Digital scholarship is essential in developing The Open University’s identity as a digital university in the coming years. Digital and internet technologies have a significant impact on all aspects of scholarship.
We research existing practice both within and outside the University, and investigate the changing nature of scholarly practice. We seek to engage academics in wider debates, to promote adoption of open, digital methods and influence the legitimisation of these practices through recognition and reward.
We also seek to develop the knowledge base on student practices as this is essential for the development of our understanding.
We explore digital scholarship around a number of themes, namely:
- impact of new technologies on scholarly practice
- identity
- the role of the scholar in an open, digital world
Benefits:
- The programme will provide a deeper understanding of current practice across disciplines
- This will in turn feed into staff development and the uptake of a range of new approaches and practices from academics
- The development of new forms of output
- Outreach and impact with a range of audiences
- Development of skills and content relevant to teaching and courses
- Engagement with new research practices, and collaborative methods
Current projects include:
- Strategic Funded Digital Scholarship work
- Digital Literacies ESRC funded work http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/digital-literacies/ and http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/lidu/
- Scholarship of teaching and learning
- Get-IT public engagement through video (PBPL funded)
Papers:
We are interested in the ways in which new technologies can transform all aspects of scholarly practice. A good place to start is the paper we wrote for the open access journal 'In Education' - Digital Scholarship Considered: How New Technologies can Transform Academic work
We have conducted a review of current digital scholarship activity at The Open University and the report is called Digital Scholarship Audit Report
The idea of digital literacies amongst academics is explored in Digital Literacies in higher education: exploring textual and technological practice
The CASTL project looked at the nature of scholarship in a more general sense - see CASTL Publications and Conference Contributions
We are looking at the use of metrics to measure scholarly impact, socio-technical systems as a means of interpreting digital scholarship and the changing nature of science communication. Professor Martin Weller is writing a book on digital scholarship which will be published in an open access form in 2011.
