Overview

Domain of One’s Own (DoOO) initiatives allow students and faculty to register a subdomain (or buy a separate domain) and associate it with hosted web space offered by their universities for free. After leaving university, users have the choice to download a backup of their files and data that may be restored using the services of most hosting providers.

While dozens of universities are already providing their students, faculty and other staff with this type of service, CU will be the first university in Europe to run a pilot. Participants in the pilot will have the chance to take ownership of their online presence, develop valuable digital competences and engage in open and connected learning practices that go beyond institutional boundaries.

Website of the project: https://coventry.domains/

Project Details

CU DoOO service offers a wide range of applications for web publishing, community building, information management and other purposes. With their domain and corresponding web space, DoOO users (i.e. account owners) have the opportunity to take ownership of their online presence and develop rich personal teaching-learning environments and digital identities through a wide range of web applications.

Unlike virtual learning environments and other educational technologies that students are unlikely to use after graduating, DoOO provides students with the possibility to use a wider range of digital tools that are commonplace in a broad range of sectors including and beyond academia. Another aspect that may enhance students’ employability is the possibility of gathering and making publicly available content developed throughout their studies, which will help them position themselves and generate social capital even before entering the job market. Helping students develop a rich online identity and generate a collection of tools and content they can directly apply to their careers as professionals is certainly one of the most relevant offerings universities can provide in the context of a networked society.

DoOO also provides lecturers with a space to chronicle their professional presence online, offering a user-friendly space to help them share their teaching, research, service and publications online. Moreover, this space can be used for a wide range of applications: designing sites to house course resources; creating dedicated sites for research projects, exploring new tools for teaching and learning; and sandbox for exploring emerging practices and new formats of scholarly communication.

The pilot will involve building a community of practice around DoOO, which will allow participants to share expertise and benefit from peer-supported learning.

Project Timeline:

Steering committee:

• Martin Jenkins, Head of Academic Development
• Chris Martin, IT Services
• Fitzgerald Adams, Faculty of Business & Law
• Amanda Hardy, Faculty of Engineering, Enviroment & Computing
• Imran Ali, Faculty of Health & Life Science
• Liz Hudson, Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Associated Faculties, Schools and/or Course(s):

• Faculty of Arts and Humanities
• Faculty of Engineering, Environment and Computing
• Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
• Faculty of Business and Law
• Coventry University College
• Other professional services units