Doug Clow

IET Research and Scholarship Synthesis mtg

24 May 2011

Overview• Social networking for learning about natural history• Citizen science• Observation, identification,

agreement, comments• Routes in and out• Part of huge project (OPAL)

Outcomes and findings• 11,000 users have made

50,000 observations including 80,000 images60,000 identifications and 200,000 agreements

• Active learning community• Reputation system works as a proxy measure of

learning (assessment) – in an informal context• Activity and expertise highly unequal (‘long tail’)• Links in and out clearly visible in activity

Implications and impact• Building an online learning community • Participatory learning – complement to traditional OER• Reputation system vs ‘Badges’ for open assessment• Won Wildscreen Panda Award, shortlisted for THE

Award for Outstanding ICT Initiative of the Year• Big Lottery Fund view OPAL as big success• Open Media• Follow-on funding (Internationalisation, Local,

partnerships, apps, Wolfson)