JISC

Higher and further education have a leading role in harnessing crucial expertise from inside and outside the institution. Inform brings you examples of how colleges and universities are discovering new partnerships with business, through interviews with Professor Cliff Hardcastle at Teeside University and other strategists.

While 20 years ago a group of scholars working on a common problem would have had to spend considerable amounts of money and time to enable their collaboration, new virtual environments allow online, real-time collaboration. 

Case studies about how African sleeping sickness has been linked with critical care for patients and reinterpretation of a Roman tablet show how these online platforms can speed up innovation.

With the research environment in flux due to the economic climate and rapid digital developments, researchers are having to do more with less.  So it makes sense to encourage  them to discover new digital technologies that allow them to tap into global resources.  We report on the research behaviour of young doctoral students while also examining the potential impact of the Digital Economy Act on sharing among students.

New online tools and platforms can have a big effect on how we produce, consume, share and value knowledge and open educators have an opportunity to make a real difference, as shown in Inform’s exploration of Open Educational Resources. This issue is all about technology as a tool for recycling knowledge and making results go further.

See the digital version of JISC Inform to listen to podcasts on these topics and explore the background