University of Gothenburg
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Thomas Hillman

Professor

Department of Applied IT, div CLIC
Telephone
+46 31-786 22 05
+46 766-18 22 05
Mail
thomas.hillman@ait.gu.se
Visiting address
Forskningsgången 6
417 56 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 100
412 96 Göteborg

Deputy Head of Department

Department of Applied Information Technology
Telephone
+46 31-786 22 05
+46 766-18 22 05
Mail
thomas.hillman@ait.gu.se
Visiting address
Forskningsgången 6
417 56 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 100
412 96 Göteborg

About Thomas Hillman

Thomas Hillman is a Professor of Applied IT for Education and serves as deputy head of department, with responsibility for research at the Department of Applied Information Technology. His main focus is the relationship between digitalization and knowledge, and he co-leads CREDtech, the Center for Responsible Educational Technology.

Thomas' research seeks to understand how technological change affects learning and knowing, particularly how we produce, access, and work with knowledge. This is studied through examining knowledge processes within the digital infrastructures used by millions of people in their everyday lives. Learning with these infrastructures is shaped by both the technology's design and the practices developed during their use. Thomas explores digital knowledge infrastructures across various contexts, from social media platforms used by individuals to discuss topics to platforms in schools that organize teachers’ and students’ activities. In each setting, technological change alters the conditions for learning, bringing both new opportunities and challenges. The way digital infrastructures are designed and used can either increase access to knowledge or deepen inequalities. As artificial intelligence automates more processes, the need for research to improve the design, application, and use of educational technologies becomes even more critical.

Thomas has a professional background in industrial and interaction design and completed his dissertation on the cycle of continuous design and redesign through which educational technologies shape and are shaped by learning processes at the University of Ottawa in 2011. He joined the Faculty of Education at the University of Gothenburg as a postdoctoral fellow and has been a visiting fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford. Since 2019, he has been employed at the Department of Applied Information Technology.

Online talks, lectures, and walkthroughs

https://www.youtube.com/@thomashillman

Supervision

I supervise students with interests in areas such as learning at scale, digital knowledge infrastructures, and human-centered artificial intelligence. All requests for supervision at the bachelor or master's level should go through the course leader of the thesis course in the relevant program. All PhD opportunities are posted centrally on the university's recruitment page.

Research projects