The Centre for Educational Research on ICT and Media at the University of Iceland – School of Education was founded in June of 2008. The main goal of the Centre is to increase, strengthen and promote educational research and development in Iceland in this field.

Emphases in our current and future projects include:

  • Creating and sustaining a networking communities of practice in the area of ICT in education and other areas of teaching and learning
  • Studying uses of ICT’s at all school levels and their effects on pedagogy and schools, teaching and learning.
  • ICT skills, digital competences and media literacies: in curriculum, teaching, learning, and evaluation.
  • Distance and online learning
  • Learning environments, digital learning and media use in different subjects (development projects)
  • Open educational resources and open source in education
  • Development of ICT leadership in the schools

The Centre aims to facilitate the collaboration and partnerships of individuals, associations and institutes in relation to research and dissemination of knowledge related to ICT and media in education.

Administration

Representatives from the following organizations are invited to all board meetings

  • 3f – The Icelandic asociation of ICT in Education
  • EducationPlaza http://menntamidja.is/education-plaza/
  • SAFT (Society, Family, and Technology awareness node of Home and School the National Parents´Association in Iceland

Here is our expressions of interest for participation in EU-projects: More general and open (above themes)

Collaboration

We have been collaborating with different local and international partners in different projects. Among those are five other research centres in the Nordic and Baltic countries in the NordForsk-network NORDLAC: Learning across contexts, which was running 2011 to 2014 and was lead by Ola Erstad. These centres are:

  • TransAction – learning, knowing and identity in the information society’ research group in Oslo
    Group Leader: Professor Ola Erstad, Institute for Educational Research, University of Oslo, Norway
  • The Learning Bridges Research Center, Helsinki
    Group Leader: Director/Professor Kristiina Kumpulainen, Information and evaluation services, National Board of Education & University of Helsinki
  • The Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction and Mediated Communication in Contemporary Society (LinCS) (www.lincs.gu.se) Gothenburg
    Group Leader: Professor Roger Säljö, professor of education and educational psychology at Göteborg University
  • The DREAM Centre (Danish Research Centre on Education and Advanced Media Materials)
    Group leader: Professor/Director Kirsten Drotner, University of Southern Denmark
  • University of Tartu, Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences
    Group Leader: Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, Assoicate Professor

The following publications are among  products of this network:

  • Erstad, O., Kumpulainen, K., Mäkitalo, Å., Schrøder, K., Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, P. & Jóhannsdóttir, T. (Eds.), Learning across contexts in the knowledge. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
  • Kjartansdóttir, S. H., & Jakobsdóttir, S. (2016). Interacting with the world: Learners developing identity and agency through boundary crossing in mobile learning. In O. Erstad, K. Kumpulainen, Å. Mäkitalo, K. Schrøder, P. Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, & T. Jóhannsdóttir (Eds.), Learning across contexts in the knowledge society (pp. 203-224). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

We  with Icelandic schools in Iceland, Reykjavík municipality and others

Among other activities

Over 30 members, active in different research projects.

Studies include evaluation research on the use of mobile technologies in schools and on distance and blended learning in teacher education and at the secondary level. Results from these studies have been presented at international conferences as well as Icelandic meetings and conferences. See e.g.

  • Jóhannsdóttir, Þ., & Jakobsdóttir, S. (2014). The Internet in Icelandic teacher education – twenty years history: Problems and possibilities. Paper presented at the EDEN (European Distance and Elearning Network) Research workshop: Challenges for research into open & distance learning: Doing things better: doing better things, Oxford.
  • Jóhannsdóttir, Þ., & Jakobsdóttir, S. (2014). Use of Internet for teacher education and teacher development in Iceland in light of twenty years history. Exploring alternative future scenarios. Paper presented at the NERA (Nordic Educational Research Association), Lillehammer.
  • Skúlína Hlíf Kjartansdóttir, & Sólveig Jakobsdóttir. (2013). Tablet computers – enabling construction of agency and participatory learning in mobile learning environments. Presentation at the NERA conference (Nordic Educational Research Association), Reykjavík.
  • Skúlína Hlíf Kjartansdóttir, & Sólveig Jakobsdóttir. (2013). Tablet computers on trial: A transformative force in education? Paper presented at the á Mobile Learning 2013 IADIS International Conference, Lissabon.
  • Jakobsdóttir, S. & Jóhannsdóttir, T. (2011). Expansion in e-learning: online technologies enabling access to the upper secondary level for a more diverse student group. In A. Gaskell, R. Mills og  A. Tait (Eds.), The fourteenth Cambridge International Conference on Open, Distance and E-Learning 2011: Internationalisation and social justice: the role of open, distance and e-learing (bls. 84-92). Milton Keynes, UK: The Open University. Slides available in Slideshare.
  • Jakobsdóttir, S. & Jóhannsdóttir, T. (2010). Merging online and „traditional“ courses and student groups: A „natural“ trend or a temporary tactic – why and how? In A. Tait og  A. Szucs (Eds.), Media inspirations for learning: What makes the impact? EDEN 2010 Annual conference book of abstracts. Budapest: European Distance and E-Learning Network. Abstract. Poster.

Participation in large scale collaborative research on school development in Iceland. The contribution of the center is to study the effects of ICT. Two faculty members and three graduate students have participated in the project on behalf of the centre resulting in a book chapter, two master’s thesis and several presentations in Iceland and internationally:

  • Sólveig Jakobsdóttir, Torfi Hjartarson, & Bergþóra Þórhallsdóttir. (2014). Upplýsingatækni í skólastarfi [Use of ICT in schools]. In G. G. Óskarsdóttir (Ed.), Starfshættir í grunnskólum við upphaf 21. aldar [Primary and lower secondary schools at the start of the 21st century: a study of teaching and learning] (pp. 277-319). Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan.

Seminars, monthly, Spring and Fall semesters. Information in Icelandic part of the web

Hosting a seminar with several presentations and posters on ICT in education at the annual conference of the School of Education, October 22 2010 and September 30 2011; and with the School Development Project team November 19-20 2011.

Co-hosting a conference with 3f on innovation and creativitiy in edcuation October 2, 2009
http://radstefna.webs.com

Co-hosting the Safer Internet Day with the Home and School the National Parents´Association in Iceland

Co-hosting a conference with the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and 3f on Open Educational Resources November 21, 2011
http://atburdir.menntagatt.is/opidmenntaefni2011/

Creating a social network site in Ning to support professional community of ICT in education (research, practice and development) http://utmidlun.ning.com

Providing an overview about earlier published research and writing on ICT and media in education in Iceland or by Icelandic researchers/writers (available in Endnote Web  – contact soljak@hi.is)
https://rannum.hi.is/rannsoknir/greinarskrif/

Providing an overview of graduate students’ projects and theses (available in Endnote Web – contact soljak@hi.is)
https://rannum.hi.is/rannsoknir/doktors-og-meistaraprofsritgerdir/

Running workshops on uses of Endnote and Endnote Web and providing access to the literature above in Endnote Web.