WTF Are Impact, Influence and Significance Anyway...?
Although I feel really uncomfortable doing this, several people have suggested that I draw on the wisdom of the crowd in putting together my case for promotion to Senior Lecturer under a personal application route (personal application because no one will ever put me forward under a traditional route;-)

The case involves demonstrating excellence in two of four areas. The areas I'm going for (err, maybe...) are Scholarly Activity and Teaching, though I think I also score heavily on "Other"!;-)

In particular, I have been told there is a need to "demonstrate clearly your claims of excellence in relation to the promotion criteria. The statement needs to inform the Academic Staff Promotions Committee of the contributions you have made at the Open University, and the impact and significance of these. This should not be a resume of your career."

I have *no idea* what "impact" or "significance" mean...

So here we go... An attempt to crowd source something - anything - that I might be able to use in the demonstration of the impact and/or significance of what I get up to.

Please feel free to answer none, any or all of the following. If you want to treat this as an anonymous 360 hatchet job, I suppose I'm asking for it... I'm not sure whether to make the raw form submissions public or not, so for the moment I'll err on the side of NOT making them public. I may or may not draw on quotes in my case submission *if* I can corroborate any claims made..

--tony hirst

PS as soon as possible after posting this, I'm going on holiday for a week or two to a pace without an internet connection...Then maybe, when I get back, I'll look to see if anyone has responded... Gulp...
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Scholarly Activity
The Committee welcomes cases that present a range of scholarship activities with appropriate evidence of excellence through leadership and innovation. Scholarly activity will be recognised as deeply interconnected with the full range of the University’s core purposes in respect of leading edge discipline-based research, the development and delivery of teaching and learning, the transfer and dissemination of knowledge, and the application of knowledge in a wide range of practical, professional and societally relevant contexts .

Evidence should include the normal outcomes of scholarly activities for example,  original work arising from research which is published in book form or in reputable academic journals. Other appropriate outputs from scholarship can be taken into account including a demonstrable influence upon academic communication mediated through online and related web mediated technologies that influences the discipline.

It is helpful for the Academic Staff Promotions Committee to have evidence in the submission about whether the candidate is recognised as an authority in a specific field or whether the strength lies in the range of scholarly activities including but not limited to research, knowledge transfer, appropriate service to the professions, and public and civic engagement, including innovative contributions mediated through teaching, curriculum development or Widening Participation activities.  

Evidence of the effective supervision of full and part time post graduate research students should be included under this criterion as well as innovative contributions to the development of early career academic staff engaging with research or other modes of scholarship. Other examples of external peer review may include interactions with communities of scholarly practice, external grant income and related activities e.g. PGR funding, invited key note lectures, including a demonstrable influence upon academic debates mediated online.

Other appropriate forms of scholarship can be taken into account, alongside evidence of leadership and innovation in respect of outcomes which advance employer engagement and civic and public engagement.

Attention should be given to the manner and contribution of an individual’s activities to the strategic objectives of the University.
A bit of context... What sector do you work in?
e.g. UK HEI, UK Higher Education Sector, UK Gov, UK SME, US HEI, UK Academic Library etc
Do you regularly read/subscribe to any of the following:
If you had to guess at my job title, what would you say it was?
If you had to guess, which bit of the OU would you say I work for?
Have I influenced your adoption of any tools or applications that have or do play an important role in your work/projects you have been involved with? Which ones? How are they being used? (What's the impact?!;-)
Have any of my blog posts or other communications significantly influenced you? If so, which ones, and how? Did they impact on any projects you have worked on, processes you are involved with, or policies you have had a role in developing?
Have you attended any of my presentations/workshops? What, if anything, did you get out of them? Did they impact on any projects you have worked on, processes you are involved with, or policies you have had a role in developing?
Three words or phrases you would associate with me...
What other questions should I have asked that relate to identifying the *significance* or *impact* of what I do? Please also answer any suggested questions ;-)
The whole question of measuring the "significance" and "impact" of digital scholar activities is a live one. Generally, what measures would you suggest capture this information?
Anything else...?
Thanks... :-)
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