On the 22nd May, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Centre for Research in Digital Education and the 20th anniversary of our Digital Education postgraduate programme.
The party, held at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, gathered current and former students, colleagues, collaborators and friends to celebrate 20 years of digital education teaching, learning, innovation and research at the University of Edinburgh. We shared reminiscences and reflections, but also visions and hopes for the future of the field and what it should aim to achieve over the coming years.
Among refreshments and party activities, we showcased the highlights of our five research themes in the past ten years: Cultures and Futures, Children and Technology, Data Society, Data Education in Schools, Digital Education in the Global South.
Centre director Sian Bayne reflected on the early days of the field of digital education, and how our research centre grew naturally out of the success of our MSc programme in Digital Education which first piloted in 2005. As one of the first online-only degrees in the university, and one of the world’s first academic research-led postgraduate programmes in this area, it set a strong model for innovative, creative teaching. With the establishment of our research centre in 2015, we were able to amplify and grow our strong and diverse research programme – we now have a large team of 30 people working in our centre alongside over 30 PhD students.
Our 5 research theme leads – Jen Ross, Michael Gallagher, Serdar Abaci (on behalf of Judy Robertson), Andrew Manches and Ben Williamson – also spoke very briefly about their visions for the future of digital education. They touched on some of the more worrying dimensions of this – a future in which education and learning will increasingly become directed by the vast collection and analysis of digital data. However, they also emphasised how our futures don’t have to follow a single inevitable pathway. They countered the sense of a future closed off by crisis and decline by describing the vibrancy of their research programmes – programmes built around hope in the potential for positive and flourishing futures. This hope is being enacted in many ways in the Centre, through our teaching, and through multiple research projects which include work with children, young people, schools, refugee agencies, cultural heritage organisations, industry, government, NGOs, charities and unions.
We also heard from Janja Komljenovic, current director of the MSc in Digital Education, who spoke about the new focus of the programme after a recent refresh and renewal.
The party ended with virtual greetings from some of our Digital Education students and graduates and a VR (virtual reality) experience for those keen to try it!
To read more about our approach to the future of our research, read our Principles for a Socially Responsible Digital Education.
Photo credit: ph. Jess Shurte.
The interactive research highlights at the party were produced thanks to 3D-printing support by the Makerspace at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.