{"id":3561,"date":"2016-01-19T09:30:32","date_gmt":"2016-01-19T08:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/?p=3561"},"modified":"2016-08-25T10:31:20","modified_gmt":"2016-08-25T09:31:20","slug":"scholarship-swimming-in-a-sea-of-the-digital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/tel\/2016\/01\/19\/scholarship-swimming-in-a-sea-of-the-digital\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholarship ‘swimming in a sea of the digital’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Liverpool\"<\/a>

Image copyright David Walker 2016 CC-BY-NC<\/p><\/div>\n

In a world so infused with digital technologies how must our approaches to scholarship evolve to extend reach and impact?\u00a0 What do you need to do beyond publication to ensure your audience listen and your publications are read?\u00a0 How do we drive engagement with educational research, in particular research in technology enhanced learning (TEL)?\u00a0 These questions formed an undercurrent of the recent Pedagogic Research Conference at the University of Liverpool where issues around digital scholarship formed a central theme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Professor Chris Jones<\/a>, in his keynote address \u2018Research, Scholarship and Education\u2019 at the University of Liverpool\u2019s Pedagogic Research Conference suggested that scholarship is \u2018swimming in a sea of the digital\u2019, that failure to consider the opportunities and limitations of the digital can result in surface activities and superficial engagement with the investigation of our learning and teaching practices.<\/p>\n

Predictability, choice and agency<\/h3>\n

Talking about his role as an editor of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) journal Research in Learning Technology<\/a>, Professor Jones emphasised the importance of educational research and the pursuit of understanding, where people are unpredictable, have choice and agency and as such replication of findings cannot be assumed.\u00a0 He pointed to the growing importance of social media both as a digital capability and as a means of disseminating research, developing your \u2018voice\u2019 and establishing your academic profile.<\/p>\n

Building a ‘go to’ support network<\/h3>\n

How though do we build capacity in educational research?\u00a0 Where is this support to be located?\u00a0 Professor Gavin Brown, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Learning and Teaching at the University of Liverpool again drew attention to the potential role of the digital.\u00a0\u00a0 Professor Brown highlighted that disciplinary research communities were well established but pedagogic research communities were less well defined. He asserted the need to establish a cross-institutional virtual community of individuals engaged in pedagogic research – a \u2018go to\u2019 group of people for support.\u00a0 Importantly Professor Brown made clear that belief that pedagogical research is somehow less worthy is untrue, a powerful statement which framed much of the day\u2019s ongoing discussions.<\/p>\n

As part of their capacity building activities, a new Technology Enhanced Learning Research Group has been established by Peter Alston<\/a> and Tunde Varga-Atkins<\/a> at Liverpool to provide a forum and supportive network for early career academics\/researchers whose work has a focus on TEL.\u00a0 Significantly the group\u2019s membership has been extended to other higher education institutions in the north-west of England to facilitate sharing and opportunities for collaboration among other colleagues with TEL research interests.<\/p>\n

We’ll be exploring opportunities to establish similar pedagogical research groups for staff at Sussex over the coming months. \u00a0If you’d be interested in participating or helping to establish such a community please get in touch by emailing tel@sussex.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

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