Educational Informatics Laboratory (EILab)

The EILab coexists as both a physical and virtual space, designed for research at the intersection of education and informatics. It is an impressive physical space—a superbly equipped, digital observatory, located at the Faculty of Education at OntarioTechU in Oshawa, Canada­. It is also a dynamic virtual space, inhabited by the digitally connected minds of international researchers, sharing ideas, interests and practices in the emerging domain of educational informatics. Educational informatics is attracting the attention of a growing group of diverse kinds of researchers. Their guiding interest is understanding and improving the human experience of using digital information and communication technologies, such as computers, smart phones, gaming consoles, tablets, and more—How do these AFFECT learning and education, and how can we use them FOR learning and education? This is a human-centric exploration where technologies are viewed not for their own sake, but as cognitive “extensions” of human senses and the human mind. This research attracts many types of researchers eager to ask questions and test hypotheses, using a variety of highly specialized, digital-research tools. Such tools perform a number of powerful, highly specialized, functions like recording and synchronizing multiple streams of human activity, tagging and analyzing significant behaviours, tracking emotional responses and eye movements, and surveying digital technology competencies and usage.