UMEÅ UNIVERSITY
Department of Education
Learning & ICT (LICT)
131220
Research strategy 2014-2016
The research group Learning and ICT (LICT), established in 2001, is a research group
at the Department of Education, Umeå University. The group consists of senior
researchers, PhD-candidates and educational technologists. The main purpose of the
group is to produce high quality research, carry out innovative development projects,
and to offer high-quality education. LICT continuously strives to publish the group’s
research results in well-reputed scientific journals and to disseminate the results to
various stakeholders in the surrounding society, both locally and on a national level.
In addition, research produced by the group shall as far as possible be implemented
and used both in development projects and in teaching which lies within LICT’s area
of expertise. LICT’s ambition is to be one of the leading research groups in Sweden in
questions concerning Learning and ICT in general and with 1) Organizational
perspectives on the use of technology, 2) Design and use of technology rich
environments, and 3) Teaching and learning processes in technology rich
environments1 in particular. LICT´s members must dare to take risks in order to
produce unique research results and highly innovative and qualitative developmental
projects. To be successful with these ambitions six core activities have been identified:
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
The first core activity is to cultivate collaboration with the surrounding society.
This involves carrying out joint projects with municipalities together with the
public and private sector that nurture activities in the form of collaborative
environments. Moreover, LICT strives to be visible in the local and national
debate in questions concerning learning and ICT.

The second core activity is to design, implement, evaluate and re-design new
and innovative teaching activities supported by ICT and the Internet. This
includes teaching activities that enhance current learning in different
educational practices and the development of ICT used in the Department of
Education. LICT shall also function as a research partner in developing
These three areas of research are unfolded below.
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processes in relation to other educational contexts in K-12 schools, higher
education and in the public and private sector.

The third core activity is to establish research networks that lead to
collaboration with nationally and internationally renowned researchers. In
addition, networks that provide possibilities for members from LICT to, for
shorter or longer periods, work in internationally known research
environments and research and development groups are sought. LICT´s
network activities will strengthen research produced within the group´s
developmental projects in collaboration with important co-partners.

The fourth core activity is to contribute to upholding a strong seminar culture
within the Department of Education, Umeå University. Inviting researchers and
representatives from the surrounding society and other university departments
to present and discuss current issues within the field of learning and ICT is a
source of strength for LICT. The aim is to cultivate creative learning
environments that stimulates dynamic meetings.

The fifth core activity is to attract external funding to be used for research and
developmental projects. LICT aims to produce high quality research
applications, preferably together with one or more colleagues within LICT’s
national and international research networks. Applications shall be directed
towards financing new positions for PhD-candidates, research projects
conducted by senior researchers, and development projects or teaching
interventions. Through attracting external funding LICT will be able to
contribute continuously with knowledge, skills and competences relevant for
both research and different educational practices.

The sixth core activity points out that LICT's aim is to publish frequently in
international well-reputed and peer-reviewed journal articles, in books and in
conference proceedings. A solid publication record is a highly important
platform to disseminate and make available LICTs research results and
developmental work. LICT´s research shall targeting questions highly relevant
for the society to be answered.
Three areas of research
LICT’s activities are based in three different, yet still interrelated, areas of research.
They all fall within the larger area of Learning and ICT but there are certain particular
differences in focus between the three areas. Two main advantages are, though, that
they all contain research questions that can be applied in a number of different
empirical settings, and the knowledge contributions within in one areas can be used
to formulate productive research questions within the other areas.
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Organizational perspectives on the use of technology
Implementation processes and the use of technology in larger educational
organizations together with the public and private sector are rapidly taking place. A
new digital architecture that cultivates change and development, at the same time
often also brings challenges into the organizational practice. Traditional ways of how
organizational work is done will, through a higher level of digitalization of the
organization, be challenged by new work-place practices and activities that occur.
Everyday activities such as communication, collaboration and learning within
organizations are changing with technology. In addition, an increased use of
technology and the Internet will challenge deep-rooted understandings of what it
means to lead an organization into the future, and will therefore challenge co-workers’
ways of carrying out their work-tasks as well as calling for continuous professional
development. Within this area of research, LICT has formulated three main research
questions that will guide the group’s work when designing and implementing
research and development projects:
1. What challenges occur in organizations when a large scale of technologies are
implemented and used in different levels in the organization, how does the
management deal with such challenges, and what can be sustainable solutions
to such challenges?
2. How do organizations work strategically and operationally in order to make
use of technologies in a way that creates opportunities for organizational and
work place learning and development? Are there any types of strategical and
operational ways of working that can consider to be more sustainable?
3. Which methods can be developed and applied for evaluating different aspects
of the implementation and use of new technologies in larger educational
organizations and in the public and private sector?
Design and use of technology rich environments
Formal teaching and learning is conducted in complex educational practices. Learners
engaging in educational activities interact not only with the particular state of the art
technology that practitioners and researchers may find interesting at a certain moment,
they interact simultaneously with a range of other structuring resources that guide
their learning processes and define learning outcomes. When implementing new
technologies in educational practice, and when researching the use of these
technologies, contextual use and interaction needs to be focal. Focusing too narrowly
on the potential or characteristics of a particular tool has often blinded us for emerging
educational challenges. This theme is thus focused on exploring relations between
learning context, learner interactions and learning outcomes in order to identify
opportunities for development of educational practice. General research questions
include:
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1. How do designs of technology rich environments encourage particular
teaching/learning processes above others and how can this relationship be
researched?
2. How do particular teaching/learning designs lead to different learning outcomes?
3. How can technology rich environments be designed or redesigned in line with
research findings in order to encourage specific teaching/learning processes and
learning outcomes?
Teaching and learning processes in technology rich environments
Technology integration has long been a key area of concern in both education and the
workplace and the intersection of technology with established practices is changing
teaching and learning processes in profound, new ways. New and emerging
technologies are provoking a re-conceptualization of teaching and learning, while also
serving as catalysts for transformation and innovation. At the same time, technologyrich working and learning environments are becoming increasingly complex, making
it ever more difficult to plan or predict how learning activities will be enacted and
what the result will be. This theme focuses on how the implementation of technology
rich environments both changes and structures teaching and learning processes and
how these processes are related to learning outcomes. In addition, potential methods
for the investigation and evaluation of different aspects of the implementation and use
of new technologies will be developed and applied. Within this area of research, LICT
has formulated three main research questions that will guide the group’s work when
designing and implementing research and development projects:
1. In what way does the implementation of digital technologies in education and work
change strategies for teaching and learning?
2. Does the implementation of digital technologies in education and work contribute
to changes in teachers’/instructors’/learners´ understanding of their role in the
teaching and learning process?
3. Does the implementation of digital technologies in education and places of work
contribute to change in the understanding of the role of assessment and methods of
implementing assessment activities?
Putting research into practice
LICT´s aim is to be responsible for driving numerous educational activities together
with different organizations at the Umeå University. These activities shall mainly be
to implement ICT such as learning management systems (LMS) and to carry out
educational and/or organizational development. LICT shall carefully chose to drive
activities that are in line with the research areas stated above.
When being involved in implementing technologies in organizations, LICT targets to
follow a certain working process. A process that shall begin with identifying possible
challenges that can occur in relation to the specific structural and organizational
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culture. During this LICT shall strive to involve the management for the organization
in order to make them aware of the challenges. Thereafter the design of technologies
shall take place. The technologies shall always be designed in a way that responds to
the organizational needs and culture. LICT is convinced that the teaching and learning
practices within the organizations are affected by the design of the technologies and
accordingly the way they are used by for example teachers, administrators or the
management. It is thought within LICT that the design should reflect the organization.
It needs to consider the goals of the organizations; the different roles (and
competencies) among the staff; the creation of a sense of belonging for the user
(teachers/staff as well as students) as well as the graphic profile. LICT, through
research and proven experience, has shown that the design and implementation of
technologies often leads to new ways of teaching and learning which in turn leads to
the need of professional development among the staff. New beliefs about teaching and
will occur, and new roles appears. Here, LICT is clear about the importance of
working closely with the staff and the purpose shall always be to create opportunities
to help them transform their roles (often as teachers) in order to develop new ways of
enhanced teaching and assessment through technologies. During and after
implementation and professional development, a key activity for LICT shall always be
to evaluate such a diverse and complex process. This through both longitudinal
research and follow-up research. The goal with the research shall be guided by the
will to catch the staffs´ experiences of the process in order to be able to adjust the
ongoing process, to receive knowledge about progression as well as be able to facilitate
future implementation process.
Besides working with large-scale implementation process of technologies in
organizations, and to carry out professional development, LICT shall be responsible
for providing academic courses - on basic, advanced and doctorate level - targeting the
knowledge area of Learning and ICT. LICT shall develop new course curriculums as
well as updating already existing. The course curriculums shall always contain the
strongest link possible to state of the art research within the research field of Learning
and ICT. Here research published by members of LICT plays an important role in the
courses. The competences within LICT shall be attractive to external stakeholders in
the private sector to consult. Members of LICT shall have a positive attitude towards
giving guest lectures and holding workshops together with external stakeholders.
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