Research lines of the Doctoral Programme in Education and ICT (e-learning)

This research line explores the following topics, with a focus on online learning environments or technology-enhanced learning:

•  Online learning environment and inner feedback
•  Artificial intelligence (IA) and feedback
•  Feedback personalization
•  Feedback and self-regulated learning
•  Assessment and evaluative judgment
• Assessment and feedback practices in schools

This proposal focuses on studying feedback strategies and practices to strengthen self-regulated learning and the development of evaluative judgement, particularly within the framework of competency-based assessment, in both schools and higher education institutions. Approaches such as peer assessment, multimodal feedback and learning analytics are analysed along with their application in hybrid, digital and in-person environments. Attention is paid to how pedagogical and technological conditions affect the quality of feedback. This proposal is relevant in the context of secondary and higher education, especially with regard to the study of online teaching processes, teacher training and the development of metacognitive skills.

This research focuses on adapting and applying peer assessment processes to online or blended mathematics learning environments. It will explore the design of subject-specific rubrics, the quality of peer feedback, and its impact on students' self-regulation and learning. Additional aspects such as reliability, student perceptions and teacher training needs for implementing technology-supported peer assessment will also be analysed

There are increasingly more technologies that support computer-assisted language learning. While these are necessary developments, there is a need for technological options to go hand-in-hand with pedagogical and psycholinguistic considerations. This line of research investigates second language teaching and learning in blended and virtual environments and the effectiveness of different pedagogical interventions on L2 learning.

Research topics include, but are not limited to:

•  Focus on form and L2 learning (e.g., corrective feedback).
•  Technology-based Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT).
•  Telecollaboration and interaction.
•  Learning design, including OER and MOOCs.
•  Individual differences in second language learning.
•  Artificial intelligence (AI) and language learning (e.g., voice-based chatbots).
•  AI and self-regulated learning.
•  Teacher training focused on the use of AI for instructional design.
•  Teachers' and learners' beliefs about language teaching and learning

PhD Research proposals are welcome in any of the following topics:

• eTandem language learning:  eTandem language learning takes place when two learners who are L1 speakers of each other’s TL help each collaborate. Dyads, peer-feedback and new technologies/contexts such as virtual reality are venues of exploration for this type of learning
• Teaching speaking interaction online: teacher and peer-feedback, task design, blended formats.
• Alignment phenomena in L2 dialogue.  Alignment phenomena in L2 dialogue has been posited to facilitate L2 acquisition, and be mediated by task or L1/L2.
• Learner engagement in online environments
• Affective factor. Emotions such as anxiety or enjoyment are strongly present in online communication and can enhance or hinder L2 learning.
• Gamification

This research line focuses on studying undergraduate and postgraduate students’ experiences with online learning in a fully online higher education institution such as the UOC. Drawing on the team’s expertise in designing and assessing educational innovations, the research carried out by the PhD students will contribute to a better understanding of the learners’ expectations, how they manage and engage with the online learning at our university, how the intersection between their expectations and experience influences their satisfaction and, in the end, how it affects their determination to achieve their educational goals. Candidates should be fluent in Catalan or Spanish to be able to carry on the fieldwork and analyse their data, developing a qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods approach.

This research proposal is focused on analysing students' learning engagement in relation to their identity and agency development as learners in online and blended environments. We conceive agency and identity as dynamic and socioculturally mediated dispositions through which students build their learning pathways across different environments.

We propose dialogical and reflective learning approaches, including student participation in learning co-design via digital technologies, as means of encouraging students' learning engagement, as well as their identity and agency development by gradually taking control and direction of their own learning.

The proposed research line aims to advance the personalization of learning based on learners' individual characteristics, needs and contexts. It explores how technology – particularly artificial intelligence – can support adaptive, inclusive and effective educational experiences.

Key research directions include:

•  Synchronous, asynchronous and hybrid learning methodologies
•  Active and experiential learning approaches
•  Feedback and learner support mechanisms
•  Competency-based programme design
•  Competence and knowledge assessment methods
•  Artificial intelligence for educational innovation
•  Formal and informal learning pathways
•  Linking learning methodologies to skills development and employability

This research will investigate the following large-scale research topics (which can be independent PhD topics):

1.  The inclusion of psico-pedagogic mechanisms in learning digital resources, basically based on educational regulation and metacognition, mediated by AI to improve the quality of teaching and learning process.

2.  The relationship of educational neuroscience with socio-emotional learning, especially emotional intelligence.

3.  The relationship of virtual or human teacher cognitive and affective feedback with neurotransmitters and students’ motivation and attention.

4.  The development of an intelligent and affective-aware CSCL environment that orchestrates students' interactions and engagement in an effective manner, taking into consideration different affective states.

5. The analysis and interpretation of the relationship between emotion awareness and educational neuroscience, identifying what neurotransmitters have a strong relationship with the emotions that students experience during their online learning processes (conversations, debates, wikis) in context.

This research line focuses on the educational potential and pedagogical implications of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) within initial teacher training (ITT) programmes for primary and secondary education teachers.

It investigates how GenAI-based tools can be integrated into the teacher preparation curriculum to equip future educators with the necessary skills to use GenAI effectively, ethically and critically in their classrooms.

The research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how initial teacher education (ITE) can be reformed to integrate GenAI responsibly. The goal is to ensure that future primary and secondary teachers are not only users of this technology but also critical, ethical and pedagogically informed designers of AI-enhanced learning experiences.

Development of competency frameworks, strategies and actions for teaching, especially hybrid and online, that help with professional teaching updating in emerging and future educational scenarios (teaching focus).

The aim of this research area is to deepen understanding of how institutional culture acts as either an enabler or a barrier to the development of Teacher Digital Competence (TDC) in Higher Education. It explores the influence of organizational structures, leadership, and digital strategies on teachers’ professional growth and innovation.

This research aims to analyse and design learning environments that foster the development of personal and professional decision-making skills. It seeks to systematize knowledge in this field to enhance understanding of how individuals make decisions in complex and dynamic contexts—particularly within organizations—and to integrate these insights into professional learning and higher education programs related to management, entrepreneurship, and leadership.

Main research lines include:

• Analysis of competences, soft skills, and learning outcomes, with a focus on critical thinking, collaboration, teamwork, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
• The integration of gender perspectives and ethical considerations in e-learning.
• Teamwork and intercultural dimensions of online learning.

Analysis and identification of key parameters in the digital transformation of educational organizations that involve technology, organization and pedagogy, and the development of diagnoses and action proposals to transition with quality towards organizations that respond to the educational scenarios of the future.

This line of research aims to study how the digital era is challenging educational leadership, how leadership approaches are shaping education in the digital society, and what mindsets and actions leaders have to take into consideration. These studies have to support a new definition of leadership in today's world

This line of research studies the structure and use of students’ social networks in an online learning environment, in an attempt to relate networks’ structure and use with students’ learning process. Advanced statistical techniques will be applied to relate the structure of social networks with the learning process of students. Semi-structured interviews and other qualitative techniques will be applied to determine how students use their personal social networks. A thesis proposal can be based on quantitative methodologies, qualitative methodologies, or a combination of the two. The proposals will take into account the existing literature and theory on social networks and on informational behaviour, so as to customize its application in the specific context of e-learning.

This line of research studies behaviours and decisions in relation to the use of the digital environment in learning processes. It aims to discover behaviours and motivations in regard to the acceptance or refusal of digital information resources (such as applications, services or devices) in learning processes as well as the modes of use and access to these resources. The possible contexts of learning are considered in the broadest sense, whether formal learning in an academic context (teaching and research), informal learning in a personal or organizational context, or a combination of these. The paradigm of digital visitors and residents is used as a key reference to characterize these behaviours, as well as existing literature on knowledge management and information behaviour. The theses proposals may include qualitative or quantitative methods, or a combination of the two.

This research line explores the quality of education systems from a conceptual, ideological and political viewpoint. It also encompasses research on assessment processes and models, both from a macro (system) perspective and a micro (educational process) perspective.  

Studies related to the following thesis lines are particularly relevant: 

1. Educational transformation processes triggered by the growing integration of digital technologies, and the social and economic impact of these processes on the quality of education at the student level.  

2. Strategies for widening and enhancing stakeholders' involvement in defining quality and the assessment processes in place to measure it. 

3. Proposals for new assessment models, systems or tools (or updates to existing ones) that take into account improvement, innovation and ongoing change processes in educational contexts, especially technology-mediated ones

Reading is a fundamental academic skill that serves as the foundation for most forms of learning. However, the acquisition of reading skills relies heavily on the development of oral language abilities during the preschool years. This doctoral research aims to design, develop and evaluate a technology-based intervention programme to enhance key oral language components – namely phonics, phonological awareness, vocabulary and morphosyntax – in preschool children identified as being at risk for reading disabilities

In this interdisciplinary research line, we study children’s interactions with educational technology and how these interactions are influenced by the pupil’s age and developmental progress. From the fields of psychology, education and child-computer interaction, the questions we address are: How can technology be used as an educational resource with young children? And how can we improve interactive and digital content to make it age-appropriate? To answer these questions, we study the spontaneous interactions of young children with digital educational games, robots, AItoys and apps in educational contexts, applying innovative methods, and addressing ethical issues for research using advanced technology with children.

In order to improve our understanding of students' socio-emotional behavior in educational settings, we aim to explore the interface between learning and emotions by examining children's interactions in collaborative learning settings. What is the potential impact of collaborative play and learning with digital content? We will explore cutting-edge applications of AI using mixed methods research with three- to six-year-old children in an efficient, ethical and unobtrusive way. 

Experimental sciences in general – and physics in particular – are usually a very challenging courses for students and teachers, and even more in an e learning environment. How can a graphic or an idea be shown and explained? How can a question regarding a specific point of a drawing be addressed? How can we perform an experiment?

This line of research studies how all these questions, among others, can be addressed. In particular, how can technology help sciences students in higher education.

This research line explores how artificial intelligence can support mathematics learning through personalized adaptations and automated feedback in digital environments. The aim is to identify models capable of adjusting content and activities based on students' interaction data, enhancing conceptual understanding, autonomy and motivation. The research will also address the pedagogical and ethical implications of automated personalization, as well as the evolving role of teachers in these new learning contexts.

This research line focuses on the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI) and its transformative potential impact on education. Given that technology is shaping the way we learn, teach and access information, this research aims to explore the full range of possibilities AI offers in educational contexts, particularly online higher education, through case studies. Four subareas are contemplated: personalized learning, intelligent tutoring systems, AI-driven intervention design, and automation of assessment and grading.

This proposal investigates how digital collaborative environments can foster joint problem solving in mathematics. It will analyse the use of tools such as forums, shared documents and synchronous platforms to understand which collaboration structures and interaction types best promote mathematical reasoning and communication. The research will also examine the teaching skills required to design and facilitate collaborative learning in online or hybrid settings.

Take advantage of technology to create personalized, meaningful and adaptive teaching and learning experiences. It emphasizes design, prototyping and integration of advanced technologies, such as conversational agents, adaptive learning environments and personalized feedback systems. The objective is to improve the commitment and the results of both students and teachers, ensuring an ethical and effective implementation (focus on instruments).

This research line examines the educational potential of GenAI (generative artificial intelligence) in the context of primary and secondary education. It investigates how GenAI-based tools can enhance teaching, learning and assessment processes by fostering innovation, personalization and critical engagement with technology.

Examples:

• Teachers: The use of GenAI to support instructional design, enrich classroom practices and inform formative and summative assessment strategies.

• Students: The use of GenAI to facilitate learning, promote the creation of meaningful learning artefacts and develop metacognitive awareness and self-regulated learning.

Through this line of inquiry, the research aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how GenAI can be integrated responsibly and effectively into educational practice.

This research explores how artificial intelligence and educational technologies can enhance collaborative learning and pedagogical innovation in higher education. It investigates AI-driven tools to support communication, feedback and learner modelling, aiming to design more adaptive, inclusive, and effective digital learning environments.

Social, educational and ethical implications of emerging ICT.

STEM Education (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) for the promotion of gender inclusion and equity in the information society.  

Sustainable and responsible research and innovation in ICT.

This research line critically investigates the phenomenon of digital coloniality, examining how algorithmic and artificial intelligence (AI) systems replicate and automate historical structures of power and cultural hegemony within digital learning environments. The focus is on analysing the mechanisms through which these systems codify existing biases, leading to the epistemic marginalization of non-Western cultures, local knowledge systems and diverse epistemologies. Ultimately, this line seeks to understand the impact of algorithmic governance on educational equity and autonomy, questioning the perceived neutrality of digital tools and advocating for frameworks that promote data sovereignty and epistemic justice in online education.

Analysis of emerging learning scenarios (formal, non-formal and informal) and the futures of education in a context of lifelong learning, as well as the development of digital skills -including those corresponding to AI- as a need of the 21st century citizen (student-citizen focus).

This research area explores emerging forms and trends in learning, focusing on innovative pedagogies and models that redefine educational practices. It examines microcredentials as a new approach to structuring and recognizing learning in flexible and personalized ways.

This proposal studies how pedagogical innovations and digital technologies, in combination with educational research-based methodologies, can help to transform education. It focuses on analysing the challenges of educational transformation in various settings and at different levels and stages (school, university and community education, as well as formal and non-formal education), and on exploring how innovation can promote equity, inclusion and participation. This involves co-designing educational practices, analysing territorial innovation experiences, and evaluating the impact of interdisciplinary and cultural projects. It also implies analysing the adoption of digital technologies in institutions and classrooms, and the factors that influence how effectively these technologies are used. The proposal also addresses the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and educational data as tools for transforming teaching and learning. 

Similarly, it explores the educational potential of music and the arts as ways to boost creativity, motivation and well-being, in dialogue with creative technologies. Finally, the proposal aims to investigate innovative teaching practices in music teaching, analysing how digital technologies can transform music learning experiences in schools and extracurricular settings

Design and assessment in online learning & teaching environments,supported by social and  collaborative tools. This line of research studies the pedagogical, organizational and symbolic aspects of the new social and collaborative environments and technologies for teaching and learning in a complex and changing world.

This research proposal focuses on exploring how physical, virtual and hybrid learning spaces can be designed and evaluated to foster students' educational experience, well-being and participation. It follows a three-dimensional approach involving pedagogy (didactic use of space), the environment-architecture (physical layout or set-up) and digital mediation (technologies and virtual environments). This proposal is relevant in the context of school and higher education studies, particularly in settings involving methodological innovation or the reorganization of school or university spaces.

Thesis proposals:

•  Comparative evaluation of well-being and learning improvement in innovative learning spaces compared to traditional spaces.
•  Autonomy, movement, collaboration and learning in school spaces. Analysis of the repercussions of redesigning the learning space.

Communities of practice are nowadays an important concept in the healthcare sector. Described as a group of people who share an interest in a domain of human endeavour and engage in collective learning that creates bonds among them, they give healthcare professionals the chance to build collective knowledge working at different levels of care. These virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) have proven capable of solving healthcare professionals' information and communication problems in a much simpler way. Moreover, they have been found to improve the functioning of organizations by generating the kind of tacit knowledge that emerges from interactions among colleagues. Finally, through virtual communities of practice, the optimal conditions for facilitating a collaborative and interdisciplinary learning network are created. The interest in identifying the benefits that VCoPs offers in the healthcare sector is relatively new in specialized literature.

This research proposal is devoted to studying student learning in online doctoral education. This implies, on the one hand, the analysis of the learning experience of doctoral students, taking into account the educational conditions and the sociocultural implications of doctoral education in the current contextOn the other hand, the pedagogical conceptualization of a sustainable and appropriate online learning model for their research skills development to participate both inside and outside of academic contexts, taking into consideration career guidance and employability.

Some of the topics that are intended to be addressed are: structure, flexibility and presence in online doctoral learning; doctoral students' networked and community learning and the development of a relational agency; students' engagement and self-direction in doctoral online learning; diversity, inclusion and student support and guidance in online doctoral supervision

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of food studies, in the large variety of European Food Sciences programmes the central core considers food technology, consumer sciences, business and economics, nutrition and health studies. Research on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) applications in educational systems confirms the potential of ICT to promote and encourage innovation and improve the quality of education, as well as to achieve greater inclusion and equity quotas. On the other hand, online lifelong learning training systems through different training modalities (e-Learning, b-Learning or m-Learning, MOOCs) make a more extensive and inclusive lifelong training possible in formal and non-formal education, proving to have the potential to be effective in expanding food studies. In addition, ICT is also a powerful pedagogical tool for the treatment of curricular contents related to: determinants of food choice, food marketing, food culture, food security, food safety and food technology. This research line aims to raise awareness and help to adapt food related modules/courses to these new opportunities and educational challenges.  

This project aims to oral interaction in language learning by addressing challenges in transferring face-to-face (f2f) practices to online and blended formats. It highlights the potential of technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of interaction tasks but emphasizes the need to adapt instructional design to the online context rather than directly replicating f2f methods. The project can focus on key elements like teacher discourse, task design, learner engagement, and feedback strategies. It also seeks to explore how multimodal tools and feedback mechanisms in blended settings differ from f2f classes, aiming to identify effective strategies for promoting oral interaction and improving learning outcomes in increasingly digital teaching environments.

Doctoral thesis projects under the title Virtual Exchange for Language and Intercultural Communication are invited to investigate how online collaborative environments can enhance both language learning and intercultural understanding across diverse educational contexts. Research may examine the design, implementation, and evaluation of virtual exchange initiatives that connect learners from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, focusing on how digital tools and pedagogical approaches foster communicative competence, language development, and intercultural awareness. Projects could explore areas such as task design for meaningful interaction, the role of identity and agency in multilingual communication, or the impact of emerging technologies such as AI, virtual reality, and social platforms on language learning and intercultural engagement. Studies that adopt innovative methodologies or draw on interdisciplinary frameworks from applied linguistics, education, and communication studies are particularly welcome.

Collaborative Online International Learning is a teaching methodology that began to be applied in higher education in EEUU in 2004. It is an innovative way for students to participate in international educational activities by collaborating with peers from other countries. Research on this innovative approach is scarce and mainly based on case studies, since only a few projects have so far been implemented, usually at the initiative of higher education professors. Prior results suggest that participating in COIL projects enables students to develop several cross-cutting competencies. This project supports innovation in teaching and learning processes by identifying the potential and possible limits of collaborative online international learning (COIL) in early childhood and primary education. It also aims to investigate the learning process in early childhood education settings using traditional vs. COIL classroom teaching methods.

This thesis proposal is an opportunity to research the educational effects of institutional practices in the field of child protection as well as analysis and comparisons of protection systems. There is also an interest in studying social pedagogy's contributions to the analysis of professional practices and case analysis methodology in teams of social education workers. Lastly, there is the intention to create ties with studies or research projects relating to social education, adolescence and cities.

Research topics

•  Supervision of teams
•  Social pedagogy
•  Social education
•  Professional practices
•  Analysis of practices
•  Community participation

This line of research is an opportunity for students to work on doctoral theses linked to contemporary pedagogical thinking, following perspectives from the theory and history of education. Considering standpoints in critical pedagogy, the intention is to study the elements that allow for certain openings in the ways educational practices are conceived and performed. Based on a hermeneutic epistemology and qualitative methodologies, the idea is to study education using parameters such as diversity, differences, bodies, and peace culture. 

Research topics

•  Queer theory and education in pedagogical devices
•  Pedagogy and functional diversity: critical studies on inclusion
•  Sensitive pedagogy and body studies: bodies, culture and education
•  Pedagogies and peace culture
•  Philosophy of education
•  Theory of education
•  Contemporary pedagogical thinking

This proposal is addressed to PhD candidates interested in exploring the factors associated with unequal access to lifelong educational opportunities and inequalities in outcomes, from both instrumental and positional perspectives. We also welcome proposals that specifically examine the role these factors play in educational models, approaches and processes, that is, how and to what extent they are relevant. 

Studies may focus on any educational setting or social care institution, including schools at all educational levels and in any format (on-site or online), social care facilities, shelters and housing services for women and children, residential care institutions for children and young people, lifelong learning associations, and adult education schools. 

Research approaches should be interdisciplinary, drawing on related fields such as social pedagogy, sociology and anthropology. Mixed-method designs that coherently combine sound quantitative methodologies with robust qualitative approaches are particularly encouraged.

The main goal is to understand and improve the pathways and processes of youth at risk of limited employment (YARLE). The approach aims at intertwining macro and micro variables, and in particular the role of key community agents (local enterprises, TSOs, high schools, among others) and the spread of second chance schools locally and internationally. A particular focus will be given to the analysis of both formal and informal support and services youth at risk have received in terms of counseling and guidance.

This proposal is based on a vision of educational inclusion as a wide-ranging and transformative process that requires action both in pedagogical practices and in the institutional and cultural structures of the education system. Accessibility, well-being and social justice are the three main pillars.

Research areas include initial teacher training, inclusive school practices, digital accessibility, universal design for learning (UDL), the role of artificial intelligence in personalizing learning, physical activity and inclusive sport, emotional well-being and educational resilience, and school and work transitions.

The comprehensiveness of this proposal makes it possible to analyse educational inclusion at various educational stages and in different settings (formal and non-formal education; early childhood, primary, secondary and post-compulsory education), paying particular attention to rural, disadvantaged and culturally diverse environments.

This research topic welcomes theses that make a substantial contribution to research methodology in the field of education. Such contributions may focus on one or more of the three primary research methodologies: quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods. Examples of this type of research, referred to in the literature as "methodological research" or "meta-research", may include (but are not limited to) empirical studies that (a) analyse the state of published research methods in one or more areas of educational research; (b) examine how educational researchers think about and use a particular methodology or methodologies; (c) identify methodological gaps in an area of educational research; or (d) develop a tool or framework for improving the quality of educational research.