A couple of months ago, we were visited by Scott McLeod, a professor from the University of Kentucky, who investigates the utility of technology in K-12 classrooms, but also focuses on how the rapidly-changing technological environment is affecting research as well as education at all levels (including higher education).

We were fortunate to have Dr. McLeod for a couple of hours at the OCCRL office to talk specifically about what OCCRL could be doing in order to adapt to this “strange new world.” Some of his thoughts:

• OCCRL can and should utilize a variety of technologies (Twitter, Facebook, website technologies, blogging, etc.) to create a greater number of followers who may be interested in what we are doing.
• The use of blogging cannot be ignored. OCCRL could help in crafting its own voice, establishing an identity and a human element, and become more adaptive by utilizing blogging tools. We can talk about our research, but it is important that we always think about how to connect our research to a wider readership through conversational dialogue. This means allowing visitors to comment, facilitating conversation, and becoming more interactive overall.
• We need to always be thinking about our audience — who do we want to get our message out to? Who are we getting our message out to? The use of more metrics tools (OCCRL uses Google Analytics, but can use more) will go a long way in telling us how visitors find our website and the content in which our visitors are most interested.

It makes me realize that we have never asked that last question of our visitors. It is now our plan, on a monthly basis, to pose the question: “What can we be doing, on our website or otherwise, to help you learn what you want to learn by coming to our page?”

So, with that…

What can we be doing, on our website or otherwise, to help you learn what you want to learn by coming to our page?