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Research

Education and Educational Technology

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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.

Part of our success is due to the focus we place on our postgraduate research students. Providing research students with a supportive environment and excellent research facilities ensures a future supply of first class researchers. For research of an interdisciplinary nature, we liaise with departments in other faculties such as Maths, Computing and Technology for the topic area Technology, communication and education. All of our programmes were designed following Economic and Social Research Council guidelines. We offer a one-year full-time Master of Research (MRes) programme, 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. If you feel that the challenge of research in this exciting and interesting area is for you and that you have the drive and intellectual curiosity to pursue postgraduate research, then we invite you to read more about us. We look forward to hearing from you!

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.
  • 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. Information about the laboratory complex more generally 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' further down the page.

OU research degree areas

Your questions

The Research Degrees Team is here to advise you about our research degree programme and the OU experience.

Email
research-degrees-team@open.ac.uk
Phone
+44 (0)1908 654882

Employers' questions

The Research Degrees Team is happy to advise about supporting students through our research degree programmes.

Email
research-degrees-team@open.ac.uk
Phone
+44 (0)1908 654882