Developing and Launching an Online Hub to Facilitate the Exchange of Research Knowledge in Education - Issue 139

Oct 15, 2026

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Developing and launching an online hub for education research summaries through the Ontario Education Research Exchange (OERE) describes how the project built an exchange platform to improve knowledge mobilization in Ontario. The paper explains the background and history of the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research, then details three core components: collecting and writing summaries and creating an inventory, implementing a peer review process, and building the online hub for storage, sharing, and peer review facilitation. Lessons learned support similar repository projects.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages29

Reading Time1 h 13 min

AccessFree to download

Background and History

Developing and Launching the OERE Online Hub

Project components and peer review process

Inventory creation and sharing of research summaries

Phase plan and lessons learned

Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, Issue \#139, November 24, 2012. © by CJEAP and the author(s) . DEVELOPING AND LAUNCHING AN ONLINE HUB TO FACILITATE THE EXCHANGE OF RESEARCH KNOWLEDGE IN EDUCATION: THE CASE OF THE OERE Stephanie Tuters, Robyn Read, Shasta Carr Harris, Arif Anwar, and Ben Levin, OISE, University of Toronto This paper outlines the process by which the Ontario Education Research Exchange (OERE), part of the Knowledge Network of Applied Education Research, developed and launched an online hub of education research summaries to facilitate greater use of research by stakeholders in the field of education. The project is an effort in knowledge mobilization funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education to help increase the use of research to inform policy and practice in Ontario. The paper begins with an outline of the background and history of the project. Next, the three main components of the project are outlined—collecting/writing the summaries and creating the inventory, putting together the peer review process, and creating the online hub for storing and sharing the summaries and facilitating the peer review process. This paper provides useful information that can be translated to similar projects with the goals of summarizing, storing, and/or sharing research with a broad audience. The purpose of this paper is to provide information on the development of an online repository of research summaries—the Ontario Education Research Exchange, an online hub hosting research summaries and facilitating community building between education stakeholders such as researchers, practitioners, policy makers, parents, and members of educational organizations across Ontario.1 Although there is a call for sites such as this, particularly in the field of education, to mobilize research knowledge (Willinsky, 2001), there is very little 1 To read the summaries visit the OERE website at [http://oere.oise.utoronto.ca/](http://oere.oise.utoronto.ca/) Developing and Launching an Online hub to Facilitate the Exchange of Research Knowledge in Education information available about the processes involved in designing and creating such a repository. Further, the information available is largely from other fields and not entirely applicable to the field of education, as the nature of the publications, publication databases, and intended use of the research and repositories differ (Jadad, Carroll, Moore, & McQuay, 1996) . To begin we provide the reader with the context the OERE project grew from: an intentional effort to build stronger linkages between research, policy, and practice, or knowledge mobilization (KM), in Ontario education—the Knowledge Network for Applied Education Research (KNAER). Next, the project plan is outlined along with the steps taken to launch the project which include creating the inventory, peer review process, and the creation of the online hub. Finally, the lessons that were learned through the process are described as well as how these lessons will be carried forward into the next phase of the project, as the project is currently only in phase one. The first phase of the project involved the creation of the project plan, designing the website that hosts the inventory and the peer review process, and beginning to acquire summaries from researchers and creating our own. The second phase of the project will involve actually launching the website and continuing to acquire and write summaries for the inventory. Background and History Increasing demands on limited resources have resulted in a culture of accountability in education and society in general (Mitton, Adair, McKenzie, Patten, & Perry, 2007), thus escalating the need for decision makers to use research evidence to support their policy decisions. As a result, there have been increased efforts to bridge what is referred to as the“knowledge gap” by incorporating evidence derived from research into policy and pr

FAQs

What problem does the OERE online hub aim to solve in education research use?

It targets the challenge of increasing the use of research by education stakeholders by mobilizing knowledge into active service for policy and practice in Ontario.

Which three main components does the paper describe for developing the online hub?

Collecting/writing summaries and creating the inventory, putting together the peer review process, and creating the online hub to store and share summaries while facilitating peer review.

How does the project plan progress across phases?

Phase one focuses on creating the project plan, designing the website that hosts the inventory and peer review process, and beginning to acquire and create summaries. Phase two involves launching the website fully and continuing to acquire and write summaries for the inventory.

Oct 15, 2026

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