Exploiting research data for teaching

Research data paid for by public funds should be available to the public as openly as possible, whilst protecting the rights of the originating researcher. To enable this data must be managed appropriately throughout its lifecycle. Awareness of this need continues to grow, as evidenced by the introduction of Research Council policies such as the EPSRC Policy Framework on Research Data (EPSRC, 2011).

JISC has funded a series of projects through its Managing Research Data strand to develop and share the technologies, policies and new ways of working required to meet these funder requirements. The authors’ project is one such project, aiming to develop infrastructure for data management at the Authors’ University (Authors, 2011).

Open data provides a resource for learning that can be exploited by students for practical work and project dissertations, enabling development of skills including critical evaluation and navigation of data repositories (Conole, 2006; Lyon, 2003). To facilitate this, learning technologists must develop an understanding of the research data management process.

This workshop will explore how research data can be exploited for learning and teaching in Further and Higher Education, addressing the following questions:

What is research data?
How can data be exploited for teaching and learning?
Where can I find suitable data?
What license applies to the data and how do I comply?
What contextual information is needed to make effective use of data?
The session will start with a brief introduction (10-15 minutes) to the area of research data management and related issues, such as attitudes towards openness and technology, many of which will be familiar to those in the e-learning community.

Participants will then examine a set of data resources and discuss how they might be used for teaching and what issues may arise in doing so (30-40 minutes).

Participants will find it easier to explore the resources fully if they have access to a laptop and wireless network.

This symposium is aimed at learning technologists and teachers in HE and FE interested in e-research in general and research data management in particular. Participants will gain an understanding of the purpose and challenges of research data management and its relevance to learning and teaching.