Staff members are actively involved, both in the UK and internationally, in innovative research, curriculum development and policy formation at every level of the education system from preschool to higher education. Our research aims to explore and invent roles of technology and to understand how technology relates to broader social, economic and cultural factors.

The thriving LKL research community supports doctoral students through one-to-one supervisions, a program of regular research seminars, student network events and a culture geared to creativity and originality. We attract students from all over the world and have extensive links both locally and internationally with schools, colleges, universities, education authorities, governments and other organizations.

We work with you to develop the most appropriate program to support your work.

Current Postgraduate Research Topics

Current postgraduate research topics include:

• The use of mobile computing in higher education
• New technologies: tools for widening participation in lifelong learning?Youth identities and media production in the digital age: a case study in Hong Kong
• How cultural organizations use the internet to engage young people
• Reading children's literature across media: the multimodal literacy cultures of preadolescent girls
• An empirical study on the way learners navigate in educational hypermedia and their cognitive, learning and personality style.
• The dramaturgy of the virtual classroom: towards new teacher roles in web-based-real-time-conferencing
• The development of students' understanding of generalisation in mathematics
• The use of blended learning
• Factors that influence interaction in a large scale distance education course
• A design approach to construction and collaboration
• Examining the successes and difficulties associated with the adoption of ICT by African higher education institutions.
• E learning and lifelong learning
• Media literacy in a new media world
• Knowledge creation and the virtual environment within higher education: a case study

Staff Expertise and Interests

LKL staff research expertise and interests include all aspects of learning, teaching, curriculum evaluation, assessment, the professional development of teachers, and educational policy. The range of work and approaches to research undertaken by staff and students include:

• The design of novel educational software
• e-learning and multimedia
• Digital media production
• Visual and multimodal semiotics
• Personalization, technology and learning
• Learning and teaching with mobile and ubiquitous technologies
• Collaborative learning
• ICT for development
• Evaluating and understanding technology mediated learning
• External representations and their role in learning/ cognition
• Participatory media, Web 2.0 and social networking applications
• The software design process
• Artificial Intelligence in Education
• Computer games and virtual worlds
• Information technology and society
• The use of ITs in educational settings
• ITs and social exclusion
• Children and young people's media cultures
• Media education and literacy practices
• Identity
• Public policy making in the 'information age'
• Learning design tools for teachers
• Technology enhanced learning and disabilities
• The role of narrative in multimedia
• Research methodologies for capturing the learning process
• Organisational strategies for the implementation of technology enhanced learning.

Further information

For further information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  (IoE) or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  (Birkbeck)

To find out more about doctoral study at LKL, visit the IoE or Birkbeck doctoral school information pages.