Dr Tim Coughlan

Senior Lecturer

About

I'm a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Educational Technology at The Open University. My research crosses the areas of Education and Human-Computer Interaction. I’m particularly focused on the design and evaluation of systems that support inclusion, creativity, and openness in learning.

Recently I've been the principal investigator for:

The Microsoft funded ADMINS project, developing a virtual assistant for people to declare disabilities and access relevant support. This has led to further projects including an Open Societal Challenge: Digital Access Advisor.

The British Council funded Digital Decisions project, which explored key decisions made as higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa moves to make greater use of online and blended modes of study. This led to the creation of new resources for educators and managers.

Our Journey is a platform to represent the challenges and achievements in study journeys, supported by Jisc, Office for Students and Higher Education Innovation funding.

I led the development of the postgraduate microcredential Accessibility and Inclusive Learning and continue to chair the course.

I chair the Securing Greater Accessibility (SeGA) initiative and Coordination Group, and chair the Tuition Accessibility Group. Through this I play a role in steering some of the pan-university activities to make OU study accessible to all.

My passion is for user-centred and participatory research. However I also work on approaches to analyse the large quantitative data sets generated by learners at scale, and am interested in how we interpret and use these analytics through the participation of learners and staff in educational institutions.

I was previously a Horizon Digital Economy Research Fellow and Lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Nottingham. As part of Horizon I worked on a variety of projects funded by RCUK and AHRC. These included the design and evaluation of new technologies to support participation and informal learning in museum spaces, and studies to understand data sharing and assistive technologies in the home.

Biography

Dr Tim Coughlan is a Senior Lecturer in Educational Technology at the Open University. His research crosses the areas of Education and Human-Computer Interaction. He is particularly focused on the design and evaluation of systems that support inclusion, creativity, and openness in learning.

Tim chairs the Securing Greater Accessibility (SeGA) Coordination Group, which provides a pan-university forum for enhancing accessibility. He also led creation of the postgraduate microcredential: Accessibility and Inclusive Learning.

Tim has led the development and evaluation of Our Journey, a platform to support students to represent and reflect on their study journeys. He also leads ADMINS, a project to implement a virtual assistant to support disabled students.

He currently co-supervises four doctoral students: Jade Matos Carew, Marilyn Long, Sam Johnson and Mychelle Pride, and has supervised seven doctoral students to completion in projects that focus on various aspects of inclusion in educational technology and online learning.

Other recent research projects explore the experiences of online and open learning for disabled students, the uses of open data as a material for learning, and collaborative authoring of open online courses to widen participation in higher education.

He was a Co-Investigator on the AHRC-funded Empowering Design Practices project and a core member of the Leverhulme-funded international network:Disabled students, ICT, post compulsory education and employment: in search of new solutions.

Tim was previously a Horizon Research Fellow and Lecturer in theSchool of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham, where he was involved in a range of research projects including ArtMaps, Creativity Greenhouse, and Stories of User Appropriation.

Before that, Tim worked as a researcher at the Institute of Educational Technology at the OU, working on the Bridge to Success, Digital ScholarshipandOut There and In Here projects.

Before that, he completed PhD research in Computer Science at the University of Bath. This studied how computers can be designed to support creative interaction.

Publications

2025

Coughlan, Tim and Iniesto, Francisco. (2025). What should I know? Analysing behaviour and feedback from student use of a virtual assistant to share information about disabilities. The Internet and Higher Education.

Rienties, Bart; Tessarolo, Felipe; Coughlan, Emily; Coughlan, Tim and Domingue, John. (2025). Students’ Perceptions of AI Digital Assistants (AIDAs): Should Institutions Invest in Their Own AIDAs?. Applied Sciences.

Rienties, Bart; Tessarolo, Felipe; Coughlan, Tim; Herodotou, Christothea; Domingue, John and Whitelock, Denise. (2025). A Design-Based Research Approach to what distance learners expect and value from an Institutional AI Digital Assistant. European Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning (In press).

Coughlan, Tim; Rienties, Bart; Domingue, John; Herodotou, Christothea; Ullmann, Thomas; Bektik, Duygu; Edwards, Chris; Whitelock, Denise; Coughlan, Emily and Tessarolo, Felipe. (2025). Holding a lead, or the tail wagging the dog? Exploring educator influence over the behaviour of AI Digital Assistants. In: European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) Proceedings: Human and Artificial Intelligence for the Society of the Future, European Distance and E-Learning Network, (In press).

2024

Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; Friend Wise, Alyssa; Coughlan, Tim; Biswas, Gautam; Bossu, Carina; Burriss, Sarah K.; Charitonos, Koula; Crossley, Scott A.; Enyedy, Noel; Ferguson, Rebecca; FitzGerald, Elizabeth; Gaved, Mark; Herodotou, Christothea; Hundley, Melanie; McTamaney, Catherine; Molvig, Ole; Pendergrass, Emily; Ramey, Lynn; Sargent, Julia; Scanlon, Eileen; Smith, Blaine E. and Whitelock, Denise (2024). Innovating Pedagogy 2024. The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.

Harrod-Beck, Neil; Coughlan, Tim and Greenwood, Richard (2024). Intelligent strategy development and recommendations: Using TechAbility Standards to improve support for disabled learners. The Open University | TechAbility, UK.

Coughlan, Tim; Tessarolo, Felipe and Coughlan, Emily. (2024). Accessible by Design? Exploring How Barriers faced by Disabled Students are Resolved in Online and Distance Learning. In: International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs (ICCHP 24), 8-12 Jul 2024, Linz, Austria.

Coughlan, Tim; Iniesto, Francisco and Carr, Jessica E.. (2024). Analysing disability descriptions and student suggestions as a foundation to overcome barriers to learning. Journal of Interactive Media in Education.

Lister, Kate; Riva, Elena; Hartley, Alison; Waterhouse, Philippa; Moller, Naomi; Downes, Leigh; Coughlan, Tim; Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; McPherson, Elaine; Macdonald, Ian; Jones-Tinsley, Sophie; Brown, Cath and Tudor, Ruth. (2024). Positive Digital Practices: supporting positive learner identities and student mental wellbeing in technology-enhanced higher education. Journal of Interactive Media in Education.

Coughlan, Tim; Kubiak, Christopher; Haider, Sharif; Almond, Esther and Wild, Fridolin. (2024). Embedding and Evaluating Virtual Reality Sepsis Simulations into Online and Distance Learning across Multiple Healthcare Professions. In: 10th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network, 10-13 Jun 2024, Glasgow, Scotland.

Wild, Fridolin; Coughlan, Tim; Davies, Sarah-Jane; Shepherd, Rebecca; Collins, Trevor; King, Aitch and Matos Carew, Jade. (2024). eXtended Reality and Accessibility in Online and Distance Learning: Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges. In: 10th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network, 10-13 Jun 2024, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.

Coughlan, Tim (2024). Designing Inclusive Innovations to Facilitate Creativity and Learning. In: Cuesta Sánchez, Ana María and Pazos-López, Ángel eds. Digital humanities for the XXI Century Museum: Best practices, networks, and accessibility Paris, France: Boleine, pp. 367-387.

2023

Fichten, Catherine S.; Martiniello, Natalina; Asuncion, Jennison; Coughlan, Tim and Havel, Alice (2023). Changing times: Emerging technologies for students with disabilities in higher education. In: Madaus, Joseph W. and Dukes III, Lyman L. eds. Handbook of Higher Education and Disability: International Perspectives Edward Elgar, pp. 131-148.

Farrow, Robert; Coughlan, Tim; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte and Pitt, Rebecca. (2023). Supported Open Learning and Decoloniality: Critical Reflections on Three Case Studies. Education Sciences.

Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; Bossu, Carina; Charitonos, Koula; Coughlan, Tim; Deacon, Andrew; Deane, Nawaal; Ferguson, Rebecca; Herodotou, Christothea; Huang, Cheng-Wen; Mayisela, Tabisa; Rets, Irina; Sargent, Julia; Scanlon, Eileen; Small, Janet; Walji, Sukaina; Weller, Martin and Whitelock, Denise (2023). Innovating Pedagogy 2023: Open University Innovation Report 11. The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Iniesto, Francisco; Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate; Devine, Peter; Freear, Nicholas D.; Greenwood, Richard; Holmes, Wayne; Kenny, Ian; McLeod, Kevin and Tudor, Ruth. (2023). Creating ‘a simple conversation’: Designing a conversational user interface to improve the experience of accessing support for study. ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing.

Coughlan, Tim; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Mwoma, Teresa; Makoe, Mpine; Aubrey-Smith, Fiona and Tanglang, Nebath. (2023). Decision Making in Shifts to Online Teaching: Analysing Reflective Narratives from Staff Working in African Higher Educational Institutions. Trends in Higher Education, 2 (1) pp. 123-139.

Rets, Irina; Coughlan, Tim; Stickler, Ursula and Astruc, Lluïsa. (2023). Accessibility of Open Educational Resources: how well are they suited for English learners?. Open Learning: The Journal of Open and Distance Learning, 38 (1) pp. 38-57.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim (2023). A mixed-methods study with MOOC learners to understand their motivations and accessibility needs. In: Olivier, Jako and Rambow, Andreas eds. Open Educational Resources in Higher Education A Global Perspective Springer, pp. 175-201.

2022

Rets, Irina; Astruc, Lluïsa; Coughlan, Tim and Stickler, Ursula. (2022). Approaches to simplifying academic texts in English: English teachers’ views and practices. English for Specific Purposes, 68 pp. 31-46.

Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; Bossu, Carina; Charitonos, Koula; Coughlan, Tim; Ferguson, Rebecca; FitzGerald, Elizabeth; Gaved, Mark; Guitert, Montse; Herodotou, Christothea; Maina, Marcelo; Prieto-Blázquez, Josep; Rienties, Bart; Sangrà, Albert; Sargent, Julia; Scanlon, Eileen and Whitelock, Denise (2022). Innovating Pedagogy 2022: Open University Innovation Report 10. The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Coughlan, Tim and Lister, Kate. (2022). Creating Stories of Learning, for Learning: Exploring the Potential of Self-Narrative in Education with ‘Our Journey’. In: C&C '22 14th ACM Conference on Creativity & Cognition, 20-23 Jun 2022, Venice, Italy.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2022). A qualitative study to understand the perspectives of MOOC providers on accessibility. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 38 (1) pp. 87-101.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim (2022). Accessibility in MOOCs: the stakeholders’ perspectives. In: Rienties, Bart; Hampel, Regine; Scanlon, Eileen and Whitelock, Denise eds. Open world learning: research, Innovation and the Challenges of High-Quality Education London: Routledge, pp. 119-130.

Rets, Irina; Stickler, Ursula; Coughlan, Tim and Astruc, Lluïsa (2022). Simplification of open educational resources in English: Its effect on text processing of English learners. In: Rienties, Bart; Hampel, Regine; Scanlon, Eileen and Whitelock, Denise eds. Open World Learning: Research, Innovation and the Challenges of High-Quality Education London: Routledge, pp. 89-102.

Lister, Kate; Pearson, Victoria; Coughlan, Tim and Tessarolo, Felipe. (2022). Inclusion in Uncertain Times: Changes in Practices, Perceptions, and Attitudes around Accessibility and Inclusive Practice in Higher Education. Education Sciences.

2021

Lister, Kate; Coughlan, Tim; Kenny, Ian; Tudor, Ruth and Iniesto, Francisco. (2021). Taylor, The Disability Disclosure Virtual Assistant: A Case Study of Participatory Research with Disabled Students. Education Sciences.

Coughlan, Tim; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Mwoma, Teresa; Makoe, Mpine; Tanglang, Nebath; Bonney, Solomon; Aubrey-Smith, Fiona and Biard, Olivier (2021). Digital Decision: Understanding and supporting key choices in online and blended teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.

Coughlan, Tim; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Mwoma, Teresa; Makoe, Mpine; Tanglang, Nebath; Bonney, Solomon and Biard, Olivier (2021). Making digital decisions: A Guide for harnessing the potential of online learning and digital technologies. The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK.

Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate and Lucassen, Mathijs. (2021). Representing the Unseen with “Our Journey”: a Platform to Capture Affective Experiences and Support Emotional Awareness in University-Level Study. Journal of Formative Design in Learning, 5 (1) pp. 39-52.

Iniesto, Francisco; Coughlan, Tim and Lister, Kate. (2021). Implementing an accessible Conversational User Interface applying feedback from University students and disability support advisors. In: 18th International Web for All Conference, 19-20 Apr 2021, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Seale, Jane; Colwell, Chetz; Coughlan, Tim; Heiman, Tali; Kaspi-Tsahor, Dana and Olenik-Shemesh, Dorit. (2021). "Dreaming in colour’: disabled higher education students’ perspectives on improving design practices that would enable them to benefit from their use of technologies". Education and Information Technologies, 26 (2) pp. 1687-1719.

Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; Bossu, Carina; Coughlan, Tim; Ferguson, Rebecca; FitzGerald, Elizabeth; Gaved, Mark; Herodotou, Christothea; Rienties, Bart; Sargent, Julia; Scanlon, Eileen; Tang, Jinlan; Wang, Qi; Whitelock, Denise and Zhang, Shuai (2021). Innovating Pedagogy 2021: Open University Innovation Report 9. The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Coughlan, Tim; Iniesto, Francisco; Mote, Kellie and Lister, Kate (2021). Opportunities for virtual assistants and artificial intelligence to reduce administrative burden and enhance support for disabled students. A report from the ADDAPT project. The Open University and Jisc, Milton Keynes.

2020

Iniesto, Francisco; Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate and Holmes, Wayne. (2020). Designing an Assistant for the Disclosure and Management of Information about Needs and Support: the ADMINS project. In: ASSETS '20: The 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, 1-4.

Lister, Kate; Coughlan, Tim; Iniesto, Francisco; Freear, Nick and Devine, Peter. (2020). Accessible Conversational User Interfaces: Considerations for design. In: Web for All 2020, 20-21 Apr 2020, Taipei, Taiwan.

Lister, Kate; Coughlan, Tim and Owen, Nathaniel. (2020). Learning Needs, Barriers, Differences and Study Requirements: How Students Identify as ‘disabled’ in Higher Education. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 22 (1) pp. 95-111.

Lister, Kate; Coughlan, Tim and Owen, Nathaniel. (2020). Disability’ or ‘Additional study needs’? Identifying students’ language preferences in disability-related communications. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 35 (5) pp. 620-635.

Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate and Lucassen, Mathijs (2020). Development and evaluation of the Our Journey platform through the ‘Linked Journeys’ project. Jisc.

Coughlan, Tim. (2020). The use of open data as a material for learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 68 (1) pp. 383-411.

Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; Beirne, Elaine; Conole, Gráinne; Costello, Eamon; Coughlan, Tim; Ferguson, Rebecca; FitzGerald, Elizabeth; Gaved, Mark; Herodotou, Christothea; Holmes, Wayne; Mac Lochlainn, Conchur; Nic Giolla Mhichíl, Mairéad; Rienties, Bart; Sargent, Julia; Scanlon, Eileen; Sharples, Mike and Whitelock, Denise (2020). Innovating Pedagogy 2020: Open University Innovation Report 8. The Open University, Milton Keynes.

2019

Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate; Seale, Jane; Scanlon, Eileen and Weller, Martin (2019). Accessible Inclusive Learning: Foundations. In: Ferguson, Rebecca; Jones, Ann and Scanlon, Eileen eds. Educational visions: The lessons from 40 years of innovation London: Ubiquity press, pp. 51-73.

Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate; Seale, Jane; Scanlon, Eileen and Weller, Martin (2019). Accessible Inclusive Learning: Futures. In: Ferguson, Rebecca; Jones, Ann and Scanlon, Eileen eds. Educational visions: The lessons from 40 years of innovation London: Ubiquity press, pp. 75-91.

Pearson, Victoria; Lister, Katharine and Coughlan, Tim. (2019). Accessibility Coordinators: A model for embedded, sustainable change towards inclusive higher education. In: 12th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI 2019), 11-13 Nov 2019, Seville, Spain.

Lister, Katharine; McPherson, Elaine; Coughlan, Tim; Gallen, Anne-Marie and Pearson, Victoria. (2019). Towards Inclusive Language: Exploring student-led approaches to talking about disability-related study needs. In: 12th annual International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI 2019), 11-13 Nov 2019, Seville, Spain.

Coughlan, Tim and Goff, Jenny. (2019). Creating Open Online Courses with Learner Representative Partners to Widen Participation in Higher Education. Journal of Learning for Development - JL4D, 6 (2) pp. 143-159.

Clow, Doug; Coughlan, Tim; Cross, Simon; Edwards, Chris; Gaved, Mark; Herodotou, Christothea; Nguyen, Quan; Rienties, Bart; Thorne, Sam and Ullmann, Thomas (2019). Scholarly insight Winter 2019: a Data wrangler perspective. Open University, Milton Keynes.

Ferguson, Rebecca; Coughlan, Tim; Egelandsdal, Kjetil; Gaved, Mark; Herodotou, Christothea; Hillaire, Garron; Jones, Derek; Jowers, Iestyn; Kukulska-Hulme, Agnes; McAndrew, Patrick; Misiejuk, Kamila; Ness, Ingun Johanna; Rienties, Bart; Scanlon, Eileen; Sharples, Mike; Wasson, Barbara; Weller, Martin and Whitelock, Denise (2019). Innovating Pedagogy 2019: Open University Innovation Report 7. The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Coughlan, Tim; Pitt, Beck and Farrow, Rob. (2019). Forms of Innovation Inspired by Open Educational Resources: A Post-Project Analysis. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 34 (2) pp. 156-175.

Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Kate and Freear, Nick. (2019). Our Journey: Designing and utilising a tool to support students to represent their study journeys. In: 13th Annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED), 11-13 Mar 2019, Valencia, Spain.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2019). Auditing the accessibility of MOOCs: a four-component approach. In: EC-TEL 2019 Fourteenth European Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, 16-19 Sep 2019, Delft (Netherlands).

2018

Ullmann, Thomas; Lay, Stephanie; Cross, Simon; Edwards, Chris; Gaved, Mark; Jones, Edwina; Hidalgo, Rafael; Evans, Gerald; Lowe, Sue; Calder, Kathleen; Clow, Doug; Coughlan, Tim; Herodotou, Christothea; Mangafa, Chrysoula and Rienties, Bart (2018). Scholarly insight Spring 2018: a Data wrangler perspective. Open University UK, Milton Keynes.

Alain, George; Coughlan, Tim; Adams, Anne and Yanacopulos, Helen. (2018). Qualitative Data Analysis Challenges in Co-Designing Educational Technology Systems for Refugee Children. In: British HCI 2018, Workshop Title: Qualitative Data Research in HCI, 3 Jul 2018, Belfast.

Ullmann, Thomas; Lay, Stephanie; Coughlan, Tim; Lister, Katharine; Cross, Simon; Rienties, Bart and Whitelock, Denise. (2018). Understanding SEaM student comments from a Big(ger)Data perspective: what are students saying?. In: CALRG Annual Conference 2018, 18-19 Jun 2018, The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Coughlan, Tim and Lister, Katharine. (2018). The accessibility of administrative processes: Assessing the impacts on students in higher education. In: Proceedings of the 15th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (Web4All 2018), ACM Press, New York.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2018). Open Education while discussing accessibility with MOOC providers and learners. In: OER18: Open to All, 18-19 Apr 2018, Bristol.

Lister, Katharine and Coughlan, Tim. (2018). Student perceptions of the language of disability, deficit and empowerment. In: Proceedings of the fifth Widening Participation Conference, 26-27 Apr 2018, Milton Keynes.

Ferguson, Rebecca; Herodotou, Christothea; Coughlan, Tim; Scanlon, Eileen and Sharples, Mike (2018). MOOC development: priority areas. In: Luckin, Rosemary eds. Enhancing Learning and Teaching with Technology: What the Research Says London: UCL IOE Press.

Alain, George; Coughlan, Tim; Adams, Anne and Yanacopulos, Helen. (2018). A Process for Co-Designing Educational Technology Systems for Refugee Children. In: British HCI 2018, 4-6 Jul 2018, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.

2017

Rienties, Bart; Clow, Doug; Coughlan, Tim; Cross, Simon; Edwards, Chris; Gaved, Mark; Herodotou, Christothea; Hlosta, Martin; Jones, Jan; Rogaten, Jekaterina and Ullmann, Thomas (2017). Scholarly insight Autumn 2017:a Data wrangler perspective. Open University UK.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2017). An investigation into the perspectives of providers and learners on MOOC accessibility. In: TEEM'17: international conference technological ecosystems for enhancing multiculurality, 18-20 Oct 2017, Cadiz, Spain.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2017). Auditing the accessibility of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). In: 14th AAATE Congress 2017, 13-14 Sep 2017, Sheffield.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2017). What do MOOC providers think about accessibility?. In: EARLI 2017: Education in the crossroads of economy and politics – Role of research in the advancement of public good, 29 Aug - 2 Sep 2017, Tampere, Finland.

Evans, Elizabeth; Coughlan, Tim and Coughlan, Vicky. (2017). Building digital estates: Multiscreening, technology management and ephemeral television. Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies, 12 (2) pp. 191-205.

Rienties, Bart; Rogaten, Jekaterina; Nguyen, Quan; Edwards, Chris; Gaved, Mark; Holt, Deborah; Herodotou, Christothea; Clow, Doug; Cross, Simon; Coughlan, Tim; Jones, Jan and Ullmann, Thomas (2017). Scholarly insight Spring 2017: A Data Wrangler Perspective. Open University UK.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2017). What are the expectations of disabled learners when participating in a MOOC?. In: L@S '17 Proceedings of the Fourth (2017) ACM Conference on Learning @ Scale, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 225-228.

Coughlan, Tim; Ullmann, Thomas Daniel and Lister, Kate. (2017). Understanding Accessibility as a Process through the Analysis of Feedback from Disabled Students. In: W4A '17 Proceedings of the 14th Web for All Conference on The Future of Accessible Work, ACM, New York, USA.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2017). How can MOOCs be more accessible?. In: OER17: The Politics of Open, 5 & 6 Apr 2017, London.

Ferguson, Rebecca; Coughlan, Tim; Herodotou, Christothea and Scanlon, Eileen (2017). MOOCs: What the research of FutureLearn’s UK partners tells us. Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Milton Keynes.

2016

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2016). Accessibility of MOOCs: Understanding the Provider Perspective. Journal of Interactive Media in Education.

Rienties, Bart; Edwards, Chris; Gaved, Mark; Marsh, Vicky; Herodotou, Christothea; Clow, Doug; Cross, Simon; Coughlan, Tim; Jones, Jan and Ullmann, Thomas (2016). Scholarly insight 2016: a Data wrangler perspective. Open University UK.

Coughlan, Tim; Rodriguez-Ascaso, Alejandro; Iniesto, Francisco and Jelfs, Anne. (2016). OLA! A Scenario-Based Approach to Enhance Open Learning Through Accessibility. In: Computers Helping People with Special Needs: Proceedings of the 15th ICCHP conference, Springer, 445-452.

Lawson, Glyn; Brown, Michael; Floyde, Anne; Coughlan, Tim; Baurley, Sharon; Elliot, Meretta; Koppe, Therese and Tsai, Allen. (2016). Enhancing the Design Process with Drama-Related Methods. The Design Journal, 19 (4) pp. 605-623.

Ferguson, Rebecca; Coughlan, Tim and Herodotou, Christothea (2016). MOOCS: What The Open University research tells us. Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Milton Keynes.

Iniesto, Francisco; McAndrew, Patrick; Minocha, Shailey and Coughlan, Tim. (2016). The current state of accessibility of MOOCs: What are the next steps?. In: Open Education Global Conference 2016, 12-14 Apr 2016, Krakow, Poland.

Schnädelbach, Holger; Sun, Xu; Kefalidou, Genovefa; Coughlan, Tim; Meese, Rupert; Norris, James and Mcauley, Derek. (2016). Creativity Greenhouse: At-a-distance collaboration and competition over research funding. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 87 pp. 1-19.

Muñoz Civantos, Angeles; Brown, Michael; Coughlan, Tim; Ainsworth, Shaaron and Lorenz, Katharina. (2016). Using mobile media creation to structure museum interpretation with professional vision. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 20 (1) pp. 23-36.

2015

Coughlan, Tim (2015). Using Open Data as a Material for Introductory Programming Assignments. In: Atenas, Javiera and Havemann, Leo eds. Open Data as Open Educational Resources: Case studies of emerging practice London: Open Knowledge: Open Education Working Group, pp. 38-48.

Evans, Joanna; Brown, Michael; Coughlan, Tim; Lawson, Glyn and Craven, Michael P.. (2015). A systematic review of dementia focused assistive technology. In: Human-Computer Interaction: Interaction Technologies, Springer, 406-417.

Baron, Nick; Carletti, Laura; Muñoz Civantos, Angeles; Coughlan, Tim; Allen, Robert; Lach, Pamella; Davies, Catherine; Tyler-Jones, Richard and Ferran, Bronac. (2015). Spatial Humanities Moving Beyond the Dot on a Map. In: Proceedings of the Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts Conference, DRHA2014, 111-116.

Giannachi, Gabriella; Sinker, Rebecca; Stack, John; Locatelli, Cristina; Carletti, Laura; Price, Dominic; McAuley, Derek; Coughlan, Tim and Benford, Steve. (2015). ArtMaps: A Technology for Looking at Tate’s Collection. Leonardo.

Coughlan, Tim; Carletti, Laura; Giannachi, Gabriella; Benford, Steve; McAuley, Derek; Price, Dominic; Locatelli, Cristina; Sinker, Rebecca and Stack, John. (2015). ArtMaps: interpreting the spatial footprints of artworks. In: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2015, 18-23 Apr 2015, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Schnädelbach, Holger; Coughlan, Tim; Kefalidou, Genovefa; McAuley, Derek and Meese, Rupert. (2015). Creativity Bento Box: a physical resource pack to support interaction in virtual space. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 31 (11) pp. 790-804.

2014

Coughlan, Tim; Brown, Michael; Lawson, Glyn; McAuley, Derek; Baurley, Sharon; Tsai, Allen; Koppe, Therese; Elliott, Meretta; Green, Stephen and Martin, Jen. (2014). Living with the user: design drama for dementia care through responsive scripted experiences in the home. In: UbiComp 2014, 13-17 Sep 2014, Seattle, WA, USA.

Shipp, Victoria; Coughlan, Tim; Martindale, Sarah; Ng, Kher Hui; Evans, Elizabeth; Mortier, Richard and Reeves, Stuart. (2014). Wearables or infrastructure: contrasting approaches to collecting behavioural data in the home. In: HomeSys 2014, 7 Sep 2014, Seattle, WA, USA.

Brown, Michael; Coughlan, Tim; Blum, Jesse; Lawson, Glyn; Houghton, Robert; Mortier, Richard; Goulden, Murray and Arunachalam, Unna. (2014). Tailored Scenarios: A Low-Cost Online Method to Elicit Perceptions of Home Technologies Using Participant-Specific Contextual Information. Interacting with Computers, 27 (1) pp. 60-71.

Brown, Michael; Tsai, Allen; Baurley, Sharon; Koppe, Therese; Lawson, Glyn; Martin, Jen; Coughlan, Tim; Elliott, Meretta; Green, Stephen and Arunachalam, Unna. (2014). Using cultural probes to inform the design of assistive technologies. In: Human-Computer Interaction. Theories, Methods, and Tools, Springer, 35-46.

2013

van der Linden, Janet; Rogers, Yvonne; Coughlan, Tim; Adams, Anne; Wilson, Caroline; Haya, Pablo; Martin, Estafania and Collins, Trevor. (2013). Evocative computing – creating meaningful lasting experiences in connecting with the past. In: Interact 2013, 2-6 Sep 2013, Cape Town. South Africa.

Coughlan, Tim; Pitt, Rebecca and McAndrew, Patrick. (2013). Building open bridges: collaborative remixing and reuse of open educational resources across organisations. In: 2013 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ‘changing perspectives’ (CHI 2013), 29 Apr - 02 May 2013, Paris, France.

Coughlan, Tim; Brown, Michael; Lawson, Glyn; Mortier, Richard; Houghton, Robert J. and Goulden, Murray. (2013). Tailored scenarios: a low-cost online method to elicit perceptions on designs using real relationships. In: CHI 2013 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 27 Apr - 02 May 2013, Paris.

Coughlan, Tim; Ebrahimi, Nassim; McAndrew, Patrick and Pitt, Rebecca. (2013). Assessing OER impact across varied organisations and learners: experiences from the "Bridge to Success" initiative. In: OER13: Creating a Virtuous Circle, 26-27 Mar 2013, Nottingham, UK.

Brown, Michael; Coughlan, Tim; Lawson, Glyn; Goulden, Murray; Houghton, Robert J. and Mortier, Richard. (2013). Exploring Interpretations of Data from the Internet of Things in the Home. Interacting with Computers, 25 (3) pp. 204-217.

Coughlan, Tim; Leder Mackley, Kerstin; Brown, Michael; Martindale, Sarah; Schlögl, Stephan; Mallaband, Becky; Arnott, John; Hoonhout, Jettie; Szostak, Dalila; Brewer, Robin; Poole, Erika; Pirhonen, Antti; Mitchell, Val; Pink, Sarah and Hine, Nicholas. (2013). Current Issues and Future Directions in Methods for Studying Technology in the Home. PsychNology Journal, 11 (2) pp. 159-184.

2012

Coughlan, Tim; Brown, Michael; Mortier, Richard; Houghton, Robert J.; Goulden, Murray and Lawson, Glyn. (2012). Exploring acceptance and consequences of the Internet of Things in the home. In: iThings 2012, 20-23 Nov 2012, Besancon, France.

Coughlan, Tim; Collins, Trevor D.; Adams, Anne; Rogers, Yvonne; Haya, Pablo A. and Martin, Estefania. (2012). The conceptual framing, design and evaluation of device ecologies for collaborative activities. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 70 (10) pp. 765-779.

Coughlan, Tim; Brown, Michael; Houghton, Robert and Lawson, Glyn. (2012). Exploring new connections between the physical and digital for future heritage interpretations. In: CHI 2012 Workshop: Heritage Matters, 5-10 May 2012, Austin, Texas.

Coughlan, Tim; van der Linden, Janet and Adams, Anne. (2012). Local connections: designing technologies for discovery and creativity within the community. Interactions, 19 (1) pp. 18-22.

2011

Coughlan, Tim; Adams, Anne; Rogers, Yvonne and Davies, Sarah-Jane. (2011). Enabling live dialogic and collaborative learning between field and indoor contexts. In: The 25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction, 04-08 Jul 2011, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Adams, Anne; Coughlan, Tim; Rogers, Yvonne; Collins, Trevor; Davies, Sarah-Jane; Blake, Canan and Lea, John. (2011). Live linking of fieldwork to the laboratory increases students inquiry based reflections. In: CSCL 2011: International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 04-08 Jul 2011, Hong Kong.

Adams, Anne; Coughlan, Tim; Lea, John; Rogers, Yvonne; Davies, Sarah-Jane and Collins, Trevor. (2011). Designing interconnected distributed resources for collaborative inquiry based science education. In: ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries, 13-17 Jun 2011, Ottawa.

Coughlan, Tim; Adams, Anne; Collins, Trevor; Davies, Sarah-Jane; Lea, John and Rogers, Yvonne. (2011). Working with ‘mission control’ in scientific fieldwork: supporting interactions between in situ and distanced collaborators. In: The 2011 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 19-23 Mar 2011, Hangzhou, China.

2010

Coughlan, Tim; Adams, Anne and Rogers, Yvonne. (2010). Designing for balance: 'Out There and in Here'. In: 24th BCS Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI2010): Play is a Serious Business, 6-10 Sep 2010, Dundee, Scotland.

Middup, Christopher P.; Coughlan, Tim and Johnson, Peter. (2010). How Creative Groups Structure Tasks through Negotiating Resources. In: COOP 2010: the 9th International Conference on Designing Cooperative Systems, 18-21 May 2010, Aix-en-Provence, France.

2009

Coughlan, Tim and Johnson, Peter. (2009). Understanding productive, structural and longitudinal interactions in the design of tools for creative activities. In: Creativity and Cognition, 26-30 Oct 2009, Berkeley, California.

Coughlan, Tim and Johnson, Peter. (2009). Designing personal information management systems for creative practitioners. Journal of Digital Information.

2008

Coughlan, Tim and Johnson, Peter. (2008). An exploration of constraints and end user development in environments for creative tasks. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 24 (5) pp. 444-459.

2006

Coughlan, Tim and Johnson, Peter. (2006). Interaction in creative tasks: ideation, representation and evaluation in composition. In: Proceedings of ACM CHI 2006 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2006, ACM Press, 531-540.

Media appearances

Go the Distance

Go The Distance gives you a 10-week taste of what distance learning is really like – with real students, real tutors, key study and digital literacy skills and lots of help with your English.

BBC | 1st November 2017

Overcoming barriers to accessible and inclusive digital learning

A practical article describing strategies that educators can use to make online learning more accessible and inclusive.