LET Lab - Learning and Educational Technology Research Lab

Our mission is to contribute to theory-based solutions for better learning. With our work, we tackle the challenges of future learning, pertaining not only to cognition, but also to motivation and emotions, and to effective learning strategies needed for individual and collaborative learning. Our research covers a variety of different learning contexts, including formal and informal learning, and work-based settings.

Through experimental and design-based research LET develops instructional strategies, computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) methods, and advanced learning technologies in multidisciplinary cooperation with our partners to facilitate and enhance individual and collaborative learning. We strive to make learning and teaching more effective, efficient, and enjoyable, to make students more aware of their own learning and to help them manage it better through optimal use of learning technology.

LET research strategy directly contributes to the research focus area of the University of Oulu Understanding humans in change, and is linked to the university’s strategic profiling theme GenZ Co-Evolution funded by the Academy of Finland.

The main objectives of our work address theoretical, empirical, and methodological aspects of the learning sciences research and are as follows:

• To carry out theoretical investigations and analysis of recent advancements in research on motivation, emotions, metacognition, self-regulation, and socially shared regulation of learning.
• To carry out empirical studies of contextual and social dimensions of individual and socially shared learning in a variety of learning settings.
• To design advanced learning technologies to support individual learning and create opportunities for collaboration and increase competence building among team members.
• To promote methodological development of multimodal and process-oriented methods to enhance theoretical and empirical understanding of the learners’ dynamics in achievements and appraisals in multiple contexts.

Theoretically, our work is grounded in socio-cognitive and constructivist approaches relying on recent theoretical and methodological developments in the learning sciences (Brandsford et al., 2000; Sawyer, 2006). Our special expertise lies in self-regulated learning (SRL) theory (Schunk & Zimmermann, 2008; Winne & Hadwin, 1998; Hadwin et al. 2018), research on motivation (Volet & Järvelä, 2000), as well as social interaction and socially shared cognition in learning (Resnick, 1991).

We regularly publish our research in high-impact international peer-reviewed journals (e.g. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL), Metacognition and Learning, Computers in Human Behavior, etc.); produce book chapters in collaboration with our partners (e.g. International Handbook of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (2021)); and participate in national and international conferences such as EARLI, AERA, ICLS, CSCL, LAK. Our research and practice results are also disseminated via national and international media, lectures, workshops, and presentations.

Our research is mainly funded by the Academy of Finland, European Union, Finnish Ministry of Education, local, regional and international foundations as well as doctoral schools and profiling projects of the University of Oulu. We actively collaborate with multidisciplinary teams at the University of Oulu (e.g. in affective computing, CMVS) and network with research groups both nationally (e.g. University of Jyväskylä) and internationally (e.g. University of Victoria (Canada), Radboud University (the Netherlands), Monash University (Australia), the University of Central Florida (USA), Technical University of Munich (Germany), University of Bergen (Norway), Copenhagen University (Denmark), KTH Stockholm (Sweden)).

A significant part of LET team consists of PhD researchers, whose research contributes to the LET mission and research foci. All our PhD researchers belong to the University of Oulu Graduate School (UniOGS) and have an active role in acquiring external funding for their PhD projects (e.g. UniOGS grants, Finnish Cultural Foundation grants, etc.).

We continuously aim to develop our doctoral research and support personal growth. Therefore, we:

• Encourage new doctoral researchers to explore the unit’s core theoretical areas and methodological traditions.
• Develop their scientific writing and publishing skills.
• Organize doctoral seminars and other thematic scientific meetings and workshops.
• Involve PhD researchers in our research projects and encourage and support their growth and expertise in specific topics.
• Encourage them to participate in scientific networks and collaboration with our partners.
• Create opportunities for post-doctoral researchers and support their career development.
• Support our PhD researchers' national and international research visits and also host incoming researchers for short- and long-term visits.

If you are interested in a research visit at LET, do not hesitate to contact Prof. Sanna Järvelä (Sanna.Jarvela@oulu.fi), Assoc. Prof. Hanna Järvenoja (Hanna.Jarvenoja@oulu.fi) or Assist. Prof. Jonna Malmberg (Jonna.Malmberg@oulu.fi).

In the interest of an evidenced-based view of the role of AI in education, the Jacobs Foundation recently funded the Center for Learning and Living with AI (CELLA), which is designed to equip young learners to learn, live, and work in the age of AI. This new center on AI and learning focuses on K-12 learners and teachers. It will bring together research teams in learning and educational sciences, learning analytics, and artificial intelligence to develop and research AI-driven learning technologies that ensure children’s wellbeing. CELLA is co-led by Sanna Järvelä from the University of Oulu (Finland) and Inge Molenaar from Radboud University (the Netherlands). They are working with Maria Bannert from the Technical University of Munich (Germany), Dragan Gašević from Monash University (Australia), and Roger Azevedo from the University of Central Florida (United States).

Ongoing

• TAICo - TAICo - Teacher-AI Complementarity (2025-2028, funded by HORIZON Europe RIA)
• EffecTive - Efficiency and Effectiveness of Training for Teachers' Pedagogical Digital Competence (2023-2026, funded by HORIZON Europe RIA)
• LEAD - Learning Regulation with AI - Promoting Adaptive K-12 Learners (2023-2027, funded by Research Council of Finland)
• MotoR- Not Motivated - How Regulation of Learning Builds up Students’ Will to Learn (2022-2026, funded by Research Council of Finland)
• TRIGGER - Triggers for Collaborative Learning Regulation (2022-2025, funded by Eudaimonia Institute)
• Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Research (Dr. Andy Nguyen) - Utilizing Multimodal Learning Analytics with Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Predict Regulation in Collaborative Learning (2022-2025)

Archived

• SHARP - Socially Shared Regulation of Learning Processes in Groups (2019-2023, funded by the Research Council of Finland)
• CLEVER - Making Complex Learning Processes Visible for Enabling Regulation (2018-2022, funded by the Research Council of Finland)

Ongoing

• Hyb-IT-Up! - Upgrading Higher Education Teachers' and Students' Hybrid Learning Competences (2022-2025, funded by Erasmus+).
• TUNED - Training Courses for Teachers in Universities for Nurturing Innovative Educative Practices in Distance and Blended Learning Based on Self-Regulation (2021-2024, funded by Erasmus+).

Archived

• Tiimien tehokas etätyöskentely (2023, funded by ESR).
• DigiPeda - Opettajan digipedagogiset taidot etä- ja hybridityöskentelyssä (2021-2023, funded by ESR).
• HAiLife - Ihmistieteiden datasta uutta liiketoimintaa (2022-2023, funded by EAKR & Pohjois-Pohjanmaan liitto).
• LearnHybrid - Hybridikoulutusmalli terveystieteiden osaamisen kehittämisen varmistamiseen (2021-2023, funded by ERDF).
• Pathways to Business (2021-2023, funded by ESF).
• TiiM - Yritystiimien oppimisen ja yhteistyön metataitojen kehittäminen (2021-2023, funded by ESR).
• INSTALL-ed - Increasing Self-Regulated Learning with Technology-Amplified Learning for ALL: Educators Going Digital (2021-2023, funded by Erasmus+)
• Open DigiTaito - Opettajankouluttajan digipedagoginen osaaminen ja oppimistaidot oppimisyhteisöissä (2021-2022, funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture)
• TunTuVa - Tunnesäätelyn tuki varhaiskasvatuksessa (2019-2022, funded by the Finnish National Agency for Education)
• INOS - Integrating Open and Citizen Science into Active Learning Approaches in Higher Education (2019-2022, co-funded by Erasmus+)