About CETLS
Vision
A future in which every learner — from childhood through higher education, professional life, and the third age — has access to adaptive, engaging, and equitable learning experiences that are grounded in the science of how people learn.
Mission
The Centre for Education Technology and Learning Sciences (CETLS) at IIIT Hyderabad advances rigorous research and design at the intersection of learning sciences, artificial intelligence, and educational technology. We focus on four domains across the lifespan — K-12 education, higher education, flexible learning for working professionals and executives, and third-age learning — developing solutions that are effective, inclusive, and scalable for India and the Global South, while contributing foundational knowledge to the global research community.
Our Approach
We combine the learning sciences with technology design and open infrastructure. Research is organised around four fundamental questions that apply across the lifespan:
- What should be learned in the age of AI
- How teaching and facilitation should be designed
- How people learn most effectively with technology
- How progress, competence, and benefit should be understood and evaluated
At the heart of our work is the Learning Middleware — an open technology layer that makes the tools of learning sciences available to educators, researchers, and institutions across all four domains.
Why IIIT Hyderabad
IIIT Hyderabad is structured around research centres rather than traditional departments. This model enables deep interdisciplinary work. CETLS builds on the institute’s strengths in artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, language technologies, and flexible learning, while focusing these capabilities on the science and design of learning across the lifespan.
International Advisory Committee
The International Advisory Committee advises CETLS on research, design, and evidence at the meeting point of AI, educational technology, and the learning sciences. Members are Ashok K. Goel (Georgia Tech), Ryan S. Baker (Adelaide University / Penn), Matthew Kam (Google), and J. Derek Lomas (TU Delft).
Meet the committee →Roadmap
As a new centre, we are deliberately transparent about our growth path:
Foundation
Establish core team, launch the website and brand, define priority research themes, begin seed projects, and open collaboration pathways.
Momentum
Produce early research outputs, pilot interventions, grow the team, advance the Learning Middleware toward open release, and establish first international and national partnerships.
Scale & Impact
Expand across all four pillars, release open infrastructure, develop professional learning programmes, and demonstrate measurable impact with education systems and organisations.