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An editorial is presented on research in learning, media, and technology. Topics include use of computers in schools maintaining and exaggerating inequities, with poor, minority, and female students having less access; and revolutionising open and distance learning being developed in feminist, radical, and anti-racist classrooms.

The inequities rooted in our education systems and wider societies have been thrown into relief by responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents four situational studies of the FemEdTech network, asking how we characterise activities of the network, what they tell us about the nature of diffuse, convivial networks, and what opportunities they provide for challenging inequities in the field of technology and/in education. The study draws on practices and materials produced through FemEdTech activities from 2017 to 2020. Data and its analysis are presented as a spiral of 'turns' which fold back on each other to create connections between lines of research, moving fluidly between the objective and subjective. The four studies present shared curation, collaborative writing and purposeful reflection as contested fields of action. On one hand they build solidarity and shared resources – 'holding up' the flow of knowledge in networks, potentially redistributing the capital of attention and connectivity. At the same time, they underscore the costs of shared work which are different in open networks from those that operate in the reified, accelerated production cycles of academic roles – yet connected with them, not least because they always involve investments of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on actor-network theory and on the sociology of cultural consumption to examine the phenomenon of corporate Massive Open Online Courses. Through an analysis of texts available in the public domain, the paper argues that over a short period (between 2012 and 2013) digitisation technology became associated with the emergence of a hybrid ‘actor’: the digital video-recorder teacher. A parallel is drawn between the ‘interactive affordances’ of digital instruction and the playback and cataloguing options that have contributed to shifts in television viewing habits. The digital video-recorder teacher is described as an artefact in the service of a postmodern project of self-improvement through cultural consumption, which recruits digitisation to meet a growing demand for ‘upgrades to the self’. In the conclusion, the paper explores how the study of digital education could benefit from an interface between sociomaterial studies and the sociology of culture. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

e-Learning research is an expanding and diversifying field of study. Specialist research units and departments proliferate. Postgraduate courses recruit well in the UK and overseas, with an increasing focus on critical and research-based aspects of the field, as well as the more obvious professional development requirements. Following this year's launch of a National e-Learning Research Centre, it is timely to debate what the field of study should be prioritising for the future. This discussion piece suggests that the focus should fall on questions that are both clear and tractable for researchers, and likely to have a real impact on learners and practitioners. Suggested questions are based on early findings from a series of JISC-funded projects on e-learning and pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions have a critical role to play in preparing students to meet the demands of an increasingly technological world. Drawing on a survey of 762 undergraduate students in two universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this paper examines the actual experiences of digital technology of students during their academic studies while seeking to develop a better understanding of the realities that the students encounter when using technology inside and outside their classrooms. The study also investigates what students really need to enhance their learning. The collected data confirm the international research findings that the digital age is not 'transforming' the nature of university. Additionally, traditional teaching methods and conventional 'in-the-box' student thinking and practices with technology still prevail. Bearing in mind the particularities of students in the UAE context, blending technology with the formal in-person approach can produce significant benefits in relation to effectively improving student learning and success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video production offers a way for students to learn content-area knowledge while simultaneously developing technology skills deemed important in contemporary society. Yet, the research has not been examined in a systematic way to reveal how these types of projects are oriented to align to instructional goals or how learning is investigated when they are implemented as part of content-area pedagogy. A scoping study was conducted to review the research literature on implementation of student video production in content-area classrooms. A total of 61 studies published from 2006 through 2017 were selected and analyzed through a systematic process. Findings suggest that video production projects were conducted to meet information, performance, composition, literacy, or creativity learning goals in content-area classrooms. Strategies used to investigate student learning included evaluation of learner perceptions, analysis of the process of creating video, assessment of the final video project, or a combination of these approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emanating from the ground-breaking Library Impact Data Project, the aim of the Roving Librarian project first initiated in 2011 was to offer personalized help outside of the traditional library to library non-users in social or academic settings using Android and the iPad tablets. It was thought that the portability and flexibility of these devices would allow staff to reach students and help them at their point of need. To test out this premise, an action study was carried out to examine the use of tablets and their suitability in facilitating the roving librarian project as well as evaluate roving as a vehicle for teaching information literacy on the move. Data was collected through peer observation, individual reflections, and a questionnaire conducted with subject librarians to find out more regarding their usage of the tablet and to ascertain whether they have found it conducive in roving. The project demonstrated that the affordances of both devices enabled librarians to provide personalized mobile help to students whilst building stronger relationships and arguably having the type of conversations about library resources and facilities that would not have happened if staff had stayed within the physical library building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A teacher fellow project at De Montfort University explored the context and practicalities of developing a Graduate Skills Licence (Information Literacy) in answer to the current higher education drive for graduate employability. Research revealed the hidden complexities behind the development of an originally simple notion. It provided scope to create a research informed self-evaluation grid of information literacy skills. It highlighted the need for a multi-agency approach, forging new connections to achieve employability. Practice at other institutions is considered. Librarians have both a key role and a new opportunity to place themselves at the heart of contemporary higher education issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

People who the author would like to thank for assistance in the creation of the volumes 15, 16, and 17.1 of the journal "ALT-J: Research in Learning Technology" are mentioned.