Posted on

Jisc data service consultation service

@Jisc is working on the data service consultation online tool. They are creating a crowdsourced online survey that will take the best questions used in the Student Digital Experience Project to fill a database from where users can pull out questions that are relevant to their own research.
It is work in progress to which I am looking forward to use it in my own research!
Here the information in much more detail
[slideshare id=54729840&doc=jiscdataservicevintro-151104115247-lva1-app6891]

Posted on

My research questions and a bit more

I am writing my tentative research questions although my feeling is that they are going to change the more I understand some of the theoretical aspects. Nevertheless it is good to put them outside and maybe there are some suggestions.
How can the university support and encourage Educational Studies undergraduate (y-2 and y-3) to enable their effective engagement with digital technology and research skills to become digital research literate and flourish in the 21st century?
(This is maybe better, but still thinking):
How do y-2 and y-3 Ed studies undergraduate interact with online tools and for what purpose within the academic environment? 

  • What are students’ needs, expectations, visions, aspirations, fears, etc. in relation to the use of technology (the digital environment) and their dissertation process? Can both be then matched? Or should each of them be viewed separately? (Students voice and engagement)
  • What if any informal system of digital tools do students already have? (exploring their life space)
  • What is involved in the design, production, and implementation of a digital ecosystem –a personalized learning environment- for second and third-year undergraduate students in education studies as a means to craft their thesis in the dissertation module? (i.e. scaffolding, modeling and feedback).
  • What, if any, minimum prior knowledge or competencies (skills, abilities, attitudes, habits, knowledge) do students need in order to design and craft their PLE as an effective way to engage with more advanced digital literacy in a research rich environment?
  • What new skills and knowledge is developed as a product of the design and development of the PLE?
  • How can the digital experience be embedded in the curriculum in a way that is meaningful for the student?
  • What is the impact for the student, the teachers, and the university?
  • What is the relation between students PLE and the University VLE? What are the tension between both spaces and can they complement each other or do they exclude one another?

Theoretical framework:

  • Network earning
  • Connected learning
  • Personal learning environment
  • Digital literacy and competence
  • Learning theories
  • Self-directed learning
  • Social-cultural theory (Vygostsky, Engestrom, Leontev)
  • Post-humanism (Braidotti)
  • Sociology theories in order to contextualize our society (Bauman: Liquid modernity)
  • Field theory and the Life space of an individual (collecting data)
Posted on

The complextity of interdisciplinarity

This is a series of posts of Giorgio Bertini’s blog. It is about complexity, a theory I am trying to make sense of. So they are all to reads for me.
Not with enough time I guess, but here they are so I can have them present!!
[googleapps domain=”docs” dir=”file/d/0Bz8cVS8LoO7OTUlZYWFNaE5mZXc/preview” query=”” width=”640″ height=”480″ /]

Posted on

Skills + Competencies needed in the research field

Objectives 2020
Research policies are central to domestic growth and international competitive strategies. From “Lisbon” to “Bologna” and throughout the construction of the European Research Area, the knowledge economy and the knowledge society have repeatedly been cited as major challenges for the coming years.
Other issues, key to predicting the outcome of current changes in the needs of the research world, include changes in education systems and increasing profesionalization of research work, job appeal, and mobility and career management. In this context, APEC (Management Jobs Association) and Deloitte Consulting decided to conduct a joint international survey on the skills and competencies needed in research-related jobs within the next 10 years. For the first time, a forward-looking international study presents the vision and expectations of researchers and research managers with regard to skills and competencies.
This study addresses six key questions: What are the main trends in the changing organisation of research? What skills and competencies are currently sought after in a researcher? Which are specific to a junior researcher and which to an experienced researcher? How will they change over the next 10 years? What is the current degree of proficiency of these skills? What actions and strategies have been introduced or are planned to produce, attract and retain researchers? This study therefore addresses a wide audience: PhD students, researchers and research personnel, recruitment and career management professionals in every type of organisation (laboratory, business, university department, etc.), professors, newly qualified researchers, and executives keen to exercise their talents in the research world.