Webinar – Reflections on Research in Practice

LARK is preparing for the final event of its tenth anniversary year. We invite librarians, colleagues who work in information roles, educators, students, and anyone else interested in practice-based research to join a webinar event on the topic Reflections on Research in Practice (see link below).

We have three speakers who will start our conversation on research in practice. Adrian Stagg, Rebecca Muir, and Rowena McGregor will each speak on their varied approaches and experiences with practice-based research. After hearing from each speaker, and we’ll continue the conversation with questions and discussion.

Adrian Stagg: The purpose of my practice-based research is a deeper, and more
contextualised understanding of ecologies of open practice in Australian higher education that places the practitioner lived experience as central to the research. This approach privileges local environmental influences and discrete practices over larger-scale aggregated data that can lose nuance. Open educational practice is a human-centred learning and teaching approach, and any attendant research thus becomes both an act of evidence-building, and a form of advocacy.

Rowena McGregor: The project I will talk about today was driven by the desire to introduce and/or support library staff as reflective practitioners and to provide an opportunity for people who might not think of themselves as researchers to participate in a research process that might be enjoyable and deliver immediate benefits. The lesson I received was one of reflexivity.

Rebecca Muir: ‘Don’t complicate it; we’re just doing a survey’ can be a common to hear as a practitioner. So how do we, as practitioners who research, advocate for the value of developing our skillsets? Why should we be learning about research, and how can it help improve our data stories? How can research skills actually help us to advocate for our value in our community, whether public, special or academic? This brief presentation will explore the ‘why and wherefores’ of practitioner research, and advocating the benefits of our skills in our work as practitioners – beyond just ‘conducting research’. 

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We hope you can join us.

When: Tuesday 6 December, 6:30pm (AEST)
Where: Zoom
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82193344430?pwd=ZndOQ01WdXhyVzQrdXdqUHVzZklXUT09s

Passcode: 481209

Facilitators: Ms Emilia Bell and Dr Katherine Howard

Presenters' bios

Adrian Stagg, Manager (Open Educational Practice), University of Southern Queensland, Content Team – Library Services
Adrian.stagg@usq.edu.au @Open Kuroko

Adrian Stagg's career has included both public and academic libraries, and positions as a Learning Technologist, and eLearning Designer.  Adrian holds a Master of Applied Science (Library and Information Management) and is a confirmed PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania. His research areas include the ecology of open educational practice and higher education policy as it relates to, and supports, open educational initiatives. He is an active member of the open education community through the Australasian OEP Special Interest Group (ASCILITE), OERu, Creative Commons, and facilitates the USQ Open Education Staff Scholarships Scheme.

Rebecca Muir, Doctoral Candidate, Charles Sturt University
Rebecca (“Bec”) Muir has over ten years’ experience in public and academic libraries. She currently works as the Manager, Libraries West and Footscray Nicholson with Victoria University and is a Doctoral Candidate with Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga. Bec’s current research focuses on growing practitioners as researchers, evidence-informed decision making and planning, invisible (hidden) disabilities and library services design and training, and scope-informed inclusivity. Bec has presented at numerous professional and academic conferences and forums. In her spare time, she enjoys attempting to (badly) knit.

Rowena McGregor, Liaison Librarian, University of Southern Queensland, Library Services

I am a first generation Australian of Ukrainian, Czech and a smattering of Scottish and English origins and I am very grateful to live and work on Meanjin Tulmur, the lands of the Yuggera people. I have been a Health Librarian for 5 years at UniSQ and worked previously at QUT and Bond university libraries. My interest in research and evidence-based practice was piqued when I was awarded a research scholarship as an undergraduate student. Most recently I have used research to co-develop and evaluate the Online Study Support program at UniSQ.