Researchers of Tomorrow is the longest and most intensive research to date on information-seeking practices and research behaviour among doctoral students. This gives it special significance in terms of the credibility of its findings, and these should be of key interest to a number of different stakeholders in the HE and research sector.
This past February, as one of the keynote speakers invited to contribute to a lively forum sponsored by the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching (HILT), I presented a bold challenge to my fellow professors that has since been quoted many times: “If we can be replaced by a computer screen, we should be.” Some were very alarmed at this statement, assuming I meant that all future learning should be online. But that wasn’t my meaning at all.
More digital literacies at Brookes One of the key messages arising from national research is that although technology is pervasive in many learners' lives, learners entering higher eduation lack basic information literacies skills and have little idea of how they can use technology to support their study (see for example JISC Google Generation, Great Expectations and Learner Experience Phase 2 programmes) In recent months there has been much discussion at Brookes of the role of digital literacies in our curriculum. There has been acceptance of the need to specify and develop digital literacies as part of the Academic Progression Initiative and the 2020 Green paper. The task now is to agree on the literacies we expect of Brookes students and present them in a coherent way to course teams so they they can be mapped and developed across the curriculum.
Twitter - like many emergent genres of social media - is structured around networks of people interacting with people they know or find interesting. Those who are truly performing to broad audiences (e.g., "celebs", corporations, news entities, and high-profile blogger types) are consciously crafting consumable content that doesn't require actually having an intimate engagement with the person to appreciate. Yet, the vast majority of Twitter users are there to maintain social relations, keep up with friends and acquaintances, follow high-profile users, and otherwise connect. It's all about shared intimacy that is of no value to a third-party ear who doesn't know the person babbling.