Learning, education and digitalisation

About the research theme

Learning, Education and Digitalisation (LEaD) focuses on research about digital technologies and their implications for preschool, school, higher education as well as for society and working life more generally. Digitalization currently transforms society and many social practices, which has consequences for schooling and education and how learning and teaching are organized. Today we live digital lives. We work, study, consume and maintain social contacts through the Internet and digital resources. How digitalization changes the nature of educational practices, as well as the nature of competences of citizens, are issues at the core of the research within LEaD.

In LEaD, an added interest is in how digitalization changes the organization of work and the need for professional competences in the public sector. This includes a focus on how datafication of society—with access to large amounts of data that can be analysed for different purposes—changes the conditions for learning, collaboration and leadership of activities and organizations. One of the main aims of the research is to offer in-depth and critical perspectives on the role of digital technologies for teaching and learning, founded on empirical studies in different domains and societal contexts. 

National and international collaboration

The research is interdisciplinary and involves collaboration with scholars in different areas. One such example is the Gothenburg group, which is a close collaboration with the IT-faculty at the University of Gothenburg. The international partners include the University of Oslo, the University of Helsinki and Monash University. We participate in a large number of international research associations, including EARLI, ECER, and others.

Members of LEaD are involved in community projects and other collaborative initiatives with schools and organizations. They contribute with overviews of research for the National Agency for Education and organize the annual conference PopUpDig, which is devoted to discussing the development of use of IT in preschool and schools with practitioners and stakeholders.

Seminars

There are two seminars in LEaD:

Technology and Knowledge (TEKNO),

In the seminar research on digitalization and education is presented and analysed. The seminar is also a part of the Graduate Research School in Educational Science at the University of Gothenburg. TEKNO is led by associate professor Annika Bergviken-Rensfeldt and professor Johan Lundin of the IT-faculty.

Sociocultural and Dialogical Studies (SDS)

This seminar is devoted to discussing and analysing research on learning, communication and societal change. The activities pursued within SDS include data sessions of empirical materials, analyses of manuscripts written by participants and planning of research. SDS is led by professor Åsa Mäkitalo and senior lecturer Anne Solli.