Biosketch: Dr. Thomas Hillman

Thomas Hillman is Associate Professor of information technology and learning at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning. With a background in the design of products and environments for learning, his research investigates the ways that technologies transform and are transformed by changing learning processes. The scope of his work includes diverse learning settings ranging from schools to museums and online communities with a focus on the blurring boundaries between online and offline activities in many aspects of contemporary life. Much of Thomas’ research relies on extensive use of video-recordings and digital traces of the ways people interact with technologies and he works to adapt and develop new methods and tools for gaining access to and making sense of these activities. Currently he is focused on developing ways to identify, unpack and make sense of trajectories of epistemic development in online activities over time through the combination of micro level interaction analysis and ethnographic approaches with computational approaches.

Current research activities

• Taking science to the crowd: Researchers, programmers and volunteer contributors transforming science online
• Flipped educational movement: Emerging communities of professional development for IT in schools
• Online instructional videos and learning of practical skills

Recent and forthcoming publications

Hillman, T. & Mäkitalo, Å. (2016). Considering external resource use in forum discussions as an indicator of citizen scientist learning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the European Citizen Science Association, Berlin.

Hillman, T., & Säljö, R. (2016). Introduction to the special issue - Learning, knowing and opportunities for participation: Technologies and communicative practices. Learning, media and Technology, doi: 10.1080/17439884.2016.1167080.

Holmberg, C., Chaplin, J., Hillman, T., & Berg, C. (2016). Adolescents’ presentation of food in social media: an explorative study. Appetite, 99, 121-129, doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2016.01.009.

Holmberg, C., Chaplin, J., Hillman, T., & Berg, C. (2016). Adolescents' communication of high calorie low nutrient food items in image-based social media. Paper presented at the European Obesity Summit, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Holmberg, C., Chaplin, J., Hillman, T., & Berg, C. (2016). Adolescents’ Photo Food Presentation in Social Media. Paper presented at the conference of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, Cape Town, South Africa.

Lantz-Andersson, A., Peterson, L., Hillman, T., Lundin, M., & Rensfeldt, A. B. (2016). Sharing repertoires and sharing apps – Norms for participation in a teacher profession-based social media group. Paper presented at the European Association for Learning and Instruction SIG 10, 21 and 25 conference, Tartu, Estonia.

Rensfeldt, A. B., Hillman, T. Lundin, M., Peterson, L., & Lantz-Andersson, A. (2016). Powers forming the digitized teacher subjectivity: Self-technologies and social media surveillance. Paper presented at the Foucault at 90 conference, Ayr, UK.

Rensfeldt, A. B., Hillman, T. Lundin, M., Peterson, L., & Lantz-Andersson, A. (2016). The ‘politics of sharing’ in a large teacher professional Facebook group: Links, topics and discourses entangled with policy. Proceedings of Internet, policy and politics 2016, Oxford: OII.

Solli, A., Hillman, T. & Mäkitalo, Å. (2016). Engaging with controversy maps in a school science context. Paper presented at the 12th meeting of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences, Singapore.

Weilenmann, A., & Hillman, T. (2016). Social media souvenirs: Expanded experiences through visitor photography. In T. Sylianou (Ed.), Museums and visitor photography. Edinburgh: MuseumsEtc

Hillman, T., Jungselius, B., Lindell, T. L., & Weilenmann, A. (2015). Narrative making practices with smartphones on a field trip to a museum. Learning, media and Technology, doi:10.1080/17439884.2015.1064443.

Ponti, M., Hillman, T., & Stankovic, I. (2015). Science and gamification: The odd couple? Proceedings of CHI Play 2015, New York: ACM Press.

Ponti, M., Hagen, N., Hillman, T., Kasperowski, D., Kullenberg, C., & Stankovic, I. (2015). Designing Futures for Learning in the Crowd: New Challenges and Opportunities for CSCL. In O. Lindwall, P. Häkkinen, T. Koschman, P. Tchounikine, & S. Ludvigsen (Eds.), Exploring the Material Conditions of Learning: The Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) Conference, Gothenburg: ISLS.

Hillman, T., & Weilenmann, A. (2015). Situated social media use: A methodological approach to locating social media practices and trajectories. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, Seoul: ACM Press.

Wallerstedt, C. & Hillman, T. (2015). “Is it okay to use the mobile phone?” Student use of mobile technology in pop-band rehearsals in Swedish music education. Journal of Music Education and Technology, 8(1). doi: 10.1386/jmte.8.1.71_1.