Center for Responsible Educational Technology

Department of Applied IT, University of Gothenburg

Digitalization has far-reaching consequences for how learning is made possible, education is conducted, and knowledge developed...

Center for Responsible Educational Technology is one of the largest research groups focused on educational technology in the Nordic region and a significant voice in the international field of Information Technology and Learning. The members study how information technology transforms learning, education, and knowledge creation in individual, organizational, and societal contexts. By integrating research with educational activities, CREDtech ensures that insights have impact on policy and practice in schooling, higher education, professional development, and lifelong learning.

When is educational technology responsible?

Many of the challenges facing education such as teacher shortage, increasing demand, and unequal outcomes could be helped through technological solutions, but the details of how a solution is designed and integrated, and when it is used make the difference between helping and making things worse. At CREDtech, we take critical, practice, and design orientations in our research to inform the ways that emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can responsibly address grand challenges facing schooling, higher education, professional develoment, and lifelong learning.

Teacher shortage

Almost all EU countries are predicting significant teacher shortages by 2035 at all levels of education. Already in Sweden, nearly 30% of those teaching in compulsory schooling lack qualifications (Education & Training Monitor 2023).

Increasing demand

Recent years have seen a trend toward increasing demand for lifelong learning in the EU. In 2021, almost 35% of adults in Sweden reported recent engagment in lifelong learning activities, up from 26% in 2011 (Eurostat 2021).

Unequal outcomes

Rates of underachievement are increasing. Comparing 2012 and 2022 results, disparities in educational outcomes and numbers of students with special needs are growing in Sweden (Comparative analysis of PISA, 2024).

Educational technology innovation in context

The pace of technological innovation is quick with new educational technologies arriving contantly while others fall out of favour. At CREDtech, we set technological innovation in context by understanding the histories that have led to the latest arrivals. Our focus is on producing knowledge in relation to the lineages of development and application that are most relevant to education, such as the technologies of automation, scale, simulation, and presence.

Automation

Scale

Simulation

Presence

Gothenburg Knowledge Lab

Established in 2010, Gothenburg Knowledge Lab is a space for educational design-oriented development work. This work is done partly in collaboration with schools in the region, but primarily with a focus on educational activities at the university. In addition to working with development-oriented projects, Knowledge Lab is also an important resource for CREDtech research.