Three good reasons to understand the research impact of a technology-enabled initiative

Abstract

The real-world impact of research is gaining much attention across the international Higher Education sector. Funding agencies, government organisations and community groups are seeking evidence that research initiatives are delivering impact beyond contributions to academia. Researchers, practitioners, educators, learning designers and developers require a good understanding of research impact, and associated terminology, to articulate the real-world benefits of technology-enabled initiatives. There are three good reasons to understand research impact in a Higher Education context. Firstly, comprehending the language of research impact facilitates meaningful discussion with research stakeholders. Secondly, recognising and communicating the real-world impact of an initiative affirms the ‘so what’ factor of a research project. And thirdly, demonstrating research impact, rather than reporting research outputs, is becoming more important in funding applications and project documentation. This paper concludes with a brief review of assessment frameworks developed to evaluate the real-world impact of Higher Education research.