View the presentation slides  (1.6 Mb)

Abstract

Learning and Teaching has a critical role to play in encouraging the wider uptake and adoption of eResearch innovations, but there are several impediments to the creation and reuse of learning resources to support eResearch. If the benefits of eResearch are to be extended from the current pockets of application by early adopters to the whole of the research community, these benefits will therefore need to be overcome. However, because eResearch is still under rapid development, pertinent resources for learners and teachers are scant. Moreover, the creation of these resources is expensive. It is therefore essential that what resources there are can be readily discovered, adapted and re-used. This paper will look at issues which stand in the way of the creation and re-use of learning resources for eResearch, and examine ways of overcoming them.

From the beginning of the UK eScience programme in 2001, it has been stressed that collaboration is central to eResearch. Collaborations can take several forms; the most obvious, funded by a Research Council grants for the development of eResearch, are cross discipline, bringing together domain scientists and computer scientists. However, as the influence of Web 2.0 has spread over the last two or three years, it has motivated new collaboration initiatives, such as myExperiment (1), where the work of one content creator is made available to be remixed, mashed up or repurposed by others without the existing collaborator necessarily knowing about it – these might be dubbed ‘unpredicted’ collaborations.

However, with collaborations come consequences. Chief amongst these are violations of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Content for learning may be produced as outputs of any type of collaboration, but there is widespread confusion among academics about what IPR means, how it should be applied and, more fundamentally, who owns the rights. Frameworks for IPR – that are clear and easy to apply – are therefore crucial if IPR is not to be a major barrier to the production of learning resources, especially where such production is through ‘unpredicted’ collaboration. This paper will look at methods for supporting eResearch across institutions, focusing on current efforts by leaders in eLearning to tacking IPR issues in ways that allow for an environment where content from a variety of sources can be synthesised and developed into meaningful eResearch learning content.

In addition to the creation of a workable IPR framework - which merely permits reuse of content - this paper will also look at barriers to the creation of eResearch learning materials. The speed at which eResearch is evolving, the philosophies behind much of it - ’release early, release often’ , ‘Perpetual beta’ - and some of the mechanisms for eResearch dissemination are all exciting, yet conversely conspire to impede learning resource creation. Production of learning materials for tools and services that are rapidly changing is very resource intensive, and constantly keeping up to date with cutting edge developments is time consuming. One answer is collaboration to quickly repurpose and reuse materials so as to ensure that pertinent learning resources are available for educators in a timely fashion. A second theme of this paper is mechanisms to encourage collaborative learning resource production that keeps up with rapidly emerging eResearch developments.

Thirdly, this paper will address the opportunities of the digital age, especially as embraced by the younger generation, to provide novel ways of disseminating learning materials.

Addressing IPR issues, facilitating collaboration in the creation and re-use of content, and embracing new delivery options are all essential to the timely production of up-to-date learning resource necessary to ensure widespread uptake of innovations in eResearch.

(1) www.myexperiment.org 

About the speakers

Kenny Baird joined the National Centre for eSocial Science (NCeSS), www.ncess. ac.uk, in July 06 where he works as a Learning Technologist. NCeSS is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to investigate how innovative and powerful computer-based infrastructure and tools developed over the past five years under the UK e-Science programme can benefit the social science research community. His interests are the web, eLearning and repositories. He is interested in how we can provide tools and materials to engage with Social Scientists about eSocial Science. Within NCeSS, audiences are broken down into ‘engaged, enthusiastic and unengaged’. Most Social Scientists are unengaged with eSocial Science – how do we change that? How do we raise awareness of eSocial Science and its benefits without unduly raising expectations of it? Other areas of interest are who the next generation of learners will interact with learning processes and engage with learning materials, and how the internet continues to change education.

Farzana Latif has worked on developing online learning solutions in both the private and public sector. She currently works for NCeSS (National Centre of e-Social Science) at the University of Manchester as a Learning Technologist.