roer4d research communications 15 oct 2014 final
DESCRIPTION
Developing a research communications strategy for the Research in Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) in the Global South project.TRANSCRIPT
Sukaina Walji
ROER4D Communications Adviser
15 October 2014
Developing a research communications strategy
Audience analysis findings
in the Global South
In what ways, and under what
circumstances can the adoption
of OER address the increasing
demand for accessible,
relevant, high-quality and
affordable education and what
is its impact in the Global South?
Research on OER for Development
1. Build an empirical knowledge base on the use and impact of OER in education
2. Develop the capacity of OER researchers
3. Build a network of OER scholars
4. Curate and communicate research to inform education policy and practice
ROER4D Objectives
Ricardo Ramirez
Dal Brodhead
Wendy Quarry(IDRC DECI-2 Project)
Julius Nyangaga(Kenya)
Charles Dhewa
(Zimbabwe)
Sarah Goodier
(Evaluation)
Sukaina Walji
(Communication)
(South Africa)
ROER4D Communication and Evaluation supported by DECI-2
DECI-2 Website
An IDRC funded research
project to build and mentor
Communication and
Evaluation for IDRC flagship
projects
http://evaluationandcommunicationin
practice.ca/
Steps in the DECI-2 Research Communications process
Progress towards fine-tuning communications
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In progress
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In progress
The steps
are
iterative,
not linear
ROER4D Process of developing communications strategy
Developing a communications strategy with DECI-2 team at Feb 2014 workshop
ROER4D Defining purposes, objectives, methods and
media already using
Purpose
Media
ROER4D Clarifying audiences and matching purpose
and media
Media
Audience
Purpose
Continue to connect with DECI-2 team virtually to
discuss progress
Four key Purposes for ROER4D Communications
established at initial Communications workshop
1. Visibility for project
2. Knowledge generation
3. Networking
4. Research capacity development
These have informed our
communications activities
Project
events
Resources
SlideShare
Blog
Facebook Page
CMS (Vula)Website
Virtual meetings
(Skype, Adobe
Connect)
Internal communications External communications
Conferences
ROER4D Communications overview
ROER4D Website
http://roer4d.org
Connect with researchers online to discuss and
develop Question Harmonisation
Project resources on Vula
ROER4D website – blog
ROER4D website – resources
ROER4D SlideShare
www.slideshare.net/roer4d
ROER4D Twitter
twitter.com/roer4d
ROER4D Facebook group
facebook.com/ResearchOERforDevelopment
ROER4D Scoop.it
scoop.it/u/roer4d/curated-scoops
ROER4D in the news
universityworldnews.
com/article.php?story=
20140917111818454
ROER4D in a MOOC
Progress so far
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Just completed one
iteration
Audience analysis activity August-September 2014
Objective: gain a better understanding of communications experience and
needs of researchers in the ROER4D network, to not only inform our
communications strategy going forward but also to develop an
understanding of how the sub-projects are planning their own research
communications
Method: 45min–1hour Skype interviews focusing on three main areas as
prompts for discussion:
What was working well
What could be improved or enhanced
What the sub-projects’ plans were for their own project communications
and research communications.
Findings: gave insight and direction for ROER4D communications going
forward
High-level findings #1: what is working well
The ROER4D Website (www.roer4d.org) is seen as important, credible and attractive and
at centre of the project’s communications. Researchers seem happy to refer others to it.
Different sub-projects are using and plan to use the website for their communications in
different ways - some to host their own communications on their own page and others to
use their page to link to their own websites and other communications channels.
The website is fulfilling its purpose for the first stage of the project "what the project is
about".
Researchers consider that ROER4D should pursue its social media strategy (Twitter,
SlideShare and Facebook) as that is where our audiences are.
Sub-projects feel generally connected to the central hub and feel part of the project. Those
who participated in QH live sessions feel more connected and know what is going
on.
Personal connections especially with Tess Cartmill, the project manager, and with Cheryl
Hodgkinson-Williams and Henry Trotter via Question Harmonisation has helped make
people feel part of the network.
High-level findings #2: what can be improved
Some researchers want more content and sharing on the website than is currently available e.g. QH process and resources, other resources, sharing of research processes.
There is an appetite for regular monthly news bulletins of project level news - at least three researchers suggested a newsletter or email of project roundup independently of each other.
Social media is not used extensively by many researchers with a few notable exceptions so need other ways of alerting our researchers to network news, links, etc.
Researchers are responsive to the network team helping with a research communications strategy or feeding into it.
Appetite for regular live sessions using Adobe Connect or Hangouts for other topics and to open these out to outside of the network.
Vula is used/seen more as a repository rather than a communication channel. One researcher felt it is not user friendly.
High-level findings #3: plans for own research
communications
Smaller teams have fewer resources for communications activities than larger research
teams.
Projects who started later than others feel a bit behind or not ready to communicate
A few projects feel 'different' from the others and feel less part of the network but would like to
communicate/participate more if they can find a way
Some sub-projects have clearly identified stakeholders while others have broad roles and
types but not specific people, groups or networks. The NGOs and Advocacy types are more
active and strategic here.
Most sub-projects plan to produce papers, conference presentations and reports. Some
indicate e-books and the sub-projects working together willing to produce joint publications
One sub-project plans to introduce a tool for interrogating data by country on a website
Some sub-projects want to include or give opportunity for their research participants to
disseminate research.
Recommendations and next steps Review and enhance website to include new or revised sections whereby users can
a) get an update on the current status of sub-projects in one glanceb) highlight access to resources and make them more findablec) update individual sub-project pages with summary of where they are.
Set up an email newsletter: This will comprise updates and news that includes contributions from sub-projects and curate what is produced on blogs, events and Twitter feed.
Showcase what is happening in sub-projects on our blogs and events pages.
Develop systems for more regular contact with contact people in sub-projects in communications (including a regular schedule of webinars).
Plan ahead for types of conferences, events for presentation of findings and research and/or identification of journals (open access being a requirement).
Investigate setting up a private area for the sub-projects on the ROER4D website to share more internally focused resources.
[Possible] Organise a November/December online conference/symposium to invite project teams to give updates on their projects as a pre-prep for Banff.
Links and license
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.