Abstract: Teachers and researchers need to use the research produced in education to improve their practice. However, the current modes of dissemination through journals and papers are often written for the expert community. The Telematics Centre at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom), School of Education provides creative solutions for the effective use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education and business. This paper describes an online embryonic version of the ICT Educational Research Forum (ERF), an Internet-based research center that is located within the United Kingdom's Virtual Teacher Center. The functions of the ERF are organized as a series of rooms with a menu bar alongside: the foyer where participants enter and are introduced to the resources available to them; the seminar room where researchers may be heard speaking; and a desk which provides access to a wide range of resources, tools, and data sets. The embryonic version of the ERF contains online and paper copies of a feedback form. The paper also provides a preliminary analysis of the evaluation data from the ICT Educational Research Center to examine if it is effectively disseminating research on educational technology to the less expert user, i.e., the teacher. (AEF) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** What do we know of open learning environments? IFIP WG 3.3 on educational research workshop on 18/7/99 for Al-ED Conference -7r Led by Jari Multisilta, Tampere University of Technology and chair of IFIP WG 3.3 tr) Disseminating educational research with IT Niki Davis with staff of the University of Exeter Telematics Centre University of Exeter School of Education, Exeter, Devon EX1 2LU, UK Abstract Teachers and researchers need to use the research produced in education to improve their practice. However, the current modes of dissemination through journals and papers are often written for the expert community. This presentation will demonstrate an on-line embryonic version of the first research centre of this kind on the Internet, which is located within the UK's Virtual Teacher Centre. The paper will also provide a preliminary analysis of the evaluation data from the 'ICT Educational Research Centre' to see if it is fulfilling its design to disseminate educational research on IT in Education to the less expert user: the teacher. The embryonic version, which incorporates aspects of multimedia, radio and traditional publishing, the ERC may be located at http://telematics.ex.ac.uk/ERCTeachers and researchers need to use the research produced in education to improve their practice. However, the current modes of dissemination through journals and papers are often written for the expert community. This presentation will demonstrate an on-line embryonic version of the first research centre of this kind on the Internet, which is located within the UK's Virtual Teacher Centre. The paper will also provide a preliminary analysis of the evaluation data from the 'ICT Educational Research Centre' to see if it is fulfilling its design to disseminate educational research on IT in Education to the less expert user: the teacher. The embryonic version, which incorporates aspects of multimedia, radio and traditional publishing, the ERC may be located at http://telematics.ex.ac.uk/ERC Introduction One of the challenges of research, including research into new technologies in education, is to ensure that it gets into the profession and that the profession is able to inform the research agenda. At the same time, there is a growing perception that the education profession needs to become a more 'evidence-based' and draws upon educational research and validated good practice. This applies to teachers in all phases of education from the nursery school to the university. However, because teaching and learning take place in increasingly a complex environment across multiple organisations and systems, the research requires careful interpretation into practice. Therefore the dissemination of research may be viewed as an open learning environment for users of educational research and for the researchers as they learn more about the agenda of their users and the users learn more about the limitations and depth of educational research. About a year ago I started to consider what sort of an open learning environment would be suitable and to create it, plus an infrastructure that would support its growth. The idea was welcomed by members of IFIP working group 3.3 for educational research at our annual general meeting chaired by Jari Multisilta in Vienna in August 1998 during the Teleteaching'98 conference within the IFIP World Congress. In the UK the advent of a National Grid for learning managed by the British Education Communication Technologies agency (BECTa) provided the impetus and support to start to turn the vision into reality. BEST COPY AVAILABLE . PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
Publication Year: 1999
Publication Date: 1999-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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