Research on Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning

The Research on Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning (RITEL) program is designed to support early-stage research into cutting-edge technologies for education that answer pressing needs in real-world educational environments. It encourages forward-thinking, collaborative research into emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and immersive or augmenting technologies in the context of education.

Proposals for projects that are centered on learning, teaching or a blend of both are welcome. RITEL’s area of interest is extensive, encompassing educational areas such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and the foundational areas that underpin STEM such as self-regulation, literacy, communication, team work, creativity, and socio-emotional skills. The program supports research across all learning situations including formal classrooms, informal or on-the-job learning settings, for all types of learners.

In particular, RITEL is interested in projects targeting diverse learner and educator groups and the development of affordable educational technologies suitable for financially constrained educational institutions such as school districts, colleges, and universities.

Projects for the RITEL program should combine input from several different academic fields, including learning sciences, discipline-based educational research, computer and information science and engineering, design, and cognitive, behavioral, and social sciences.

What sets RITEL apart is its insistence that projects enhance both the process of learning (or teaching) and technology itself.