Group items tagged

"The Impact Calculator can be used to demonstrate the impact of records and information management by quantifying the tangible benefits or efficiency gains that can be derived from it."

"If you want to find out why people might become engaged in OER and Open educational practices (OEP) then you might like to look at the Motivations section. If you are interested in looking at the range of models and approaches adopted for OER Release then the Models page may be useful for you. If you want to know about the impact of the HEFCE funding then we have an Impact section. We have drawn together some critical factors to support OEP for those that want some tips on how to go about this themselves. We have a section that highlights tensions and challenges around OEP and the OER journeys section provides an interesting look at the wider context and how the HEFCE-funded initiatives fit into that. We also offer recommendations. If you contributed to our surveys, polls and interviews then we have a series of supplementary appendices and you can look at out methodology and evidence pages - all available from the main report page http://bit.ly/HEFCEoerReview. We have also produced a summary briefing paper."

Interesting project to map the impact of OERs.

In this article I want to reflect on the rhetoric of 'Web 2.0' and its potential versus actual impact. I want to suggest that we need to do more than look at how social networking technologies are being used generally as an indicator of their potential impact on education, arguing instead that we need to rethink what are the fundamental characteristics of learning and then see how social networking can be harnessed to maximise these characteristics to best effect. I will further argue that the current complexity of the digital environment requires us to develop 'schema' or approaches to thinking about how we can best harness the benefits these new technologies confer.

Briefing paper on what we know, and what we assume about the impact that ICT has on learning. Some useful stuff here.

"Video is having a huge impact on education for both younger and older students, and that impact can be felt academically, socially, and financially. This panel from Streaming Media East explores them all."

Crystal's relaxed style and unassuming manner are at the forefront as he discusses the impact of texts and tweets on written language use. Crystal is actually quite positive about their impact and discusses findings relating the number of texts a student sends and their attainment in formal testing - contrary to conventional wisdom texting is actually positively related to school achievement. 

In growing numbers, scholars are integrating social media tools like blogs, Twitter, and Mendeley into their professional communications. The online, public nature of these tools exposes and reifies scholarly processes once hidden and ephemeral. Metrics based on this activities could inform broader, faster measures of impact, complementing traditional citation metrics. This study explores the properties of these social media-based metrics or "altmetrics," sampling 24,331 articles published by the Public Library of Science.

How creating MOOCs has flowed back into changes in the on-campus classrooms

"This study investigated the impact of Open Educational Resources (OER) use on teaching and learning."

Report on a change in Internet traffic post-copyright law changes.

Interesting research by @Waikato researchers showing the impact of the new file sharing law change on internet traffic. Conclusion: little net-change in traffic, users have simply shifted to more secure protocols.

Social Media for Academics - Collection of social media resources I've produced for Sociological Imagination, the LSE impact blog, the Warwick Research Exchange and the Digital Change GPP

"Individual [OER] projects have been getting institutional buy-in to OER release, particularly where it can be shown to support other, existing, priorities and strategies, such as sustainability, lowering environmental impact, or marketing."<--true of all projects?

Using Twitter in university research, teaching and impact activities

The government of Switzerland has issued a statement declaring that it will not take action to alter current copyright laws allowing the downloading of music and movies for personal use. The statement is the result of a lengthy study conducted by the Swiss government into the impact of so-called "piracy" on the entertainment industry. Despite the industry's claims that downloading undermines their business, this study shows that the effect of unauthorized downloading on the industry's bottom line is negligible. One key finding of the study is that downloaders spend as much if not more to acquire content legally as those who do not download. Researchers found no change in amount of disposable income spent on music and movies, despite the fact that roughly one third of Swiss people engage in some form of downloading. The government concluded, then, that no change to the current legal structure was necessary, and urged the entertainment industry to grow and adapt with the changes in technology and in consumer habits, rather than trying to suppress progress.

A new Twitter guide published by the LSE Public Policy Group and the LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog  seeks to answer this question, and show academics and researchers how to get the most out of the micro-blogging site. The Guide is designed to lead the novice through the basics of Twitter but also provide tips on how it can aid the teaching and research of the more experienced academic tweeter.

Free book on future of the internet download under read now) Bunch of essays about impact of internet on society, how internet should be managed, privacy, intellectual property etc . Various perspectives but published by a libertarian think tank. Critical of Lessig for proposing controls on internet development. Some good reads (Dean, beware - lawyers). Also check out the video presentations - panel discussions - some fascinating stuff. This book is both a beginning and an end. Its publication marks the beginning of TechFreedom, a new non-profit think tank that will launch alongside this book in January 2011. Our mission is simple: to unleash the progress of technology that improves the human condition and expands individual capacity to choose.

"The Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) is an inter-disciplinary network of leading international researchers who are exploring the role and impact of analytics on teaching, learning, training and development. SoLAR has published a concept paper on Open Learning Analytics"

"Much has been written about wikis' reliability and use in the classroom. This research bulletin addresses the negative impacts on institutional welfare that can arise from participating in and supporting wikis. The open nature of the platform, which is fundamental to wiki operation and success, enables these negative consequences. A finite user base that can be determined a priori (e.g., a course roster) minimizes the security implications, hence our discussion in this bulletin primarily concerns open or public wikis that accept contributions from a broad and unknown set of Internet users."