Collaboration, coherence and capacity‐building: the role of DSpace in supporting and understanding the TLRP

Abstract

This paper describes how the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) has implemented and applied DSpace as a digital repository for project and programme outputs, including published articles, conference papers, research reports, briefings and press releases. The DSpace repository has become a major element in the user engagement strategy of the programme. The OAI‐PMH (Open Archives Initiative) interface provides a basis for the development of a number of user applications and services for projects and other interested groups, including search interfaces, dynamic web content, RSS feeds and other services. These have also formed the basis of collaboration and communication between the TLRP and other research programmes, indexes and resources. The TLRP aims to enable collaboration between researchers and to foster individual, institutional and sector‐wide research capacity. The OAI interface has been used as the basis of data visualisation tools, allowing the identification of distinctive patterns of collaboration across the diverse projects of the programme. The paper will conclude with some reflections on the relevance of the output of these tools to teachers and their practice.

Acknowledgements

The work described in this paper would not have been possible without the support received from the Directors’ Team and members of the projects of the TLRP, and from staff at the Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies; in particular Patrick Carmichael, Naomi Irvine, John Norman, Ian Boston and Raad al‐Rawi at CARET and Andrew Pollard, Mary James, John Siraj‐Blatchford and Bernie Ryder at TLRP.

Notes

1. Number of projects with staff in a single institution = 8; two institutions = 11; three institutions = 9; four or more institutions = 9. These figures exclude five Research Training Fellowships and two Career Development Associate posts, which are by definition held by individuals, although these are attached to a project. They also exclude projects commissioned in the later Widening Participation in Higher Education, and Technology Enhanced Learning phases of commissioning.

2. It should be noted at this point that some projects, particularly those which have already completed their work, are under‐represented in DSpace, and some projects await agreements with publishers before submission of already published work.

3. The Cortona VRML Viewer, available from www.parallelgraphics.com (accessed on 1 August 2007), was used.

4. Howe, C., Nunes, T., Bryant, P. & Jafri, S. (2004) Intensive quantities: why they matter to mathematics education, TLRP Annual Conference, Cardiff, November, and Christie, D., Tolmie, A., Howe, C., Topping, K., Thurston, A., Jessiman, E., Livingston, K. & Donaldson, C. (2004) The impact of collaborative group work in primary classrooms and the effects of class composition in urban and rural schools, TLRP Annual Conference, Cardiff, November.

5. Note that the term ‘clique’ in social network analysis does not necessarily have pejorative associations.

6. As of June 2007 the Neuroscience in Education commentary had been downloaded 48,554 times in six weeks, whereas the Schools commentary had 90,518 and the Science Education commentary had 47,216 downloads in the previous 15 months.