Biosketch: Dr. Thomas Hillman

Thomas Hillman is a postdoctoral researcher and member of The Linnaeus Centre for Research on Learning, Interaction and Mediated Communication in Contemporary Society (LinCS). His work is currently supported through the University of Gothenburg Learning and Media Technology Studio (LETStudio) and a Swedish Research Council Postdoctoral Research Fellowship entitled "Developing together: Unpacking the mutual transformation of technology and educational practices in diverse learning settings".

With a background in the design of educational products and museum exhibitions, Thomas' research investigates the ongoing reconfiguration of technology for learning in both formal and informal settings with a focus on the mutually constitutive relationship between the development of technologies and the transformation of epistemic practices. His work to understand the role of tools in learning processes draws on sociocultural perspectives on learning, interaction and development, and on material-semiotic ways of conceptualizing the relationship between technology design and use.

Current research activities

Thomas is currently involved in a variety of research activities with two major projects. These two projects represent his interest in examining tool mediated learning in a wide range of settings including both formal settings such as school classrooms and informal settings such as museum exhibitions:

• Hidden dimensions of teaching/learning in mathematics: The contribution of video studies to comparative analysis and the development of instruction
• Mobile-technologies and social-media in cultural institutions

Recent and forthcoming publications

Hillman, T. (Submitted). Supporting students’ innovative practices with educational technology: Shaping the nature of technology in a classroom context. Technology, Pedagogy and Education.

Hillman, T. (Submitted). Tracing the construction of mathematical activity with an advanced graphing calculator to understand the roles of technology developers, teachers and students. International Journal of Technology for Mathematics Education.

Lundberg, A., & Hillman, T. (Submitted). Representations and proportional reasoning in a Swedish sixth grade early algebra lesson. Proceedings of the 37th conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education.

Hillman, T., Jungselius, B., & Weilenmann, A. (Submitted). "In just three hours I got like 22 likes on a pancake picture": Dealing with temporality in social media use and research. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, Paris: ACM Press.

Weilenmann, A., Hillman, T. & Jungselius, B. (2013). Instagram at the museum: Communicating the museum experience through social photo sharing. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, Paris: ACM Press.

Hillman, T. (2012). A geography of connections: Networks of humans and materials in mathematics classrooms using handheld technology. Forum: Qualitative Social Research 13(1), Art. 12.

Hillman, T., Weilenmann, A., & Jungselius, B. (2012). Creating live experiences with real and stuffed animals: The use of mobile technologies in museums. Proceedings of The Transformative Museum, Roskilde, Denmark: DREAM.

Hillman, T. (2012). Examining the ongoing development of educational technology. Proceedings of the 12th Participatory Design Conference, Roskilde, Denmark.

Hillman, T. (2011). Repositioning the relationship between the design and use of technology for mathematical learning. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Mobile Human Computer Interaction, Stockholm: ACM Press.

Hillman, T. (2011). The inscription, translation and re-inscription of technology for mathematical learning. Technology, Knowledge and Learning. 16(1), 1-22.

Hillman, T. & Koch, M. (2011). Using Technologies in Intermediate Classrooms. Toronto, ON: Ontario Ministry of Education.

Hillman, T. (2011). Re:design for Learning: A study of the co-construction of a technological tool for mathematical learning. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Ottawa).