to knowledge and learning.

Open ~~Educational~~ Resources: salvation or subjectification?

Jeremy Knox, University of Edinburgh

This presentation will critique the implementation of Open Educational Resources in higher education. Open access has emerged as a prominent debate in the field of distance and digitally-mediated learning, in which technology is advanced as both the vehicle for widening participation and the solution to the perceived elitism of the traditional institution. OER have been in the forefront of this dialogue with claims of social transformation and global deliverance from poverty; however they remain significantly under-theorised. While OER literature often emphasises the removal of barriers to information, it fails to adequately address the consequences of open access in terms of education itself, tending to make assumptions about the capacity for individuals to act purely in an autonomous fashion as ‘self-directed’ learners. This paper will therefore problematise the ways in which the OER movement implies particular notions of freedom and independence in the advancement of their educational agenda.

This event is free for SRHE members and University of Edinburgh Staff

Network: Digital University

Date(s): Friday, 02 November 2012

Times: 12.00-16.00

Location: University of Edinburgh

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Event Files
File Details	Download
A how to Guide to Google Scholar Citations Jane Tinkler and Patrick Dunleavy LSE Public Policy Group	Download
Openness and Impact in Academia Using Social Media Jane Tinkler, LSE Public Policy Group London School of Economics	Download