Professor Rebecca Eynon

Research

Current projects

• OxDEG: The Oxford Digital Ethnography Group

  Participants: Dr Peaks Krafft, Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr William Kelly

  OxDEG, the Oxford Digital Ethnography Group, comprises students and faculty members from Oxford University who discuss and share ideas about the evolution of ethnography in a heavily mediated world.

Past projects

• Creative Algorithmic Intelligence: Capabilities and Complementarity

  Participants: Professor Michael Osborne, Professor Rebecca Eynon, Anne Ploin, Dr Paul Duckworth

  This project seeks to map present and future interfaces between human and artificial creative intelligence, and investigate the ways in which creative human/AI collaboration may contribute to human flourishing.

• Understanding the potential of AI in lifelong learning: A critical perspective

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Huw Davies

  This project seeks to discover the potential of artificial intelligence to personalise informal learning opportunities for adults across the life course.

• Using graph databases to conceptualise social class: a proof of concept study

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Huw C. Davies

  This study will critically examine the value of graph databases for the social sciences through a focus on social class.

• Transmedia Literacy

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Cristobal Cobo, Dr Huw C. Davies, Laura Larke

  The transliteracy project aims to examine how young people use technology to learn outside formal educational settings.

• The Social Implications of the Use of Big Data in Education

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon

  This project explores the ethical and social implications of the growing use of data in education via a systematic review of policy and practice in the UK, USA and Singapore.

• Online Learning in the Crowd: Examining “Content Overload” in MOOC Forums

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Isis Hjorth, Dr Taha Yasseri, Nabeel Gillani

  This project examines the extent to which social learning can be supported in the large online crowds of MOOCs.

• Tackling Digital Inequality Amongst Young People: The Home Internet Access Initiative

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Huw C. Davies, Laura Larke

  This participatory research project explores a two year initiative that provides all year 10 students with a laptop and Internet connection if they require one at home in three secondary schools.

• From digital skills to tangible outcomes: improving measures and models of Internet use

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Ellen Helsper, Dr Alexander van Deursen

  This study aims to develop new survey measures of people’s digital skills, digital engagement and outcomes of Internet use.

• Conceptualising interaction and learning in MOOCs

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Chris Davies, Dr Isis Hjorth, Dr Taha Yasseri, Nabeel Gillani

  The overarching goal of this project is to propose a typology that describes the nature of learner interactions in MOOCs that develops our understanding of how learning takes place in such settings.

• Social inequalities in the network era: Exploring the links between Internet use and social mobility in Britain

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon

  Through analysis of OxIS survey data and in-depth interviews this project will explore if and how individuals from less well-off backgrounds can use the Internet to influence their social mobility.

• Lapsed Use of the Internet Amongst Young People in the UK: Digital Choice or Digital Exclusion?

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Anne Geniets

  Around 10% of 17-19 year olds in Britain are lapsed Internet users: why have they stopped using the Internet given its prevalence and value in the lives of the majority of young people? This project aims to inform the UK's digital inclusion strategy.

• The Learning Companion: an embodied conversational agent for learning

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Professor Yorick Wilks, Dr Chris Davies

  The Learning Companion project aims to evaluate the feasibility of a computer-based digital tool to help adults whose engagement with learning is tentative or hard to sustain make productive use of the Internet for achieving their own learning projects.

• ULab: European Laboratory for Modelling the Technical Research University of Tomorrow

  Participants: Professor William H. Dutton, Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Monica Bulger

  ULab will work as a University Laboratory, systematically reviewing, evaluating and experimenting with current practice in research, valorization, entrepreneurship and outreach activities in each of the five partner universities.

• The Learner in Their Context

  Participants: Professor Rebecca Eynon, Dr Chris Davies, Professor John Furlong, Dr Lars Malmberg, Melissa Highton

  This project, initiated as part of Becta's major programme of research in support of the Government's Harnessing Technology strategy, looked at the learning opportunities afforded by young people's uses of new technologies in their everyday lives.

• Breaking Barriers to e-Government

  Participants: Professor William H. Dutton, Professor Helen Margetts, Professor Rebecca Eynon

  Investigating the legal, organisational, technological and other barriers to expanding effective eGovernment services using the Internet and to define possible solutions at a European level to overcome such obstacles.

Teaching

• Digital Interviewing

  This course encourages students to develop a critical stance to research practices. Alongside conceptual and theoretical discussions, students will obtain hand­s-on practice gathering qualitative data, particularly using digital methods.

• Digital Social Research: Methods Core

  This course provides students with the opportunity to engage with the methodological, ethical and philosophical underpinnings of quantitative and qualitative social science research practices.

• Learning, the Internet and Society

  ICTs have the potential to transform how, what and where people learn, and challenges existing ideas of what the purpose and nature of formal education is and what the future of education should be.

Videos

• Learning, Education and the Internet

  Recorded: 8 November 2013

  Duration: 00:17:52

  Rebecca Eynon summarises key areas of her research on learning, education, and the Internet.

News

• Civic by default – when opting in is not a choice

  13 April 2012

  Rebecca Eynon and Anne Geniets discuss the topical issue of the UK's digital inclusion strategy, discussed at last week's OII workshop on low and discontinued Internet use by young people in Britain.

Events

• Combining big data and small data to understand crowdbased learning: A pragmatic approach

  27 November 2015

  The OxCrowd project examines the extent to which social learning can be supported in the large online crowds of MOOCs.

• Innovation in Higher Education: building a better future?

  22 May 2014

  Oxford University, in collaboration with academic partners, will hold a pre-conference (prior to the Seattle Conference) hosted at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

• OER, MOOCs and the Promise of Broadening access to Education

  20 February 2014

  This seminar will focus on the use of ICTs for increasing access to educational opportunities for people who have been traditionally excluded from them.

• EngageU Awards: Highlighting Best Innovations in University Outreach and Public Engagement

  8 June 2012

  This one day event will celebrate the winners of the European Competition for Best Innovations in University Outreach and Public Engagement.

• On the Periphery? Low and Discontinued Internet Use by Young People in Britain: Drivers, Impacts and Policies

  23 March 2012

  This one day workshop examines the reasons for low and discontinued Internet use by young people and assesses its impact on young people's social and family lives, job opportunities, political participation and educational outlooks.

• An Introduction to Online Ethnography (Doctoral Research Methods Workshop Series, Part 2)

  24 November 2011

  This is the second workshop in a three-part series on social science research methods, aimed at doctoral students at the University of Oxford.

• Learning Companions and Pedagogical Agents: Future Trends and Possibilities

  28 May 2009

  A workshop that brings togather social scientists and computer scientists to discuss the possibilities for companions and pedagogical agents to enhance learning and education, both now and in the future.

• Information and Web Science Doctoral Workshop

  18 March 2009

  A workshop aimed at doctoral students in the areas of information science, library science, web science, Internet studies, or related disciplines who are working on topics related to the Internet and other networked technologies.

• Breaking Barriers to e-Government Workshop: Solutions for eGovernment

  31 October 2007

  Summary to come.

• Fostering Innovation in eGovernment

  9 March 2007

  Summary to come.

• The Next Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS)

  24 November 2006

  This interactive workshop will seek to gain feedback on the first two Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS), conducted in 2003 and 2005, with a view to informing the design of the next survey, scheduled for spring 2007.

• From Barriers to Benefits: Efficiency and Effectiveness of eGovernment

  22 November 2006

  This workshop brings together researchers and practitioners who are exploring ways to overcome the barriers that are hindering the progress of eGovernment in Europe, in order for governments to reap the benefits of innovation in this area.

• Learning from Experience in eGovernment: Why Projects Fail and Why They Succeed

  26 June 2006

  There have been a number of experiments in consulting with the public online. This talk considers how the public regards such opportunities, and some policy options which take into account existing barriers and opportunities.

• Breaking Barriers to e-Government Workshop: Legal barriers to eGovernment

  29 September 2005

  This workshop will provide an overview of the 'eGovernment Barriers' project, which investigates the legal, organisational, technological and other barriers to expanding effective e-Government services using the Internet.

• Breaking Barriers to e-Government Workshop

  17 June 2005

  This workshop will provide an overview of the 'eGovernment Barriers' project, which investigates the legal, organisational, technological and other barriers to expanding effective e-Government services using the Internet.

Blog

• Black Heroes of the Internet – Joy Buolamwini

  20 October 2020

  Authors: Rebecca Eynon

  Joy Buolamwini is a Ghanaian-American computer scientist and digital activist based at the MIT Media Lab. Motivated by her own experiences of algorithmic discrimination, ...
  Read More Black Heroes of the Internet – Joy Buolamwini

• Notes on Analytical Engineering: Software and method for researching AI and Lifelong Learning

  25 June 2018

  Authors: Cory Salveson

  In this post, we describe the tools and techniques we’re using throughout the project and why. We also show how you can get started ...
  Read More Notes on Analytical Engineering: Software and method for researching AI and Lifelong Learning

• Understanding the potential of AI for lifelong learning: The need for a critical perspective

  13 June 2018

  Authors: Rebecca Eynon, Huw Davies, Cory Salveson

  The so-called “eternal spring” of AI has given new life to an old dream about supercharging human learning. From personalised teaching assistants to systems ...
  Read More Understanding the potential of AI for lifelong learning: The need for a critical perspective

• Tackling Digital Inequality: Why We Have to Think Bigger

  15 March 2017

  Authors: Huw Davies, Rebecca Eynon

  Outcomes of the many schemes financed by the government to address digital inequalities are rarely uniformly positive or transformative for the people involved. Image: ...
  Read More Tackling Digital Inequality: Why We Have to Think Bigger

• Two years after the NYT’s ‘Year of the MOOC’: how much do we actually know about them?

  13 November 2014

  Author: Rebecca Eynon

  Despite the speculation about the role massively open online courses (MOOCs) may play in higher education, empirical research that explores the realities of interacting ...
  Read More Two years after the NYT’s ‘Year of the MOOC’: how much do we actually know about them?

• What are the limitations of learning at scale? Investigating information diffusion and network vulnerability in MOOCs

  21 October 2014

  Author: Rebecca Eynon

  Despite the speculation about the role massively open online courses (MOOCs) may play in higher education, empirical research that explores the realities of interacting ...
  Read More What are the limitations of learning at scale? Investigating information diffusion and network vulnerability in MOOCs

• UK teenagers without the Internet are ‘educationally disadvantaged’

  22 December 2012

  Author: Rebecca Eynon

  This is a repost of a University of Oxford press release reporting on work by Rebecca Eynon (OII) and Chris Davies (Dept of Education, ...
  Read More UK teenagers without the Internet are ‘educationally disadvantaged’

• Understanding low and discontinued Internet use amongst young people in Britain

  8 October 2012

  Author: Rebecca Eynon

  OII Research Fellow Dr Rebecca Eynon discusses how the rhetoric around young people’s uses of technology is leading to assumptions and practices that are ...
  Read More Understanding low and discontinued Internet use amongst young people in Britain

• Young people in transition are particularly at risk of being both socially and digitally excluded

  13 April 2012

  Author: Rebecca Eynon

  Rebecca Eynon and Anne Geniets discuss the topical issue of the UK’s digital inclusion strategy, discussed at last week’s OII workshop on low and discontinued Internet ...
  Read More Young people in transition are particularly at risk of being both socially and digitally excluded

Press

• Coronavirus school closures impact 1.3 billion children – and remote learning is increasing inequality

  18 May 2020 The Conversation

  
  

  COVID-19 is disrupting education on an unprecedented scale and this is already leading to growing inequalities.

• Clive Thompson says the digital age is making us smarter and the kids are still all right

  31 January 2014 Couriermail.com.au

  
  

  Rebecca Eynon is among experts commenting on young people's use of social media in Australian online news.

• Teenagers and social networking – it might actually be good for them

  5 October 2013 The Guardian

  
  

  Is social media good for children? Research by Rebecca Eynon helps explain why it might not be as bad as some fear.

• Pupils are disadvantaged if they don’t have internet access at home

  11 January 2013 The Guardian

  
  

  Chris Davies argues that computers and internet access are so integral to the way teenagers study at home that those without are at a distinct disadvantage and need extra support.  He is co-author with Rebecca Eynon of ‘Teenagers and Technology’.

• The superfast lane to nowheresville

  7 January 2013 NewStatesman

  
  

  A blog post on a Policy Exchange report suggesting Government should focus policy on people who remain offline rather than on ‘superfast’ broadband mentions the Teenagers and Technology study showing disadvantage for those with no home internet access.

• A third of poorest pupils ‘without internet at home’

  4 January 2013 BBC News, Education and Family

  
  

  Rebecca Eynon is quoted as saying that research carried out for recently published book ‘Teenagers and Technology’ which she co-authored confirms that disconnected young people are at a distinct disadvantage.

• Study: Teenagers without web access are left ‘educationally disadvantaged’

  2 January 2013 Wired.co.uk

  
  

  Teenagers with no access to the internet are disadvantaged educationally and socially according to OII Research Fellow Rebecca Eynon and education researcher Chris Davies. The benefits of technology outweigh the risks despite popular perceptions.

• Teenagers who don’t have internet access at home are ‘missing out educationally and socially’

  31 December 2012 Daily Mail

  
  

  The Daily Mail features the work of Rebecca Eynon and Chris Davis which shows that young people without internet access are at significant disadvantage relative to their peers. The work is published in a new book 'Teenagers and Technology'.

• Teens with no internet access educationally disadvantaged

  31 December 2012 The Hindu, India

  
  

  Teenagers with no access to the internet are disadvantaged educationally and socially according to OII Research Fellow Rebecca Eynon and education researcher Chris Davies.  The benefits of technology outweigh the risks despite popular perceptions.

• UK teenagers without the internet are ‘educationally disadvantaged’

  22 December 2012 University of Oxford

  
  

  A major in-depth study by Dr Chris Davies and Dr Rebecca Eynon, shows that teenagers with no access to the internet are disadvantaged both educationally and socially.

Integrity Statement

In the past five years my work has been financially supported by UK taxpayers, the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy, the John Fell Fund, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Google, the Australian Research Council, the University of Wollongong, the European Commission and Ferrero. As part of my communication and policy outreach, I have served in a paid advisory capacity to the Good Things Foundation and the Robertson Foundation and in an unpaid capacity to the RSA and the Digital Access for All Taskforce. I conduct my research in line with the University’s academic integrity code of practice.