{"id":12,"date":"2015-07-24T14:17:42","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T13:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/?page_id=12"},"modified":"2025-05-27T17:12:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T16:12:02","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Open University\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/\" >Computers and Learning Research Group<\/a> (CALRG), founded in 1978, is one of the UK\u2019s leading and longest-running research groups in the use of technologies in education. All research-active staff and students within IET are automatically members of CALRG, however the group is very inclusive and welcomes staff and students from across the OU who are interested in educational technology. This includes other colleagues from <a href=\"https:\/\/wels.open.ac.uk\/research\/centre-study-global-development#:~:text=The%20core%20objective%20of%20research,and%20exploring%20and%20showcasing%20localised\" >CSGD<\/a> (the Centre for the Study of Global Development) , science\/STEM, <a href=\"http:\/\/wels.open.ac.uk\/\" >WELS <\/a>(Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies) and <a href=\"http:\/\/fass.open.ac.uk\/\" >FASS<\/a> (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences). CALRG also works closely alongside the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/opentel\/\" >OpenTEL<\/a> Priority Research Area and also links into OU teaching and learning (such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/postgraduate\/qualifications\/f98\" >MAOT<\/a>&#8211; MA in Online Teaching) where appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>CALRG are internationally renowned for their work on distance and collaborative learning, evaluation, accessibility and more recently in learning analytics. The group has a wide variety of research interests and approaches including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Learning analytics<\/li>\n<li>Learning at scale<\/li>\n<li>Citizen science and public engagement<\/li>\n<li>Computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL)<\/li>\n<li>Understanding learners\u2019 interactions and experiences\u00a0(including accessibility)<\/li>\n<li>Mobile learning<\/li>\n<li>Effective designing for learning\u00a0and learner experiences<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CALRG is a very active, friendly and supportive research community and meets once a week, with different activities taking place throughout each month. These include seminars from external and internal speakers; \u2018communicating research\u2019 sessions and sharing engaged research. CALRG also organises an annual research conference every summer, primarily focused on internally-facing institutional research but with esteemed external keynotes, many of whom are CALRG alumni. The conference attracts a diverse range of presentations and attendees.<\/p>\n<p>Our\u00a0doctoral graduates\u00a0include many distinguished academics, researchers, and learning professionals. The CALRG has an ongoing commitment to\u00a0p<a href=\"https:\/\/iet.open.ac.uk\/study\" >ostgraduate research<\/a>\u00a0and provides a vibrant research culture for all members.<\/p>\n<h2>People<\/h2>\n<p>CALRG is organised and run by <a href=\"https:\/\/iet.open.ac.uk\/people\/beck.pitt\" >Dr Beck Pitt<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/iet.open.ac.uk\/people\/fereshte.goshtasbpour\" >Dr Fereshte Goshtasbpour<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/iet.open.ac.uk\/people\/thomas.ullmann\" >Dr. Thomas Ullmann<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/people\/es5\" >Prof Eileen Scanlon<\/a>.<\/p>\n<table style=\"height: 263px;\" width=\"630\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1776\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/710e04a368f5caeab49cb7fc36e7b677-c-300x300.png\" alt=\"A photograph of Dr Fereshte Goshtasbpour.\" width=\"136\" height=\"136\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/710e04a368f5caeab49cb7fc36e7b677-c-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/710e04a368f5caeab49cb7fc36e7b677-c-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/710e04a368f5caeab49cb7fc36e7b677-c-100x100.png 100w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/710e04a368f5caeab49cb7fc36e7b677-c.png 328w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 136px) 100vw, 136px\" \/><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1892\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-02-03-at-16.52.31-300x279.png\" alt=\"A photograph of Dr. Beck Pitt \" width=\"127\" height=\"118\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-02-03-at-16.52.31-300x279.png 300w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-02-03-at-16.52.31-624x580.png 624w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-02-03-at-16.52.31.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 127px) 100vw, 127px\" \/><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1775 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/ec59f1a18bf0e9a81443a8bb7d14f3a8-c.png\" alt=\"A photograph of Professor Eileen Scanlon. \" width=\"131\" height=\"131\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/ec59f1a18bf0e9a81443a8bb7d14f3a8-c.png 199w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/ec59f1a18bf0e9a81443a8bb7d14f3a8-c-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/ec59f1a18bf0e9a81443a8bb7d14f3a8-c-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 131px) 100vw, 131px\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Fereshte Goshtasbpour<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Beck Pitt<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Eileen Scanlon<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table style=\"height: 263px;\" width=\"630\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1894\" src=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/389fa730687a102658bae46b9e75eab6-c.png\" alt=\"A photograph of Dr. Thomas Ullmann. \" width=\"133\" height=\"133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/389fa730687a102658bae46b9e75eab6-c.png 206w, https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/389fa730687a102658bae46b9e75eab6-c-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 133px) 100vw, 133px\" \/><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Thomas Ullmann<\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>All research-active members of the Institute of Educational Technology (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/iet\/main\/\"title=\"IET website\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" >IET<\/a>), whether students or staff, are automatically members of CALRG and they make up the majority of our group. IET is now a part of the OU&#8217;s Learning &amp; Teaching Innovation (LTI) portfolio, heading up the LTI-Academic sub-unit.<\/p>\n<p>However, we have always been an inclusive community and also welcome students and staff involved in TEL research elsewhere across the OU to participate in our events. These include colleagues from <a href=\"http:\/\/kmi.open.ac.uk\/\"title=\"KMi website\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" >KMi<\/a>; maths and computing; science; health and social care; education and language studies; arts and social science; and business.<\/p>\n<p>Please click <a href=\"https:\/\/iet.open.ac.uk\/people\"title=\"IET People listing\"  target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" >here<\/a> for further details of IET staff and students.<\/p>\n<h2>Social Media<\/h2>\n<p>You can contact as at <a href=\"mailto:calrg@open.ac.uk\">CALRG@open.ac.uk<\/a> or find us on:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Twitter\/X: <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CALRGatOU\" onclick=\"javascript:urchinTracker ('\/outbound\/article\/x.com');\">@CALRGatOU<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@ietou\" onclick=\"javascript:urchinTracker ('\/outbound\/article\/www.youtube.com');\">YouTube<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Open University\u2019s\u00a0Computers and Learning Research Group (CALRG), founded in 1978, is one of the UK\u2019s leading and longest-running research groups in the use of technologies in education. All research-active staff and students within IET are automatically members of CALRG, however the group is very inclusive and welcomes staff and students from across the OU [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1896,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12\/revisions\/1896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/CALRG\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}