Project Leader, Ph.D., Professor of Education.
Research Interests: Collaboration Technology, Social Practice, Cultural Historical Activity Theory, Knowledge practice, Inquiry Based Learning, Distributed Cognition, Abduction, Epistemic technology, Cyborg Theory, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL), Educational Psychology, Evolution of Cognition, Learning By Design, Cognitive Science, Extended Mind, Sociocultural Theory, Knowledge Creation / Generation (Innovation), Knowledge creation metaphor of learning, Expert Research, Knowledge-acquisition metaphor, Participation metaphor of learning, Learning metaphors, and Collaborative Design.
Professor Kai Hakkarainen, Ph.D., is a professor of educational research at the Department of Education, University of Turku. He is also functioning as the co-director of the Centre for Research on Activity, Development and Learning (http://www.helsinki.fi/cradle) at the Department of Education, University of Helsinki (about Hakkarainen’s formed research centre, see www.helsinki.fi/science/networkedlearning). With his colleagues, Hakkarainen has, for 15 years, carried out learning research based on psychology and cognitive science at all levels, from elementary to higher education. Many investigations have included a strong theoretical component, and have addressed how learning and human intellectual resources can be expanded using collaborative technologies based on the information and communication technologies.
During recent years, Hakkarainen’s research activity has expanded toward investigating personal and collective learning processes taking place in knowledge-intensive organizations, including innovative private corporations. Simultaneously, his investigations, originally oriented toward cognitive study of individual learning, have moved toward socio-cultural and activity-theoretical research and development of his own ‘trialogical approach’. Hakkarainen’s research unit has been strongly focused on international, scientific publications, gaining both national and international recognition.