Published on 07 Jun 2021

OER Partnership Day

“Researchers don’t make products; industry does.
Researchers don’t develop public policy; government does.
Researchers don’t tend to deliver social services; community or civil organisation does.
If we want to set up our research to have an impact, we do that by collaborating throughout the process from research to impact.”
Dr David Phipps, OER Partnership Day 2021

 

The importance of partnership was brought home by our invited guest speaker, Dr David Phipps, Asst Vice President, Research Strategy & Impact, York University, Toronto and Network Director of Research Impact Canada, in his keynote speech at the inaugural Office of Education Research (OER) Partnership Day 2021, held virtually on 14 April. The event, titled Partnering for Impact, was an OER-led effort to bring together colleagues from NIE and MOE to celebrate our collaborations and look to greater and sustained impact from our research, practice and policy partnerships.

At his second presentation to NIE (the first being a professional development webinar on ‘Capturing and Communicating the Evidence of Research Impact’), Dr Phipps helpfully raised the awareness to much of the work done at NIE in mobilising research knowledge and bridging the artificial divide between researchers and non-academic research partners. ‘This shared space between academics and non-academics’, he said, ‘underpins the impact that research is trying to have, on academic [work], and on policy and practice’. The dos-and-don’ts shared candidly with participants were also helpful in thinking through our roles and expectations in our various partnerships.

The opening speech was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Assoc Prof Mark Baildon, OER Assoc Dean (Partnership & Analytics), with Dr Tricia Seow, Senior Lecturer at NIE’s Humanities & Social Studies Education Academic Group, Ms Monica Ong, OER Teaching Fellow, and Dr Marilyn Lim, Corporate Research Office, MOE, on some of their initial reflections of the keynote speech, engaging Dr Phipps further in the context of Singapore’s education landscape.

Helpful suggestions on successful and collaborative partnerships were shared at the next segment by two NIE faculty members: Asst Prof Victor Lim Fei, from NIE’s English Language & Literature Academic Group, through his work in co-leading the Multimodality Research Interest Group that was awarded the NIE NEXUS Team Award 2020, and Dr Imelda Caleon, OER Asst Dean (Partnerships), from her vast experience working on many collaborations with schools as research collaborator and consultant.

Partnership discussions and networking opportunities continued in the second half of the event. Participants chose one of four different concurrent breakout sessions that focused on various themes. They were “Full Subject-Based Banding (FSBB)”, facilitated by Dr Chua Puay Huat, OER Senior Teaching Fellow, “Science of Learning” facilitated by Asst Prof Azilawati Jamaludin, OER Asst Dean (Science of Learning), “Skills Future for Educators” facilitated by Dr Trivina Kang, Assoc Dean (Professional & Leadership Development), Office of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning, and “Harnessing Data” facilitated by Dr Melvin Chan, OER Asst Dean (Knowledge Management).

“The OER Partnership Day highlighted the importance of sustained partnerships to make NIE's research useful for key stakeholders and to support key priorities in the education system.”
Assoc Prof Mark Baildon
Assoc Dean (Partnership & Analytics) OER, NIE

 

A total of 138 participants from both NIE and MOE joined us for the half-day event, with many enjoying the different modes of sharing and the involvement of participants at the breakout sessions. Heeding the call from Davies and colleagues (2019) to provide “more structural embedding of partnership working, rather than piecemeal and project-based approaches” (p. 378), the OER Partnership Day 2021 is anticipated to be the start of future Partnership Day series.

Because at the end of the day, partnerships matter to NIE and for education in Singapore.

OER Partnership Day 2021
OER Partnership Day Speakers, Facilitators, and Working Committee

Davies, H., Boaz, A., Nutley, S., & Fraser, A. (2019). Conclusions: Lessons from the past, prospect for the future. In A. Boaz, H. Davies, A. Fraser, & S. Nutley (Eds). What works now?: Evidence-informed policy and practice. (pp. 369-382). Policy Press.