Institute of Education

Research & Expertise to Make a Difference in Education & Beyond

Tag "research projects"

Upping the Learning Ante: Why Brain Pre-gaming Is the Cognitive Priming Everyone Needs

AI
Is “pre-training” the unsung hero of effective learning—or just an unnecessary hurdle for already smart students? That’s the research quest Anna Gorbunova, Anastasiia Kapuza, Ouhao Chen, and Jamie Costley embark on in their recent study, Rethinking Pre-training: Cognitive Load Implications for Learners with Varying Prior Knowledge. Published in Frontiers in Psychology, their work dives into how priming your mind before tackling complex material can transform the learning experience, challenging long-held beliefs about how we actually absorb knowledge.

From Hype to Homework: How Generative AI Took Over Higher Education Research

AI
In just two years, generative AI has traveled an astonishing path—from a clever novelty to a genuine game changer in higher education. As tools like ChatGPT exploded into academic life, scholars across the globe rushed to make sense of what this new technology means for universities, teaching, and knowledge itself. That urgent, fast-moving response is what an international team of scholars—Isak Frumin, Anton Vorochkov, Margarita Kiryushina, Daria Platonova, and Evgeniy Terentiev—set out to explore in their sweeping new study, Mapping the Generative AI Research in Higher Education: 2022–2024 Insights. Published in Higher Education Quarterly, the research analyzes more than 4,000 publications produced between 2022 and 2024. The result is a vivid, data-rich portrait of a field evolving at breakneck speed—revealing not only what researchers are studying, but how, where, and with what mix of excitement, concern, and uncertainty. What emerges is academia in full sprint, trying to keep pace with a technology that refuses to slow down.

Unlocking Global Classrooms: How MOOCs Are Shaping International Student Recruitment

AI
In a world where education increasingly transcends borders, Ekaterina Minaeva, Ulyana Zakharova, and Svetlana Zhuchkova set off on a research journey to explore the untapped potential of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a tool for attracting international students. Their study, published in EMOOCs 2025, asks a timely question: Can online learning platforms like Coursera and edX become the next frontier in global student recruitment?