Sukaina Walji

ROER4D Communications Adviser

15 October 2014

Developing a research communications strategy

Audience analysis findings

in the Global South

In what ways, and under what

circumstances can the adoption

of OER address the increasing

demand for accessible,

relevant, high-quality and

affordable education and what

is its impact in the Global South?

Research on OER for Development

1. Build an empirical knowledge base on the use and impact of OER in education

2. Develop the capacity of OER researchers

3. Build a network of OER scholars

4. Curate and communicate research to inform education policy and practice

ROER4D Objectives

Ricardo Ramirez

Dal Brodhead

Wendy Quarry(IDRC DECI-2 Project)

Julius Nyangaga(Kenya)

Charles Dhewa

(Zimbabwe)

Sarah Goodier

(Evaluation)

Sukaina Walji

(Communication)

(South Africa)

ROER4D Communication and Evaluation supported by DECI-2

DECI-2 Website

An IDRC funded research

project to build and mentor

Communication and

Evaluation for IDRC flagship

projects

http://evaluationandcommunicationin

practice.ca/

Steps in the DECI-2 Research Communications process

Progress towards fine-tuning communications

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In progress

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In progress

The steps

are

iterative,

not linear

ROER4D Process of developing communications strategy

Developing a communications strategy with DECI-2 team at Feb 2014 workshop

ROER4D Defining purposes, objectives, methods and

media already using

Purpose

Media

ROER4D Clarifying audiences and matching purpose

and media

Media

Audience

Purpose

Continue to connect with DECI-2 team virtually to

discuss progress

Four key Purposes for ROER4D Communications

established at initial Communications workshop

1. Visibility for project

2. Knowledge generation

3. Networking

4. Research capacity development

These have informed our

communications activities

Project

events

Resources

SlideShare

Blog

Twitter

Facebook Page

CMS (Vula)Website

Email

Virtual meetings

(Skype, Adobe

Connect)

Internal communications External communications

Conferences

ROER4D Communications overview

ROER4D Website

http://roer4d.org

Connect with researchers online to discuss and

develop Question Harmonisation

Project resources on Vula

ROER4D website – blog

ROER4D website – resources

ROER4D SlideShare

www.slideshare.net/roer4d

ROER4D Twitter

twitter.com/roer4d

ROER4D Facebook group

facebook.com/ResearchOERforDevelopment

ROER4D Scoop.it

scoop.it/u/roer4d/curated-scoops

ROER4D in the news

universityworldnews.

com/article.php?story=

20140917111818454

ROER4D in a MOOC

Progress so far

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Just completed one

iteration

Audience analysis activity August-September 2014

Objective: gain a better understanding of communications experience and

needs of researchers in the ROER4D network, to not only inform our

communications strategy going forward but also to develop an

understanding of how the sub-projects are planning their own research

communications

Method: 45min–1hour Skype interviews focusing on three main areas as

prompts for discussion:

What was working well

What could be improved or enhanced

What the sub-projects’ plans were for their own project communications

and research communications.

Findings: gave insight and direction for ROER4D communications going

forward

High-level findings #1: what is working well

The ROER4D Website (www.roer4d.org) is seen as important, credible and attractive and

at centre of the project’s communications. Researchers seem happy to refer others to it.

Different sub-projects are using and plan to use the website for their communications in

different ways - some to host their own communications on their own page and others to

use their page to link to their own websites and other communications channels.

The website is fulfilling its purpose for the first stage of the project "what the project is

about".

Researchers consider that ROER4D should pursue its social media strategy (Twitter,

SlideShare and Facebook) as that is where our audiences are.

Sub-projects feel generally connected to the central hub and feel part of the project. Those

who participated in QH live sessions feel more connected and know what is going

on.

Personal connections especially with Tess Cartmill, the project manager, and with Cheryl

Hodgkinson-Williams and Henry Trotter via Question Harmonisation has helped make

people feel part of the network.

High-level findings #2: what can be improved

Some researchers want more content and sharing on the website than is currently available e.g. QH process and resources, other resources, sharing of research processes.

There is an appetite for regular monthly news bulletins of project level news - at least three researchers suggested a newsletter or email of project roundup independently of each other.

Social media is not used extensively by many researchers with a few notable exceptions so need other ways of alerting our researchers to network news, links, etc.

Researchers are responsive to the network team helping with a research communications strategy or feeding into it.

Appetite for regular live sessions using Adobe Connect or Hangouts for other topics and to open these out to outside of the network.

Vula is used/seen more as a repository rather than a communication channel. One researcher felt it is not user friendly.

High-level findings #3: plans for own research

communications

Smaller teams have fewer resources for communications activities than larger research

teams.

Projects who started later than others feel a bit behind or not ready to communicate

A few projects feel 'different' from the others and feel less part of the network but would like to

communicate/participate more if they can find a way

Some sub-projects have clearly identified stakeholders while others have broad roles and

types but not specific people, groups or networks. The NGOs and Advocacy types are more

active and strategic here.

Most sub-projects plan to produce papers, conference presentations and reports. Some

indicate e-books and the sub-projects working together willing to produce joint publications

One sub-project plans to introduce a tool for interrogating data by country on a website

Some sub-projects want to include or give opportunity for their research participants to

disseminate research.

Recommendations and next steps Review and enhance website to include new or revised sections whereby users can

a) get an update on the current status of sub-projects in one glanceb) highlight access to resources and make them more findablec) update individual sub-project pages with summary of where they are.

Set up an email newsletter: This will comprise updates and news that includes contributions from sub-projects and curate what is produced on blogs, events and Twitter feed.

Showcase what is happening in sub-projects on our blogs and events pages.

Develop systems for more regular contact with contact people in sub-projects in communications (including a regular schedule of webinars).

Plan ahead for types of conferences, events for presentation of findings and research and/or identification of journals (open access being a requirement).

Investigate setting up a private area for the sub-projects on the ROER4D website to share more internally focused resources.

[Possible] Organise a November/December online conference/symposium to invite project teams to give updates on their projects as a pre-prep for Banff.

Links and license

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.