A wealth of literature is published annually in the broad area of Educational Technology. Perkins and Lowenthal (2016), for example, in their comprehensive analysis of publications in the field identified over 270 open access... [ view full abstract ]
A wealth of literature is published annually in the broad area of Educational Technology. Perkins and Lowenthal (2016), for example, in their comprehensive analysis of publications in the field identified over 270 open access journals alone. The challenge is that we are all busy professions and it is virtually impossible to keep up-to-date with everything that is published in the area, especially given the multitude of publication channels.
To help address this problem over the past two years (2016 & 2017) the National Institute of Digital Learning (NIDL) at Dublin City University (DCU) has published on its blog [https://nidl.blog] a list of what it deems to have been the top 10 open access journal articles produced over the course of each year. This presentation critically reflects on the selection criteria, methodology, findings and wider lessons from this initiative. The purpose of the initiative was to more widely flag valuable professional readings to those working in the area and to promote debate and further knowledge of some of the new and emerging fields in area. A related internal objective was to raise awareness and encourage members of the NIDL team to more deeply engage with published literature.
The presentation begins by reflecting on the selection criteria and methodology adopted to help identify what constitutes a really good (open access) journal article. It then reports on the findings for each year and some of the wider lessons and observations from the exercise, including: the blurring of boundaries between closed and open publications; the growth of review and meta-analysis articles; and the changing status and continuing value of more traditional closed publications. While the final list of top 10 articles over both years covers a wide range of topics and arguably provides a valuable resource for both working professionals and students undertaking postgraduate study in the area there are some notable gaps. Moreover, a number of open access journals published by leading professional bodies are under-represented in the final selection. And somewhat surpirsingly given the field of research many of the authors make relatively limited use of social media. Finally, anchored in the words of Richard Steele, a great Irish writer and co-founder of The Spectator, who claimed that “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”, we encourage people to reflect on their own professional reading and invite discussion on both the validity and usefulness of this initiative.
References
Perkins, R., & Lowenthal, P. (2016). Open access journals in educational technology: Results of a survey of experienced users. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 32(3), 18-37.
Topics: Continuing Professional Development , Topics: Open Access & Open Education Resources (OERs)
