On-line access to integrated data, software, tools and technical assistance to enhance social change research and to achieve the effective and timely dissemination of the outcomes of education and social research efforts
Why the need for evidenced-based research and policy?
Education and social research is about finding the best ways of responding to the impacts of globalisation and the transition to knowledge-based societies and economies which are driving new challenges for schools, communities and governments. Internationally there is increasing recognition that meeting these challenges will require an integrated approach to economic, social, cultural and environmental understanding, strategies and investments in order to:
 Promote the long-term well being and sustainability of communities and environments
 Value and support life-long learning and creativity
 Improve the engagement and communications of citizens, communities and stakeholders in policy development, decision making and implementation.
Eidos Online has the potential to significantly build on the collaborating universities’ potential by supporting the development of online cross-sectoral teaching, research and policy project teams and working relationships. Eidos Online will disseminate current models, methods, technologies, and evidence-based ideas that: Demonstrate new models, methods and tools of engagement with learning and social change research and policy; Discover how to take advantage of collaborative opportunities within the education and social research community; and, Develop and Deploy research and development through the creation of flexible, transferable and reproducible processes.
Thinking about the problem
Currently, education and social research in Queensland is not well-integrated, and there is no mechanism for positioning the State’s various centres of expertise to address and take advantage of the current and future developments and challenges facing us in research, policy and teaching. This situation is not unique to Queensland, nor is it confined to education and social research. Rather, the task of better organising knowledge expertise is one being faced by governments in other parts of the world. Ways forward are being sought through the application of new communication technologies, collaborative models of community development, and interdisciplinary science and practice. The following discussion draws on this knowledge to provide a conceptual basis for integrating and positioning education and social research so that it can deliver better teaching, learning, research and policy outcomes for universities, schools, communities and government and non-government stakeholders.
A significant problem facing the higher education sector is one of linking university students and faculty to the community and policy sectors through applied, policy-relevant research (Savan, 2004). Traditional science models and higher education structures are ill-equipped to enable the type of cross-sector, interdisciplinary collaboration necessary for community-based research and knowledge application. Therefore, new partnerships between research, community, and policy are required to achieve community-directed research and development. These partnerships can achieve a range of research, policy, education and action outcomes arising from quality engagements developed over time (Greenwood & Levin, 1998).
A number of networks have developed with the purpose of linking researchers, practitioners and communities to achieve policy and action outcomes. One example is the Loka Community Research network which links academic institutes in the United States with policy-makers and community groups via electronic information technologies (Loka Institute, 2004). These types of arrangements share strong similarities with other on-line collaborative activities such as Service Learning and Science Shops (Savan & Sider, 2003). The types of research, policy and action outcomes that these models support are best achieved through the development of longer-term (i.e., more than one year) collaborative projects in which students and early career researchers can participate in learning communities comprising established researchers, policy makers and community groups. Such collaborations increase the capacity of community groups to engage in advocacy, attract external funding, and facilitate policy development and implementation within an environment of social trust, inclusion and awareness. Notwithstanding, one should note that collaborative relationships, while offering partners richer outcomes, are often developed on the basis of more simple contract and consultative relationships.
Other on-line frameworks have emerged in response to the inherent interdisciplinary nature of education and social change issues. Given the complexity of these issues, there is a compelling and immediate need to enable academic teachers and researchers to instigate and nurture productive relationships outside of their departments, faculties, and/or universities. For example, Koku and Wellman (2002) document the case of TechNet; a network of scholars and professionals engaged in issues located at the intersection of the social sciences, humanities, science and engineering. TechNet was established to achieve a number of goals including the facilitation of interdisciplinary activities, increase the prominence within the university of interdisciplinary activities, create and support colloquia, develop new interdisciplinary curricula, support graduate students, facilitate visits to the university from distinguished individuals working in areas of interest, and create short professional development courses for industry and society.
Koku and Wellman (2002) argue that the above objectives can only be achieved through collaboration and structural reform. Citing one of the members of TechNet, they encapsulate the problems stemming from the traditional separation between disciplines and between research, policy and practice:
The ways that an entire citizenry can be much more actively and successfully involved in knowledge development and knowledge society is the core interest of mine and that of a number of TechNet members. I just think that this interest is grossly under-represented in the kind of work that is done in the university and under-represented in formal structures. There are lots of faculty that are doing exciting things, but there are no formal structures to network together. (p.13)
Koku and Wellman (2002) report that many of the concerns articulated by TechNet members were successfully addressed by the creation of new collaborative structures and mechanisms possible through computer-mediated learning communities. TechNet increased collaborative research output, supported a well-attended seminar series, created a new interdisciplinary graduate programme, and solidified out-reach to other scholars, policy-makers, technology companies, and the public.
Developments in computer-mediated communication are part of a broader social phenomenon in which institutions and people are brought into relationship. On-line communication technologies can facilitate the emergence of networked learning communities and communities of practice, comprising permeable social boundaries, a wider range of social interactions (within and between networks), flatter hierarchical structure, recursive communication patterns, and geospatial freedom (Koku & Wellman, 2002). The benefits of these characteristics are only recently becoming apparent as on-line communities mature and their experiences documented. Yet, already communication technologies are being considered as a means for developing collaborative educational communities for the benefit of a whole range of stakeholders (Bull, Bull & Kadjer, 2004).
Toward education reform: From stakeholders and networks to community
Recent developments in education reform in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom have focused on an imperative toward restructuring, curriculum reform, school-based management and evidence-based practice (Ramsey, 2000). One view gaining some ascendency within and outside of government agencies is that knowledge management is essential for successful reform efforts (Wenger, 1998). This insight was expressed simply by Fullan (1999) in the following way:
…the secret to success of living companies, complex adaptive systems, learning communities or whatever terms we use, is that they consist of intricate, embedded interaction inside and outside the organisation which converts tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge on an ongoing basis. (p.15)
Wenger (1998) has noted that tacit knowledge – knowledge that people have developed on the basis of their work practices – cannot be easily documented in formal ways (e.g., as guidelines). Rather, this type of knowledge is rendered visible through the organic relationships that individuals form, develop, and sustain as part of their day-to-day experience as members of a learning community.
Learning communities are different to networks and interest groups (see Figure 1). Stuckey (2001) argued that a network is a group of stakeholders that shares weak ties with one another, and who are provided with information by the group. In contrast, interest groups involve stronger ties and interactions are not predominately based on information dissemination, but enable the sharing of resources and ideas. Learning communities, on the other hand, are fundamentally collaborative and provide stakeholders with a range of “ways to communicate, contribute to and initiate ideas and joint projects” (p.3). Learning communities provide their members with a voice and pathways for action. Moreover, members develop their relationships through participation, contribution, ownership and, eventually, identity. As Stuckey contends, it is the number and variety of roles open to members of any collective that reflect the extent of control and involvement necessary for true on-line community to be realised.
Figure 1: Levels of online interactivity (from Stuckey, 2001, p.3)
Recognising that certain online collectives might be best described as networks or interest groups than as communities, one can better appreciate that spaces that promote and facilitate interactivity are essential for the development of online learning communities. However, it is the stakeholders who build community. In this respect, it is vital that online environments enable stakeholders a variety of ways to interact, and to build mechanisms and incentives for collaboration into the framework. Put simply, people must have control in deciding how and when they participate. To this end, Serim (as cited in Stuckey, 2001) viewed the relationship between online technology and people in the following way:
The symbiosis between education reform and the integration of technology into learning is profound: technology requires the rich learning environments envisioned by reformers; reform demands the power of technology to put people at the centre of their own learning.
Eidos was formed to promote and develop community among education and social change stakeholders in Queensland and Australia. Eidos Online represents a key mechanism by which to achieve this goal.
Online technologies enable a wide range of ways that participants can engage in partnering and collaboration. Even simple activities such as online workshops can enable mutual engagement, joint enterprise and shared representations of issues of interest (Rogers, 2000). However, it is sobering to realise that on-line technologies do not produce change in and of themselves. Rather, in the cases described above, existing and emerging reform networks employed communication technology as a means of developing new collaborations and formalising new institutional arrangements. In this sense, successful reform may depend in large part on its nature – its merits and constraints – that underpins its online presence. Notwithstanding, what is needed to further a particular reform agenda is the creation of new mechanisms that have the capacity to nurture community identity, vitality and resilience through the pooling of intellectual, social and financial resources. As can be appreciated from the preceding discussion, current understandings do provide some basic principles and strategies to illuminate the way forward, and this knowledge underpins the following plan to create a virtual environment – Eidos Online – to facilitate the education and social change reforms in Queensland identified earlier.
What is Eidos Online?
Eidos Online addresses the deficiency in education and social research that is both social and economic in nature: there is no large-scale core body of researchers and there is no single body identity. Through the establishment of Eidos Online we have identified ample evidence that critical mass can be harnessed and put towards addressing these deficiencies.
Eidos Online will achieve higher education outcomes in teaching, learning, research and policy development by promoting online collaboration between universities, government and private industry. Eight universities and twenty-six research centres will regularly contribute research reports to Eidos Online, which will act as a virtual environment to disseminate the latest research and policy in the fields of Education and Social Research. At present an online environment does not exist in Queensland or Australia that provides this information, nor does any other body bring together such a wide range of research centres under one collective body.
Several distinct groups have been disadvantaged by not being able to access research from one central body. These include students, lecturers, policy administrators, research centres, individual researchers, non-government organisations (NGOs) and the general community. Eidos Online will address this situation by providing:
• information that can be used as a teaching resource;
• cutting edge research;
• valuable information for policy development;
• sharing of information and resources;
• encouraging collaboration;
• identifying areas that need further research;
• providing relevant information for grant applications;
• and, creating an environment that allows all sectors of the community to be well-informed about current issues.
This online collaborative initiative will prevent duplication of information, encourage the sharing resources, foster new and relevant research, and provide students with the opportunity to become actively involved in research projects. It is envisaged that Eidos will make a significant contribution to assist in the development of policies that will improve social, cultural, economic and environmental outcomes, with particular benefits to Queensland and the wider Asia Pacific Region.
Stakeholder consultation
In preparation to this proposal, extensive stakeholder consultation and participation has been undertaken through formal meetings and informal discussions. For example, Eidos has formally met with representatives of its consortium to develop an online environment that meets their needs. These discussions included representatives of universities, research centres, and government agencies, including the Queensland Department of Education and the Arts, Education Queensland, and the Queensland Department of Employment and Training. Further, Eidos participated in a retreat held by the Faculty of Education and Creative Arts at the University of Central Queensland in which attendees were invited to register their views about Eidos and Eidos Online. Table 2 and Figure 1 (in Section 15) document the product of these processes in which stakeholder needs are incorporated in the plan.
Eidos Online will be implemented under the auspice of Eidos, a joint venture consortium (including all Queensland universities, four Queensland Government departments, a Queensland statutory authority, Infoxchange Australia, Bendigo Bank and Delfin Lend Lease). This consortium is committed to improving education and social change research, policy and practice. It seeks to ensure that Queensland and Australia becomes further recognized as a hub for high quality and innovative education and social change research that makes a significant contribution to improving social policy and practice.
Table 2: Stakeholder needs addressed by Eidos Online
End-users Needs addresses by Eidos Online
Students
• access to cutting edge research.
• opportunity to participate in collaborative research and learning experiences.
• advice from policy makers, community stakeholders, teachers, managers, and senior researchers.
Academics
• information that can be used as a teaching resource
• access to cutting edge research
• sharing of information and resources with a wide range of stakeholders, and participating in an environment that allows all sectors of the community to be better informed about current issues
• encouraging collaboration as a means to building individual and centre research capacity
• identifying knowledge gaps
• providing relevant information for grant applications
• publishing in the Eidos e-journal
• access to financial and other resources to facilitate the implementation of new ideas and collaborations
Non-Government groups
• research and evaluations to increase funding submission evidence base
• access to cutting edge research and researchers
• sharing of information and resources with a wide range of stakeholders, and participating in an environment that allows all sectors of the community to be better informed about current issues
• having a voice in the development and implementation of research and policy agendas.
Parents, Teachers, Students
• access to cutting edge research and practice
• having a voice in the development and implementation of research and policy agendas.
Research Centres
• access to cutting edge research
• sharing of information and resources
• encouraging collaboration
• identifying areas that need further research
• providing relevant information for grant applications
• creating an environment that allows all sectors of the community to be well-informed about current issues.
Government Organisations
• quality information for evidence-based policy development and implementation
• encouraging collaboration
• providing relevant information for grant applications
Eidos Online will provide extensive online services with the added advantage of simplistic navigation tools. Online links will include Research Centre Profiles, research reports, details of events, access to a wide range of expertise, e-prints, summaries and critiques of reports, pedagogy, interactive tools such as blogs, video collaboration, online tendering, online forums and discussions (and transcripts of both), weekly updates providing the latest news, public access, creative commons, and the opportunity for students to participate in research projects.
Eidos Online will initially provide strong links for research centres in Queensland. As this proves a success, Eidos Online will expand to incorporate all national research centres, and the final stage will link the Asia Pacific Region. Eidos Online will become recognised as a site for providing invaluable research in the fields of Education and Social Science. Individual research centres will be responsible for gathering reports and disseminating them to Eidos Online for publication, which will then be accessed by its stakeholders.
Eidos Online is a unique concept in the field of education and social science, specifically in the way it encourages collaboration between its partners. It is envisaged that future partnerships will develop between universities, policy administrators and NGOs to allow greater access to funds, as well as the sharing of funds, expertise and information, and identifying gaps in research. This concept is a valuable step forward with far reaching improvements positively affecting all aspects of our community in the future.
What will Eidos Online provide?
Eidos Online will provide a mechanism to enable research, policy and community stakeholders to develop collaborative relationships and practical solutions to immediate real world issues concerning education and social change. It is important, for example, that students and early career researchers come to directly appreciate policy imperatives and community needs concerning schools and schooling in Queensland and Australia. Likewise, teachers, managers, parents and students need access to plain-speaking research that offers ideas for local programmes and activities that can be easily adopted. Working through Eidos Online, Eidos will be well-placed to provide incentives for collaboration among stakeholders, satisfy the knowledge needs of stakeholder groups, and facilitate the open discussion between stakeholders.
Figure 2 shows the range of resources that can be made available through Eidos Online. These resources have been identified in partnership with representatives from various stakeholders. Eidos Online would provide general resources such as weekly updates that might be automatically provided by users through email. Users would be able to express their opinions on relevant issues by participating in discussion forums such as a blog. Ultimately, video conferencing forums might be offered as a means of facilitating deliberation over specific issues of concern. Major policy statements and transcripts of important opinion leaders would also be obtained from Eidos Online.
Eidos Online would also offer open access to research expertise, material and activities. For example, all Eidos members will provide information about their organisations and research activities. Research reports and data will be available to users with the former being accessible through a keyword search. Research activities such as seminars and workshops, and invitations to partner in research proposals and activities will also be provided. Eidos will facilitate and seed many of these activities, and use Eidos Online as a means by which stakeholders can register their interest. For example, an e-journal has been identified by researchers as a key resource and mechanism for bringing together interdisciplinary and professional viewpoints in the field.
Eidos Online will also offer teaching resources such as details of its Winter School, which will offer short courses for professionals and researchers. Assistance in accessing and using data analysis software will also be provided as will a chat room in which students can obtain advice about their research projects.
Eidos has begun developing and assembling some of this content. For example, the Queensland Department of Education and the Arts has funded Eidos to provide critical reviews of single study reports directly relevant to practice in schools. These research critiques will describe the aims, design, results, conclusions and implications of key studies in education.
Discussions with our various stakeholders indicate that there is a need for the sorts of resources that will be offered by Eidos Online. The content will be developed over time as collaboration among stakeholders identify new needs and provide additional resources which can be offered online.
Figure 2: Eidos Online content
Eidos Online is committed to improving education and social change research, policy and practice. A professional and comprehensive virtual environment will be the most effective tool to maximise audience participation, and thus provide the catalyst for these changes to occur. As more organisations recognise the reliable and valuable information that is continually published on Eidos Online, it will enable Eidos to achieve recognition for Queensland and Australia as an innovator in education and social change research. This in turn, will allow for the development of strong links between government, universities and community organisations. These links will be facilitated by Eidos by actively brokering new relationships and providing financial and in-kind resources where required.
Eidos Online will foster a stronger research and evaluation base in Queensland and Australia, which in turn will assist institutions to collaborate in ways that achieve an increased share of national and international research tenders, and thus maximising their contribution to social policy and practice. Eidos Online will become the facilitator of cross-disciplinary research programs, developing extensive networks to strengthen links between governments, universities and communities. Table 3 shows the areas in which Eidos expects to have a measurable impact through Eidos Online.
The project will promote collaboration with a view to reform by placing stakeholders at the core of an action agenda. Eidos Online will not dictate this agenda, rather provide avenues and incentives for collaboration that lead to a change agenda. Eidos Online is envisaged as a mechanism for leveraging tacit knowledge from individual members and from their interactions. By providing resources that stakeholders need, and a virtual space that is open to and enriched by a diversity of skills and views, Eidos Online holds the potential to develop a learning community from currently isolated or weakly connected stakeholders sharing an interest in education and social change. By either providing financial and in-kind support for these resources or by brokering relationships between stakeholders Eidos seeks to facilitate personalisation, member participation, contribution, collaboration, ownership and identity as a basis for a resilient and vital learning community.
Conceptually, the role of Eidos Online is to facilitate collaboration among members of the education and social change community. As seen in earlier sections of this proposal, Eidos Online will offer a variety of opportunities to participate and, at times, Eidos may even act directly in this process when required. These dynamics are shown diagrammatically in Figure 3. As can be seen, Eidos Online is a virtual environment that serves as a mechanism to facilitate changing patterns of collaborations within the education and social change community. The various patterns of collaboration might involve new alliances, ideas, projects, and outcomes relevant to the community or groups of members within it (represented by circles in the diagram). Eidos Online is a mechanism that enables members to reorganise and reposition their community in response to initiatives that are instigated by the community itself or arise in response to developments in broader society that hold implications for education and social change.
Table 3: Performance indicators and measures for Eidos Online.
Performance Indicators
Performance Measures
A. Eidos participation and membership 1. The number of individual Eidos Online participants (Established Senior Researchers, Early Career Researchers and Post Graduate Research Students) involved in Eidos Online.
2. The number of formal research centres involved in Eidos Online.
3. Growth year on year in the above.
4. The number of end users outside the participating universities involved in using Eidos Online.
5. The ratio of Established Senior Researchers to Early Career Researchers who are Eidos Online participants.
B. Participation in Eidos Online discussion forums and blogs 1. The number of people participating in the Eidos Online discussion forums and blogs
2. The number of end users/organisations and practitioners involved in the Eidos Online discussion forums and blogs, and their proportion of total participants.
3. The ratio of Established Senior Researchers to Early Career Researchers and Post Graduate Research Students participating in the above.
C. Eidos Online research report dissemination 1. The number of online cross-disciplinary team research projects, that incorporate an education for social change approach, for funding from competitive research grant schemes including the ARC; the number of successful outcomes; and the number of on-going funded projects being conducted.
2. The number of end user approaches to Eidos and its participants to be preferred bidders/tenderers or asked to undertake applied research/consulting incorporating an education for social change approach.
3. The number of cross-disciplinary team projects incorporating an education for social change research approach, both bid for and won from sources other than competitive research grant schemes, including government, community and business sectors, and the number of ongoing funded projects.
D. Facilitating access to research resources, methodologies, databases and funding opportunities 1. Year-on-year increase in the above.
2. Year-on-year increase in the above.
3. Number of ‘hits’ on Eidos website.
E. External inputs 1. The number of external organisations providing data/tools/research facilitation inputs to Eidos Online’s activities.
2. The number of external organisations with a formal collaboration/participatory arrangement with Eidos Online.
F. Research output 1. The number of research publications that (published and submitted) that focus on education and social change, involving Institute participants as authors, by the normal categories—peer reviewed books, monographs, book chapters, journal articles, conference proceedings.
G. End user adoption/use 1. The number and nature of end users involved in using research outputs from research undertaken by Eidos participants that incorporates an education and social change research approach, and the nature of that involvement.
H. Communicating network activities and achievements 1. The number of web-based summaries of research projects, publications and papers by Eidos participants incorporating education and social change research approaches that appear on the Eidos’s website, and the number of ‘hits’ on those.
2. Year-on-year increase in the above.
3. The number of media ‘hits’ involving Eidos participants relating to activities of the Eidos and the research of the participants incorporating a education and social change research approach.
I. Eidos partner and associates satisfaction/perception of benefits 1. Conduct annually a survey of Eidos Online partner and associates to measure their:
2. level of satisfaction with belonging to Eidos
3. the degree to which Eidos is (potentially) enhancing their research development and performance.
4. the degree to which they feel engaged in Eidos activities, especially through the Research Programs.
5. Conduct annually a survey of broader community to measure their:
6. Rating by key Queensland, Australian and international stakeholders of contribution to creating and sharing new knowledge about community, diversity and policy options: From Low to High.
7. Rating by key Queensland, Australian and international stakeholders of contribution to strengthening University’s capacity to engage with and support local communities and organizations: From Low to High.
Figure 3 also represents the fundamental principles for developing a learning community. For example, education and social change stakeholders lie at the centre of the process. Second, Eidos Online provides a variety of roles to enhance member involvement and control for the purpose of enabling various collaborations, but does not dictate these collaborations. Third, the dynamics of the community are open to broader influences in a changing world. In this way, the community is positioned as an open and flexible set of arrangements that is engaged with its members and with the broader society. Put simply, it becomes a resilient community capable of reconstructing itself to maintain relevance in a changing world.
Finally, Eidos Online recognises that the development of online learning communities is not achieved by forming tenuous connections and token activity. Rather, Eidos Online takes advantage of an emerging drive for collaboration and new institutional structures. Eidos Online will enable this reform agenda to take on meaning and action.
Figure 3: The role of Eidos Online in facilitating collaboration and reform in the education and social change community.
Eidos Online: Future Scenario for 2005 & 2006 implementation
Issue: School-based management – local communities driving educational policy
School-based management has had a profound impact on local communities during the last 20 years. However, it is still poorly understood and there are too few opportunities for practitioners, policy-makers and researchers to collaborate. Stucky (2001) would argue that this is because of the lack of “communities of practice”, that is, groups of sufficient size and diversity focused on an area of “practice”. Hence, small local groups are left isolated and unable to aspire towards a more rewarding expression of their commitment through which shared tacit knowledge is converted to explicit knowledge and role satisfaction. This, despite school-based management being at the heart of educational partnerships that underpin current educational policy. Table 4 illustrates how Eidos Online might assist in the area of school-based management.
Table 4: School-based management – local communities driving educational policy
Current situation How Eidos Online will help.
Establishing/refining school-based management
The education authority determines the policy framework for school-based management. The framework sets the role, responsibilities and accountabilities for local school management. Information is sent to school communities (top-down) via principals. The principals interpret this policy framework for the local environment. The Eidos Online editor will form a coalition of researchers from participating universities and institutes. This coalition will form a network with policy developers in educational authorities to explore the latest directions in school-based management. Critical summaries of a diverse range of research will be formed and published on Eidos Online in a semi-structured, dynamic framework.
Selection and training for school-based management roles
School communities select representatives for short terms. There is a high turnover of membership. The representatives receive little or no training in their roles and spend much of their tenure trying to understand their accountabilities. Educational authorities provide information via publications of workshops which reach very few community members. Disadvantaged communities in particular are isolated from access to information and skills. The Eidos Online editor will develop partnerships with a diverse sample of communities seeking to improve their local management. A range of community-research collaborations will be formed to meet the needs of these communities in terms of selection, induction and training. Resources will be published widely to all school communities, particularly targeting Indigenous communities and other target groups. The resources will include simple online workshop programs to help new committees explore their role. Community members will be able to interact in real time with researchers and central policy-makers about their needs.
Accessing information and seeking support
Local communities receive information about the local school performance as provided by the principal. There is very little information about best-practice in school performance. Hence, many community members do not understand the standards to which the school should aspire, except in a confusing statistical measure. Issues are raised by the community based on the personal interests of committee members, not necessarily the needs of the school. School communities will access comprehensive summaries of research-based information about effective local school management. This will integrate information on student performance, teaching and support practices and governance so that local communities can understand the causal relationships. Local communities will interact directly with researchers, providing real data for ongoing research and policy development, as well as feedback on aspects of the local school’s performance and direction.
Sharing knowledge and experience
Members of school management committees have very little opportunity to share their knowledge. Some knowledge is shared internally when new members are recruited, but there is almost no exchange of information with other educational communities, with educational authorities of the research community. Formal reporting (annual reports etc) are managed almost exclusively by principals and can be corrupted by forming the dual role of school development and principal evaluation. The knowledge about effective school-based management will be collated in both new research documents and case studies that will form the next generation of resources from school communities and policy-makers. These will be collated with international studies and increasingly benchmarked with community development models from outside the education sector. Community members will interact in real time with representatives from other communities, researchers and policy developers. This knowledge will be the basis of the Eidos Online editor’s marketing of these resources to an ever-increasing number of communities, researchers and policy developers.
Eidos Online will assure and enhance the quality of Australia’s Higher Education system by fostering an understanding of the importance of research in the fields of social science and education. Collaboration from key research institutions will enhance understanding of the research that has been undertaken and what needs to be focused on in the future. This will also have a dramatic effect on policy reforms with Eidos becoming an integral resource to assist in this process. Eidos is committed to improving research for the benefit of our community by ensuring that students, early career researchers, and established researchers are given the opportunity to develop cutting edge knowledge and research skills now and in the future. Eidos is further committed to providing open access to its information across Australia, supporting democratic dissemination of information.
