Digital transformation raises fundamental questions about our education systems

Rebecca Eynon is a member of the NRP 77 Steering Committee. As Professor of Education, Society and the Internet at the University of Oxford, she is jointly responsible for analysing the NRP 77 research results from Module 1 on education, learning and digital transformation.

Professor Eynon, the research projects in Module 1 are now completed. What is your overall impression?

The range of projects funded as part of module 1 has responded in diverse and important ways to the complex and multifaceted relationships between learning, education and digital change. These typically multidisciplinary projects have explored important questions relating to the digital transformation in schools, higher education institutions and the workplace and critically examined the implications for learning in everyday life for all ages, from early years to old age.

Which results or projects have particularly stood out to you?

Many of the projects emphasise the importance of co-designing technologies with stakeholder groups. Such processes increase the likelihood that educational technologies are designed in ways that take into account the expertise of teachers and researchers and are therefore more likely to be used by students and educators at all levels. One example is the project by Dominique Jaccard and his team to develop a digital lab for the collaborative design of digital educational games.

A digital laboratory for the collaborative design of digital educational games

Other projects offer important insights into how digital technologies can enhance learning and teaching, but at the same time stress the importance of aligning their use with pedagogical theories and providing teachers with institutional support. One example is Dominik Pekto and his team’s project on the digital transformation at the upper secondary level.

The digital transformation at the upper secondary education level

Both within and outside of formal education, many of the projects promote the importance of digital skills, at all ages and life stages to support personal development, social inclusion and the economy. Fostering these skills is an ongoing process that begins in childhood and extends into retirement age. This is illustrated in the project by Eva Marinus and colleagues on children’s conceptions of computer science and programming.

"How does this work?" Children’s conceptions of computer science and programming

What implications do the results have for politics, business and society?

Throughout module 1, the projects are committed to advancing research whilst being strongly anchored in practice. This framing enabled the projects to directly connect to a wide range of stakeholders – including teachers, researchers, edtech companies, governments, families and of course students.

When you look back at the research on education and digital transformation, is there a key insight or question that you personally found important?

The focus on education, learning and digitalisation connects to significant questions about what form of education society desires in contemporary times, and how to ensure that everyone has access to high-quality and inclusive education throughout their lives. These fundamental questions, which are closely related to ensuring a democratic and equitable society at a time of digital transformation, are reflected across module 1, and indeed are reflected in the key themes of NRP 77.

An overview of the projects from Module 1 of the National Research Programme NRP 77 can be found here.

The results of individual research projects have been published on the respective project pages. The Steering Committee is now working on a synthesis that summarises the findings of the entire National Research Programme. Completion of this synthesis is foreseen in mid-2026.