Some ICT learning research initiatives are described which are argued to reflect worrying forms of influence on undergraduate study practices. The paper argues for more imaginative innovation along the route of "blended learning". Several case studies that might illustrate this route are described for discussion.

Charles Crook is Reader in ICT and Education. He is closely attached to the Learning Sciences Research Institute at Nottingham and is a developmental psychologist by background. After research at Cambridge, Brown and Strathclyde Universities, he lectured in Psychology at Durham University and was Reader in Psychology at Loughborough University. Current projects concern the resourcing of collaborative learning with particular interest in early education but also undergraduates. Much of this work implicates new technology. He was a founder member of the European Society for Developmental Psychology and is currently editor of the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.

His research interests are:
How can insights from the psychology of child development be applied to the design of learning technologies? How can these designs then be best integrated with existing cultures of teaching and learning? In particular, how can computers create distinctive opportunities for more collaborative forms of learning? How do highlly networked educational environments re-configure the experience of teaching and learning? How can technology bridge the discontinuities between formal and informal settings for learning?

This seminar is the first in a new series of IET CALRG Research Seminars

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