In continuations from the previous blog post in the LRNT 522 course of the MALAT program at Royal Roads University, Dr. George Veletsianos answered another of our questions regarding learning and technology research. Our third question for him involved the duality of research as both researcher and marketer. Especially in the MALAT program, from the very first day, an expectation had been set that we are required to disseminate our research, findings, extra-curriculars, thoughts, theories, estimations, etcetera, on blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or whatever social media we use to fulfill the course requirements. This is quite difficult for many of us, so how would someone juggle these dual roles effectively?

Dr. Veletsianos outlined the need to share the work more broadly, stating “there has always been pressure or desire […] for academics to share their work broadly” (Veletsianos, 2018, 0:12). As stated in my pervious blog post as researchers our aim should be to solve problems (Linds, 2018) and this is why it is important for us to disseminate our findings for the general public. Dr. Veletsianos does state that there is an inherent risk of critical pieces being lost in translation, however it is necessary to write to your target audience.

I understand that not everything can be said in a 5 minute audio file, but this question and the answers have peaked my interests and I had started asking more questions. As students we are juggling fulltime jobs, completing school activities and assignments, doing our own research, and trying to live some semblance of a day-to-day life, what strategies are there to manage our time when we are also expected to market our research?

Linds, A. (2018, August 19). Widen Your Focus. Retrieved August 19, 2018, from https://malat-webspace.royalroads.ca/rru0058/widen-your-focus/

Veletsianos, G. (2018, August). George Veletsianos on Research [Audio blog post]. Retrieved August 16, 2018, from https://www.dropbox.com/s/rbkc5oga0mfvpif/question3.mp3?dl=0