Skip to content The Open University

  1. Study at the OU
  2. Research degrees
  3. Research areas
  4. Education and Educational Technology

Education and Educational Technology

On this page
An image to illustrate studying education and educational technology with The Open University

The Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET) is one of the leading education research units in the UK. It is an internationally respected centre of excellence, pursuing innovative and rigorous research that influences policy and practice. CREET research is multidisciplinary and is united by:

  • a focus on learning through diverse media in a wide range of social, cultural and disciplinary settings
  • a radical, challenging approach to established orthodoxies in policy, pedagogy, theory and research methods
  • a major thread of socio-cultural theorising across all research areas.

We provide research students with a supportive environment and excellent research facilities. For research of an interdisciplinary nature, we liaise with departments in other faculties such as Maths, Computing and Technology for technology, communication and education topics. All of our programmes were designed following Economic and Social Research Council guidelines. We offer a three-year full-time Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme and a part-time Doctorate in Education (EdD) programme.

CREET offers a unique opportunity to study the theory, application and practice of education and educational technology with guidance from world-class experts in the field.

Key facts

  • Three broad research themes, child and youth studies, education studies, and technology enhanced learning.
  • A large community of researchers including 45 PhD students and approximately 150 Doctorate in Education students.
  • A thriving interdisciplinary and multicultural environment.
  • Opportunities and support provided for research students to attend workshops, seminars and conferences at other national and international institutions.

Facilities

One of our exciting research facilities at the Open University is the Jennie Lee Research Laboratory complex which provides state of the art facilities for research in educational technology and related areas. It includes eye tracking equipment that is used, for example, for usability testing and has also been used for postgraduate research that collected data on student interactions. Another facility within the laboratory is the gaming room and observation suite and these have also been used for postgraduate research into gaming and informal learning. General information about the laboratory complex can be found here.

Further information

If you have an enquiry specific to this research area please contact:

Name:
Mrs Anne Foward
Email:
creet-student-enquiries@open.ac.uk
Phone:
+44 (0)1908 655364

For general enquiries please contact the Research Degrees Team via the link under ‘Your questions’ on the right of the page.