About
I am a Professor in the Institute of Educational Technology where I lead on research and innovation, with a focus on pedagogical transformations and future learning scenarios across informal and formal settings. I have 35 years' experience researching, conceptualising and evaluating learning technologies in distance education, language learning and informal learning, and have spent 20 years developing the field of mobile learning. My current focus is on opening up education to marginalised populations and the use of mobile technologies and intelligent personal assistants for widening participation. The research is often conducted in collaboration with colleagues in Sweden, Canada, Italy, Spain, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and India. I've led major research projects as well as cross-university projects on mobile learning, e-book adoption, video reuse, and pedagogical aspects of synchronous group tuition. I have chaired the production and presentation of modules in the Masters in Online and Distance Education, and have worked with many module teams across the OU on learning design and professional development for academic and academic-related staff. In my external work I've authored guides for English language teachers on mobile learning and personalisation (published by British Council and Cambridge University Press), developed teachers in leadership programmes, and informed policy makers on mobile learning adoption. I supervise PhD and EdD students, support early career colleagues through mentoring, and I'm an active member of promotions committees.
I joined the Open University in 1996, having previously worked for 10 years at Aston University in Birmingham where I was based in the Languages and European Studies Department as a Research Fellow and then a Lecturer in Computational Linguistics and French. For my PhD awarded at Aston University, I mapped the authentic knowledge needs and questions posed by individuals responsible for computer security in their organisations against the information they could (or could not) obtain from technical documentation. This was a first step in what became my lifelong pursuit to discover how people learn informally about emerging topics and technologies, and how this informal activity can transform more established teaching practices and the design of teaching materials and user interfaces across a variety of media.
Biography
Agnes Kukulska-Hulme is Professor of Learning Technology and Communication in the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) where she leads the Learning Futures research and innovation programme. She joined IET in 1996. As an expert in mobile learning, she has led many projects and participated in international initiatives, including the EU MOTILL project on mobile lifelong learning, the EU MASELTOV project's Learning Services for social inclusion of immigrants, British Council-sponsored research on Mobile Pedagogy for English language teaching and on Marginalisation in low-resource contexts, and the SALSA project on language learning in urban settings for the next generation of smart cities. Professor Kukulska-Hulme's research has been supported by external funding and commissions from the EU, The British Council, RCUK, UNESCO, Refugee Action, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Jisc, Commonwealth of Learning, MK Smart, Becta, TIRF, National College of School Leadership, Mellon Foundation, and Cambridge University Press.
She is Past-President of the International Association for Mobile Learning, and serves on several journals' Editorial Boards including ReCALL, RPTEL, and International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning. She has been an invited Visiting Scholar or Fellow at several institutions where she has led developments in mobile learning: English Language Institute of Singapore (Ministry of Education); Beijing Foreign Studies University in China (High End Expert); University of Technology, Sydney; National Central University, Taiwan; Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, Madrid. She has published over 180 journal articles, papers and books, and has been a keynote or invited speaker at over 100 conferences and workshops. Recent keynotes include ChinaCALL 2020 Beijing, Ministry of Education WSA-EC Forum 2018 Singapore, AELFE 2018 Madrid, ELECC 2018 Hong Kong, mInclusion 2017 Gothenburg, ITK 2016 Finland, GloCALL 2015 South Korea.
Professor Kukulska-Hulme has served in numerous management and leadership roles, as Associate Director (Learning & Teaching and Academic Professional Development), Deputy Director IET, Co-Head of the Technology Enhanced Learning Group; and Programme Lead for Next Generation Distance Learning, Innovating Pedagogy, and Learning Futures. She has chaired several conferences, including the annual international mLearn conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning. She has served as an External Examiner of over 30 doctoral theses and an External Evaluator for grant-giving bodies and for overseas universities' research quality assessments (Hong Kong Institute of Education, University of Gothenburg, Athabasca University).
Publications
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2000
1999
1998
1996
1993
1992
1991
1990
1988
Media appearances
Innovations in Mobile Language Learning
Interview for Danish national newspaper
Weekendavisen | 12th December 2015
Migrant language learning and mobile technologies
Article written by Executive Director Torhild Slaatto, following my keynote at mInclusion conference in Gothenburg
Flexible Education Norway | 25th August 2017
Mobile Learning and the Future of Learning
Interview for the International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association
HETL | 28th February 2012
Mobile technology and global issues
Podcast interview for International Association for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) as part of a series
IATEFL archive | 18th December 2014
Awards
Collaborative Development Award 2014
For partnership development with the National Institute of Education at Nanyang Technological University Singapore - UK Government and British Council.
Open University Teaching Fellowship 2001
As Chair of H802 (Masters) course team for “innovation and excellence in global on-line course delivery".
Outstanding Paper Award 2004
Kukulska-Hulme, A. & Shield, L. (2004). Usability and Pedagogical Design: Are Language Learning Websites Special? ED-MEDIA’04 World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications, Lugano, Switzerland, 22-26 June.
Outstanding Paper Award 2006
Pettit, J. & Kukulska-Hulme, A. (2006). Going with the grain: mobile devices in practice. ASCILITE’06 Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education conference: Who’s learning? Whose Technology? Sydney, Australia, 4-6 December.
Research programmes
Expertise
Research students
-
Wendy Galvan Romero
Professional memberships
- Member of the British Educational Research Association