Looking beyond the tyranny of the 3* journal

Lisa Harris3rd October 2011

Why?

The purpose of this slidedeck is to introduce myself and the projects I’m currently working on, to both new students and members of the Strategy and Innovation Research Group.

As the title suggests, I believe there is more to university life than propping up the creaking 20th century business model of academic publishing…as I hope these slides will indicate.

About me…

• 10 years in banking industry and MBA @ Oxford Brookes makes me a “pracademic”

• PhD @ Brunel, investigating case studies of technological change in banking industry

• Teaching @ Brunel and Director of MBA programme• Teaching @ Soton and development of new MSc

programme in Digital Marketing • Qualified tutor University of Liverpool e-MBA

In a nutshell…

• I’m interested in the innovative applications of technology on education, business and society

• In particular, I’m currently involved in projects investigating:– Digital literacy– Social activism– Social CRM – Social shopping– Social learning

• But first, a bit of background…

“No more disruptive innovation, please”

I like these quotes…

“…alternatively, you can ignore this advice, close the blinds and gaze lovingly at your peer-reviewed papers. All I would say is: remember Betamax.” (Dan Stern in Times Higher , warning of the need for innovation in universities)

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less”

(General Eric Shineski, US Army Chief of Staff)

The times they are a changing…

• Availability of free content (e.g. video of lectures) by global experts both in education and industry from the likes of MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Oxford

• University reliance upon the ‘Russell Group’ arrogance – but this is a 20th century brand.

• Expectation from students of flexible evening/weekend/online learning options, as they seek to maintain job and family commitments

• Accessibility and breadth of information now available online alters the traditional role of the lecturer as gatekeeper to relevant knowledge

• Difficult economic conditions and higher fees adjust the risk/reward calculation of attending university

• Student profile increasingly international and with a wide range of ages and work experience

• Princeton Uni now prohibits staff from signing away the copyright of their papers to academic publishers

• Currently there are calls to boycott reviewing for non-open journals

How many of these existed 10 years ago?

John

First cohort of 300 students from 100 countries started in Sept 2009 http://www.uopeople.org/groups/milestones

Open Scholars (Anderson, 2009)

• Archive their own work in a public space (eg ePrints repository)

• Filter, curate and share content with others (via blogs, social networks etc)

• Publish in open access journals • Write open textbooks or lead open courses• Lobby for copyright reform• Act as change agents in their institutions

My current work

1. Growth of social shopping (Facebook project, with Charles Dennis)

2. Challenges of social CRM for small businesses (with Paul Harrigan)

3. The role of social technologies in activism (with Thanassis Tiropanis and Chris Peathean, ECS)

4. New course development: blended learning modules (with Jean Leah and Madeline Paterson)

5. Embedding digital literacy into the curriculum (Soton SIG)6. Promoting multi-disciplinary work via Digital Economy

USRG (with Graeme Earl)

1. Social shopping

• Exploratory investigation of interactions between young consumers and consumer products/services on social networks.

• Focus on social shopping behaviour; namely product/service recommendations and retail purchase activities.

• A ‘nudge’ in the form of recommendations from friends appears to be influential in changing online shopping behaviour

• A hierarchy of trust scale ranging from ‘real’ friends at the top down to reviews on retailers’ websites may be positively associated with intention to purchase.

• Example early adopters: Asos, Malaysian Airlines

2. Social CRM

• CRM systems tend to over promise and under deliver

• Success is more likely when focus is on culture change rather than the technology itself

• We propose that 1) the participative, personal and real time approaches and 2) the access to customer data facilitated by social media are critical to effective CRM

• Example: Dell Social Media Command Centre (video, 3 mins)

3. Online activism

• Aimed to investigate what metrics are available for measuring success of marketing via social media, and how both charitable organisations and activist campaigns can use this style of marketing.

• Higher awareness of a cause does not necessarily mean higher levels of engagement

• Engagement metrics such as click through rates and content analysis are proposed to distinguish activism and ‘slactivism’

4. Social/blended Learning

• The “constructivist” or “communities of practice” or “action-based learning” approaches focus on group discussion, debating and sharing contrasting points of view, both online and offline

• Contrast to traditional approach which is based upon individual contributions where sharing is discouraged and students see no work other than their own

• Example:– Blended learning modules for MSc top up programme– University of Liverpool online MBA

5. Digital Literacy

• “Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organise, understand, evaluate, and analyse information using digital technology. It involves a working knowledge of current tools and an understanding of how they can be used”

• “The active management of online activities such as collaboration, networking , reviewing, content creation and curation in order to ‘stand out from the crowd’ in today’s job market”

• “An ability to respond positively to change”• Examples:

• Digital Literacy Special Interest Group (workshops and conferences)

• Input to Curriculum Innovation Programme (CIP)

The “digitally literate” student

• be proactive, confident and flexible adopters of a range of technologies for personal, academic and professional use

• use appropriate technology effectively to search for and store high-quality information

• curate, reflect and critically evaluate the information obtained• engage creatively and productively in relevant online communities• be familiar with the use of collaboration tools to facilitate groupwork

and project management• be aware of the challenges inherent in ensuring online privacy and

security• Have developed appropriate communication skills for peer and tutor

interaction within an ‘always on’ environment

Educational opportunities of using online tools

• Generically known as “social technologies” which are built around participation and collaboration – essential aspects of ‘action-based learning’– Communities such as Facebook or Ning for communication

and collaboration– Blogs and micro blogs to generate content, access

information on latest trends, or access global networks of expertise

– Wikis for collaborative working and editing– Bookmarking sites such as Delicious or Digg to save, rate

and organise material

“Life

-wid

e” a

nd “

life-

long

” le

arni

ng

Contacts

Experts

Teachers

Classmates Friends

Family

Coworkers

Synchronous Communication

Mobile Texting

Video Conferencing

Microbloging

Instant Messaging

RSS

Wikis

Blogs

Subscriptions readers

Podcasts

Social Bookmarking

Social Networks

Information ManagementLibrary/

Texts

Open CourseWare

Evaluating Resources

Scholarly Works

Locating Experts

Wendy Drexler (2008)

Curtin University

• “Triple-i Curriculum” is way ahead of the UK in the integration of online portfolios

• Aims to produce highly-employable global citizens with expertise beyond their primary discipline

• Emphasis on inter-disciplinary, intercultural and international awareness to foster global citizenship

• “Life-wide” learning recognises that life experience and extracurricular activities can differentiate students from others with similar degrees

• “Life-long” component fostered as community membership extends to alumni and prospective students

Personal Development Portfolios (PDP)

• An online diary (blog) for posting reflections on set tasks

• Topics form the basis of discussion in tutor/tutee meetings

• A record of progress and achievements throughout the course.

• ‘showcase’ work to tutors, prospective employers, business partners etc

• Real time feedback to tutors on what students like/dislike about their programmes

Blogging benefits for students

• Easy to use• Personally configurable• Widgets to integrate content from elsewhere • Portable• Reflective spaces • Build online presence and social capital

Useful links

• The Networked Student (5 mins)• For examples of students from last year who

really embraced the approach, see Natasha’s blog and Maria’s blog.

• Student experiences through the whole programme: student course summary

Digital Economy USRG

• Encourages collaborative research on all aspects of the Digital Economy via networking meetings, conference papers, project bids

• Monthly lunchtime meetings with guest speaker, all welcome

• Champions innovation and change within the University (eg Create Your Campus, Digital Literacy SIG)

• More information here

Thank you!

You are welcome to follow me on any of my social media sites:

• www.lisaharrismarketing.com• www.delicious.com/lisaharris1• www.twitter.com/lisaharris• www.linkedin.com/in/lisajaneharris• www.slideshare.net/lisaharris• www.netvibes.com/ljharris