Studentship Vacancies
kmi is offering a phd studentship in one of the following two areas.
Science Proxies
Research is a process largely relying on self-organization. Large research networks therefore naturally form complex communities with overlapping groups in varying sizes. It is clear that an individual's efforts within this network cannot be independent of the whole. Science proxies are minimalist graphical representations that make scientists and their (collaborative) research activities more visible. Science proxies create awareness of the competence in the field and how these competences are distributed across the actors to support mutual accountability and to foster self-organisation.Core technologies accompanying the construction of science proxies are client-sided visualisation toolkits (e.g. prefuse flare, dojo graphics) and streaming database technologies (e.g. Ajax & comet using feeds & microformats).
KMi seeks a graduate to pursue a PhD and support its technology-enhanced learning team (Centre for New Media) in the activity to create innovative science proxies and to validate them with respect to their usability, completeness, and precision.
The successful applicant should have the following skills:
- Experience in web 2.0 style application development
- Experience with and data processing and information visualisation
- Ability to interact successfully with others to learn and teach new skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to write technical reports clearly
- Ability to organise own work with minimal supervision
- Ability to prioritise own work in response to deadlines
- Ability to handle constructive feedback
- Ability to work in a team
- A plus: Research experience in web mining, social network analysis, bibliometry, or related analytical methods
Mash-Up Personal Learning Environments
A change in perspective can be certified in the recent years to technology-enhanced learning research and development: More and more learning applications on the web are putting the learner centre stage, not the organisation. They empower learners with capabilities to customize and even construct their own personal learning environments (PLEs). These PLEs typically consist of distributed webapplications and services that support system-spanning collaborative and individual learning activities in formal as well as informal settings.Technologically speaking, this shift manifests in a learning web where information is distributed across sites and activities can easily encompass the use of a greater number of pages and services offered through web-based learning applications. Mash-ups, the 'frankensteining' of software artefacts and data, have emerged to be the software development approach for these long-tail and perpetual-beta niche markets. Core technologies facilitating this paradigm shift are Ajax, javascript-based widget-collections, and microformats that help to glue together public web APIs in individual applications.
KMi is seeking a graduate to pursue a PhD in this wider area of mash-up PLEs. Ideally at the interface between educational science and computer science, this candidate will like to implement a prototype for a mash-up PLE and validate its usability, usefulness, and effectivity with a selection of users from the Open Learn project of the OU.
The successful applicant should have the following skills:
- Experience in web 2.0 style application development
- Strong background in learning theory
- Ability to interact successfully with others to learn and teach new skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to write technical reports clearly
- Ability to organise own work with minimal supervision
- Ability to prioritise own work in response to deadlines
- Ability to handle constructive feedback
- Ability to work in a team
- A plus: Research experience in end-user development and/or activity theory
Fridolin Wild
Research Associate
Tel. +44 (0)1908 659461.
Dr. Peter Scott
KMi Director
Tel. +44 (0)1908 655763.
Additional Information:
The Knowledge Media Institute (http://kmi.open.ac.uk) is home to internationally recognised researchers in semantic web, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, human-computer interaction, information retrieval and multimedia processing. KMi offers students an intellectually challenging environment with exceptional research and computer facilities. You will be joining a dynamic PhD programme with about 15 other students in KMi, plus peers in the Computing department and Institute of Educational Technology who together make up the OU's Centre for Research in Computing (http://crc.open.ac.uk/).KMi sees PhD students as critical to its mission, and awards Studentships (£12,978/year tax free for 2008/09), with no additional fees, compulsory examinations or teaching required. Participation is required in CRC PhD events and thesis milestones, as specified in the KMI Research Degrees policy (http://kmi.open.ac.uk/studentships/policy.php). Additional training courses to develop your generic research skills are run across the OU, attendance at which is agreed with your supervisor.
The Open University (http://www.open.ac.uk) is UK's only distance learning university with a dedicated mission for excellence in teaching and research. PhD programmes are residential, however, and the student would carry out their research at the KMi in the Open University's central Milton Keynes campus.
Milton Keynes (http://www.mkweb.co.uk/), located in the triangle Cambridge, Oxford and London, is an exciting and vibrant place to be. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the country with fantastic shopping facilities, Xscape Snow slope, new skydiving centre and much more. Milton Keynes is also home to some major employers with Abbey National, Argos and The Open University having headquarters in the city. With more businesses continuing to locate here, unemployment levels are among the lowest in the country. Milton Keynes has excellent transport links with the M1 motorway and A5 running alongside the city and a fast train link into London Euston (35 minutes).
Applications
This studentship is available for immediate start. Applications should comprise an application form, C.V. and a proposal outlining how you would tackle this project. They should be submitted to:Research School
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA
UK
