Dr Caroline Pelletier

  • Qualifications and position:
    • PhD in Social Semiotics
    • Lecturer in Education
  • Faculty:
    • Faculty of Children and Learning
  • Department:
    • Department of Learning, Curriculum and Communication
  • Summary:
    • My research is concerned with new media, social and cultural theory, and subjectivity. I am interested in the implications of new media and cultural change for knowledge production and social relations, in schools and universities. I also make extensive use of psychosocial concepts and methodologies to analyse affective economies in education practice.
  • Teaching:
    • I lead two MA programmes: the MA Technology and Simulation in Clinical Practice and the MA Psychosocial Studies and Education.
  • Research Projects:
    • I have been involved in several research projects at the IOE, on the topic of education and new media. These include:

      Making Games: developing game-authoring software for educational and creative use (September 2003-August 2006)The project investigated computer game making for media literacy, and developed a software prototype to enable 11-14 year olds create their own games. Particular points of focus were the relationship between gender and play, games and contemporary forms of literacy, and participatory approaches to software design. The project was funded by the Paccit Link programme (ESRC / EPSRC / DTI).

      From Pedagogic research to embedded e-learning (Preel) (2007): After an e-learning benchmarking exercise, the Institute of Education set up an HEA-funded Pathfinder Project – PREEL – with the aim of connecting the Institute's e-learning research with its e-learning practice. The project implemented three strategies to support academic staff in the redesign of their courses: a scoping review of e-learning research being carried out in the IOE and its local partner institutions, staff development activities and the provision of personalised support to course teams.
  • Postgraduate Research:
    • Applications are welcome from people interested in researching the relationship between technology/media, knowledge, and education practices. This might cover issues such as how knowledge is re-shaped by the use of new media in educational or professional settings; the affective dimensions of teaching and learning in virtual/simulated/technologically-rich environments; the development of identity/knowledge in relation to new media use.
  • Professional Activities:
    • I have done consultancy work for the OECD on gender and ICT in schools, for Becta on teacher's professional development with respect to ICT, and for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy on professional standards.
  • Conferences/presentations:
    • 'Cosmopolitan minds and Metropolitan societies: Refusal and social exclusion revisited', Education and Citizenship in a Globalising World, IOE, November 2010
      'Games and virtual worlds: what are we actually studying?', Open University, May 2010
      'Framing Ranciere as a psychosocial feminist', University of Stirling, March 2010 'Games and Learning: what's the connection?' MirandaMod, March 2010
      'What would gender equality look like', OECD conference on gender and ICT, June 2008, Oslo
  • Languages Spoken:
    • French (fluent)
      German (basic)
Dr Caroline Pelletier

Contact details

Contact details

  • Email:

  • Address:
  • Department of Learning, Curriculum and Communication
    Institute of Education
    University of London
    20 Bedford Way
    London WC1H 0AL

  • Office Location:
  • Room 617B
    20 Bedford Way, WC1H 0AL

Publications

  • Pelletier, C. (2011 in press) 'Beating the barrel of inclusion through Rabelais and Rancière: a response to Chris Scanlon and John Adlam', Psychodynamic Practice
  • Pelletier, C. and Whiteman, N. (in press) 'Affiliation in the enactment of fan identity: a comparison of virtual and face-to-face settings' In C. Ching and B. Foley (eds), Technology and Identity: Constructing the Self in a Digital World. . Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press..
  • Pelletier, C, Burn, A. and Buckingham, D. (2010) 'Game design as textual poaching: media literacy, creativity and game-making', E-Learning and Digital Media 7 (1), 90-107.
  • Pelletier, C. (2009) 'Rancière and the poetics of the social sciences', International Journal of Research and Method in Education 32 (3), 267 – 284.
    Further information
  • Pelletier, C. (2009) 'Games and Learning: what's the connection', International Journal of Learning and Media 1(1), 83-101.
    Further information
  • Pelletier, C. (2009) 'Emancipation, Equality and Education: Rancière's critique of Bourdieu and the Question of Performativity', Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education 30 (2), 137-150.
    Further information
  • Pelletier, C. (2008) 'What education has to teach us about games and game play' In J. Marsh and R. Willett (eds), Play, digital culture, and learning. London: Routledge.
  • Pelletier, C. (2008) 'Producing difference in studying and making computer games: how students construct games as gendered in order to construct themselves as gendered' In Y. Kafai, C. Heeter, J. Denner and J. Sun (eds), Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat: new perspectives on gender, games and computing. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Carr, D. and Pelletier, C. (2008) 'Games, gender and representation' in Ferdig, R E (ed.), Handbook of research on effective electronic gaming in education (volume 2). Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
    Further information
  • Pelletier, C. (2007) 'Producing gender through digital interactions: the social purposes which young people set out to achieve through computer game design' In S. Weber and S. Dixon (eds), Digital Girls: Growing Up Online. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
    Further information
  • All publications