We investigate teaching and learning in order to understand and shape more equitable and innovative learning opportunities in the twenty-first century. Our work seeks to make an impact on the unfolding educational agenda locally, nationally and internationally. We take a broadly social approach to teaching and learning, and use a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to explore teaching and learning and learners’ identities in homes, nurseries, primary and secondary schools, and higher education and work-based settings.
Qualitative methodology and ethnography
Our expertise and interest centres around both researching and utilising a variety of qualitative methods, including ethnography, discourse analysis and historical investigation. Our methodological work focuses on philosophical and practical issues, including the functions of methodology, the role of research ethics and research communities, and the relationship between research, policy-making and practice.
Pedagogy and the curriculum
We use different approaches to investigate pedagogy, learning, curriculum and assessment in the early years, in primary and secondary schooling, in higher education and in initial teacher education. In particular, we undertake research into aspects of pedagogy and practice in the following areas of the curriculum: literacy, languages, ICT, maths, science and design, and technology. There is a focus on creativity and creative teaching and learning, and on the use of new technologies, and we frequently explore issues of equity, diversity, social inclusion and student voice.
Teacher Education, professional development and Leadership
We are based in the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) where our research and innovation is organised into three programmes: Innovating Pedagogy, Learning Analytics, and Learning in an Open World. Our main interests include
- Open Educational Resources (OERs)
- citizen science
- participatory learning
- accessibility of learning systems
- learning design
- technology-enhanced assessment
- game-based learning
- learning analytics
- understanding the changing experience of distance learning.
Our expertise in these research fields is world-renowned and our researchers are involved in exciting projects funded by a variety of organisations such as Hewlett, the European Commission, Nominet, and the UK Research Councils. In 2013 IET were granted the first ever Regius Professorship in Open Education to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Learning in an open world
Our research focus is to understand why openness is important to the future of learning, identify those activities that need to be supported, and show how evidence of impact can influence policies and decisions. Research includes evaluation and experimentation in open approaches.
The main areas of research activity are:
- Open Educational Resources, practices and policy
- open science and participatory learning
- open research, including ethics
- learning design/open design
- accessibility of learning systems
- evaluation of learning systems
- open access publishing.
Innovating pedagogy
We aim to lead university research and development in technology enhanced learning, to enhance our international reputation and inform Open University innovations in teaching, learning and assessment. The programme develops and evaluates new educational theories, methods, models, systems and technologies, informed by theories of technology enhanced learning.
Current research is focused on the following thematic areas:
- understanding the changing experience of distance learning
- research into the design, development and evaluation of future learning systems
- design and evaluation of mobile technologies for learning
- methods and technologies for learning design
- innovative technology-enabled pedagogies
- technology enhanced assessment
- game-based learning in higher education
- citizen science and open inquiry learning
- open science laboratories.
Learning analytics
This field of inquiry is emerging at the intersection of education research and analytic research. It involves the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of ‘big data’ related to learners and their contexts, with the intention of providing actionable intelligence that supports teaching and learning.
We have unique research experience in this area, being able to build on over 40 years of expertise in the use of large-scale data to understand and support learning and teaching. We have taken an early lead in the field by developing and deploying analytics, publishing and presenting in this area, and taking a leading role in national and international events.
Find out more about The Open University Education and Educational Technology research degree topics.