Chris Jones

Reader in the Institute of Educational Technology

Tel: 01908 652530
Email: c.r.jones@open.ac.uk

I was appointed to the post of reader in the Institute in October 2005. Prior to my appointment I was a Research Lecturer at Lancaster University in the Centre for Studies in Advanced Learning Technologies. You can follow this link for a list of current and recent projects I've been involved in.

My main research interests lie in the study of networked and e-learning in Higher and Further Education. I am especially interested in the way policy affects practice and in the experiences of students and tutors in networked and e-learning environments. I have a long standing interest in the application of collaborative and cooperative methods to teaching and learning in relation to the use of networked technologies and in the use of the ideas of Communities and Networks of Practice.

My current research focuses on the application of the metaphor of networks to the understanding of networked learning and to digital networks in relation to wider social structures. I have a particular research focus on the use of reifications and resources in teaching and learning.

I am also interested in research and evaluation methods as they are applied to networked and e-learning and especially in the application of ethnography in traditional and in 'virtual' or networked forms. I am also concerned with the potential for phenomenographic research in this area, both in terms of capturing the variations in experiences of students and tutors and as a principled way of combining qualitative and quantitative research.

You can see a list of my publications and project reports by following this link