Observatory
An observatory and a collaboratory international and interdisciplinary research laboratory devoted to research for increasing knowledge are distinguishable from a mere observing station or an educational laboratory. An observatory gathers the knowledge of the researched scientific field that has been transformed into articles and posts, both written and audio-visual, which give an account of the latest developments being prepared in the world of education with the use of technology.
The observatory provides the latest publications and conversations in related scientific fields by the scientific interests categories
Global
| Istitution | Country | Process of Obtaining | Description of data | Possible uses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Postsecondary Education Research and Implementation Institute (PERI2) | California (USA) | To make the data request you must complete the form at this LINK. Rules: this must be done by a Senate faculty member listed on your IRB; we may contact you to further discuss your research project and clarify your data needs. Data will be securely sent as a .csv file. An IRB is required for access to student-level data. | Institutional data regarding students (including student demographic data, individual course grades, or other types of data). At this link you can see the list of variables that are provided. The same providers say that this data can be used by anyone who conducts research projects in the field of Education (with the intention of publishing or presenting the results). | We can analyse this data focusing on their competences and educational outcomes in each field of study. We can check if and how digital competencies are addressed. |
| ERIC, Institute of Education Sciences | US Government | This is a selection of Education themed articles downloadable in PDF from the website. Not every article is freerly dowloadable but the largest part is. | ERIC indexes a wide variety of journal sources regarding Education Issues. The site provides a keyword search. In addition, the content is indexed by subject areas. | Articles can be used as a theorical base for our themes of interest. They can be also useful to identify indicators and important variables in our future researches and activities. |
| DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals | Global (134 countries represented) | In the website the contents can be searched by subject, title etc. and freely downloadable. The contents are divided into journals and articles. | DOAJ is a unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, freely available online for everyone. | Articles can be used as a theorical base for our themes of interest. They can be also useful to identify indicators and important variables in our future researches and activities. |
| Plos One | International | PLOS ONE is an inclusive journal community. Research published in PLOS ONE is immediately available to the widest possible audience: OPEN ACCESS articles from the website (freerly downloadable) | PLOS ONE accepts research in over two hundred subject areas across science, engineering, medicine, and the related social sciences and humanities. Through its search engine you can find articles about your subject of interest (in this case, social sciences, education and maybe Digital Health). | Articles can be used as a theorical base for our themes of interest. They can be also useful to identify indicators and important variables in our future researches and activities. |
| ScienceOpen | International | Multidimensional search in millions of article records for quick orientation: Filter your search by 18 filters including open access, preprint, author, keyword, content type, source, and more. Content freerly downloadable in various formats. | Scientific articles in Open Access. Search engine for titles, authors, keywords etc. | Articles can be used as a theorical base for our themes of interest. They can be also useful to identify indicators and important variables in our future researches and activities. |
| ResearchGate | International | Articles freerly downloadabl from the website. Search engine works with keywords and fields of study. | Scientific articles and researches in Open Access. Themes for the search engine: digital education. | Articles can be used as a theorical base for our themes of interest. They can be also useful to identify indicators and important variables in our future researches and activities. |
| JSTOR | International | Articles freerly downloadabl from the website. Search engine works with keywords and fields of study. | Scientific articles mostly in Open Access (registration is needed). Search engine for titles, authors, keywords etc. | Articles can be used as a theorical base for our themes of interest. They can be also useful to identify indicators and important variables in our future researches and activities. |
| ScienceDirect | international | Journal articles and book chapters downloadable from the website. Registration required. Search engine works with keywords, authors and titles. | Peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters (including open access content) | Articles can be used as a theorical base for our themes of interest. They can be also useful to identify indicators and important variables in our future researches and activities. |
| Open Education Resocurces | Global (USA based) | It is a community of practice that "provide resources, support, and opportunities for collaboration for learning, planning, and implementing successful open educational programs at community and technical colleges. Our activities include sharing best practices through regular webinars, online advocacy events, and conferences; maintaining an active community email list for current news, ideas, queries, and support; raising awareness of open education and its benefits; conducting workshops and presentations throughout North America; and supporting the needs of students and faculty at colleges engaged in OER adoption for courses and full degree pathways." | Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission. | If you are interested in conducting research yourself to measure the impact of adopting open educational resources at your own institution, see this toolkit developed by the Open Education Group. It contains sample survey instruments for students and faculty that you modify and use for your own circumstances." It can be also interesting to think about how they use digital tools to promote and carry on their activities. |
European
| Istitution | Country | Process of Obtaining | Description of data | Possible uses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurostat | European Union | Downloadable files in different formats (for example xlsx) in open format divided by "topics" addressed | These data describe education and training systems in the EU and their outcomes. Topics: participation in education and training (including adult learning); learning mobility; education personnel; education finance; education and training outcomes; language learning and self-reported language skills. On the website are available graphs to immediately visualize the time trends of the different variables (ex. early school living among the countries). | We can carry on some statistical analysis (using for example SPSS software) to make a comparison between countries about the participation in education and training |
| OECD | European Union | Exportable in xlsx format divided by year, topic and indicator | In this database, you can access the indicators of Education at a Glance. Values can be searched by country, year, and subject. TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Survey) data are avilable too, in which you can find informations related to our themes (teaching and learning in the era of digitalization). | We can carry on some statistical analysis (using for example SPSS software) about teaching and leraning in the era of digitalization. This database could be also useful to identify wich are the most important variables on which these researches are based (including what type of questions are asked to the participants). |
| Data Europa - European Commission | European Union | Downloadable in open mode in different formats (I chose CSV). You can also download it in SPSS format. | Through this link you can access to different national and European datasets (selected by issue, pusblisher...). We selected European Union Data about 1st and 2nd survey on ICT in schools. | We can carry on some statistical analysis (using for example SPSS software) about teaching and leraning in the era of digitalization. This database could be also useful to identify wich are the most important variables on which these researches are based (including what type of questions are asked to the participants). |
| Zenodo | Italy, Austria, Greece | Downloadable: excel file with Standardized questionnaire responses. In the data set, the feedback was grouped into categories, based on the age and background of the users: middle and high school students (school students, results on sheet 1); Master in Earth Science students (msc, results on sheet 2); academics/researchers in Earth Sciences, which include PhD students and postdocs (Academics, results in Sheet 3); Public Laity (i.e. participants who do not belong to the other groups, results in Sheet 4). | The dataset is associated with the paper entitled: How Academics and the Public Experienced Immersive Virtual Reality for Geo-education. It contains feedback regarding users’experience with Immersive Virtual Reality for geological exploration, through a tailored approach developed by Tibaldi et al. (2020) where the Virtual Landscape is based on 3D photogrammetry-based high-resolution models. Such feedback has been acquired through anonymous questionnaires during nine dissemination events held in 2018 and 2019 in various locations (Vienna in Austria, Milan and Catania in Italy and Santorini in Greece), in the framework of the following projects: the MIUR project ACPR15T4_00098–Argo3D; 3DTeLC Erasmus+Project 2017-1-UK01-KA203-036719; EGU 2018 Public Engagement Grant. | We can use the paper and the dataset to analyse this interesting application of digital technologies in education. It can be an example of "best practices" on how digital technologies enhance teaching and learning |
| German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies | Germany | You have to apply from their site. It is not clear whether after the application the data will be in open format or if you will have to buy them. The data can be used for practice and study, but not for publications. | Interesting data from surveys (for example on the impacts of the pandemic in HE). The research center focuses on Higher Education by addressing several topics (including the relationship with technologies). Until the application is made IT IS NOT CLEAR THE TYPE OF DATA that will be provided. | We can check the type of data thei provide. Then, we can make a reasonment on how the pandemic has been "useful" to enhance the use and the relationship between teacher/students and digital technologies |
| School Education Gateway | European Union | This is a selection of Education themed articles freely downloadable in PDF from the website | They are downloadable only PDF, so there are no Open data but only reading materials. | Articles can be used as a theorical base for our themes of interest. They can be also useful to identify indicators and important variables in our future researches and activities. |
Italian
| Istitution | Country | Process of Obtaining | Description of data | Possible uses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca | Italy | Downloadable: 2 datasets in SPSS format ("data" file and "profiles" file); 1 PDF file with questionnaire (ita); 1 PDF file with methodological notes (ita); 1 PDF file with codebook (ita) (5 files). Attention: the data are distributed exclusively for research and teaching purposes, and cannot be provided to third parties, free of charge or for a fee, even in partial form; the user is obliged to quote the data and documentation distributed by UniData within its publications; the user is also obliged to send to UniData any bibliographical information of the publications that make use of the distributed data. | The data were collected as part of the ELECTUS (Education-for-Labour Elicitation from Companies' Attitudes towards University Studies) research project carried out in 2015 by the University of Padua in partnership with numerous other Italian universities with the aim of investigating the criteria that entrepreneurs adopt in the choice of recent graduates who apply for a job position in their companies. 471 enterprises (recruiters). Self-selected sample of companies included in the Almalaurea archives and belonging to the Job Placement office of the University of Milan-Bicocca. | We can carry on analysis regardin the competencies mainly required by companies (with a particular focus on digital competencies). |
| Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca | Italy | Downloadable: 1 dataset in SPSS format; 1 PDF file with questionnaire (ita); 1 PDF file with methodological notes (ita); 1 PDF file with archive notes (ita); 1 PDF file with codebook (ita) (5 file). Attention: the data are distributed exclusively for research and teaching purposes, and cannot be provided to third parties, free of charge or for a fee, even in partial form; the user is obliged to quote the data and documentation distributed by UniData within its publications; the user is also obliged to send to UniData any bibliographical information of the publications that make use of the distributed data. | Distance education, education in emergency (2020). The study aims to describe the actions implemented by educational services during the emergency by COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, in order to understand how kindergartens and kindergartens responded to the emergency situation. The aim of the research is to understand how educators, teachers and pedagogical coordinators of childcare educational services 0-6 have faced the lockdown period and consequently how the educational relationship has been declined, proposals, involvement actions, training, planning and pedagogical documentation. Through a questionnaire administered to the services for children mainly of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna in the first months of the lockdown, were investigated the changes introduced with the intent to understand lived and ethical questionsmoral, changes in planning, conditions for a continuity of educational processes through renewed relationships, able to bring out the salient and generative features of education. | We can check the type of data thei provide. Then, we can make a reasonment on how the pandemic has been "useful" to enhance the use and the relationship between teacher/students and digital technologies |
| Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca | Italy | Downloadable: 1 dataset in SPSS format; 1 PDF file with methodological notes (ita); 1 PDF file with codebook (ita); 1 folder with materials (data and syntax) for reproducibility of results (4 files). Attention: the data are distributed exclusively for research and teaching purposes, and cannot be provided to third parties, free of charge or for a fee, even in partial form; the user is obliged to quote the data and documentation distributed by UniData within its publications; the user is also obliged to send to UniData any bibliographical information of the publications that make use of the distributed data. | OpenTeQ - Teacher Effectiveness Scale (2016-2017). The data are extracted from the OpenTeQ project, a controlled trial to assess the impact of light training on teachers' relational skills. The dataset includes two waves of CATI survey, conducted between 2016 and 2017 on teachers of Italian and mathematics in the secondary classes of 198 secondary schools of 1st grade (grade 7). Teachers were asked to evaluate their effectiveness in teaching through the Ohio State Teacher Efficacy Scale (OSTES). Longitudinal data were collected on 1,912 respondents, for a final response rate of 92%. The collected data are used to test the measurement invariance of OSTES over time, assessing the impact of different analytical approaches on the adequacy of the estimated models and on the measurement and structural parameters. | This dataset can be useful to address the issue of teachers' relational skills, expecially considering our future training activities (we may find something interesting to enhance teacher's relational skills though our training activities). |
Create a hub
Create a hub of universities and research institutes as a permanent observatory that can work on the issues of digitization of the HE system at the European level, share best practices, and promote collaboration among different institutions of the HE system;
Online training course
Build an online training course to empower professors and teachers, to perform high-quality online/blended teaching actions in HE, in the logic of LLL;
New online environments
Identify and develop new online environments for HE, enhancing the gamification logic to improve transversal and soft skills, i.e. e-leadership and digital maturity;
Safeguard quality standards
Elaborate assessment processes to safeguard quality standards and academic integrity in the context of online learning for a more flexible approach to address the online and blended delivery of study programmes;
Favour social innovation
Favour social innovation in the online and blended European HE Area through the sharing of experimented best practices among partner countries.
Elearning standards
The project starts from the observation that, currently, the academic community perceives that it’s still difficult to define elearning standards able to inform academic governance and stakeholders about the quality of e-learning processes.
D-ChallengHE recognises the need to produce and validate a series of new quality assurance standards that consider the qualitative dimension of educational interaction in online learning environments and the need to communicate best practices at European level.
The definition of these standards relies on the intersection among policy, technology, education, society, and the labour market.
