Pekka Mertala

Pekka Mertala

Associate professor
Unit
Faculty of Education and Psychology
Department / Division
Department of Teacher Education
Room number
Email
pekka.o.mertala@jyu.fi
Mobile
+358504670082
Postal address
Alvar Aallon katu 9
Fields of science
113 Computer and information sciences
315 Sport and fitness sciences
518 Media and communications
516 Educational sciences

Biography

I work as an associate professor (multiliteracy and digital literacies) at the Teacher Education Department of the Faculty of Education and Psychology at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥. I lead the Education, Texts and Technologies research group  as well as work within the LearnDigi - Digitalization in and for learning and interaction reserach profiling area,

Research interests

My key research themes include:

- Critical educational technology research, especially how technology and education are discussed.
- Datafication and data literacy in school (Modality project) and leisure time (Running with Data project).
- Children's perceptions of technology and media (e.g., Innokas Artificial Intelligence projects).

Publications

Publication
2025

Educational Research Review
Fagerlund, Janne
Palsa, Lauri
Mertala, Pekka
Publication
2025

Social Inclusion
Palsa, Lauri
Fagerlund, Janne
Mertala, Pekka
Publication
2024

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
Palsa, Lauri
Mertala, Pekka
Publication
2024

Datafizierung (in) der Bildung : Kritische Perspektiven auf digitale Vermessung in pädagogischen Kontexten
Mertala, Pekka
Publication
2024

Kasvatus ja aika
Mertala, Pekka
Publication
2024

Computers in Human Behavior
Mertala, Pekka
López-Pernas, Sonsoles
Vartiainen, Henriikka
Saqr, Mohammed
Tedre, Matti
Publication
2024

International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction
Mertala, Pekka
Fagerlund, Janne
Publication
2024

Journal of Childhood, Education & Society
Mertala, Pekka
Publication
2024

Learning, Media and Technology
Mertala, Pekka
Moens, Eleni
Teräs, Marko
Publication
2024

Informaatiotutkimus
Mertala, Pekka

Research groups

Research group

Education, texts and technologies

The research group conducts interdisciplinary research on the relationships between education, texts and technologies.

Projects

Project

AI projects in the Innokas Network

Research on AI projects in basic education and early childhood education in the Innokas Network
Project

Movement for Data Literacy (MODALITY)

The project investigates datafication within schools and develops methods of enhancing students' data literacy.
Project

EduRESCUE

EduRESCUE project seeks solutions to strengthen the resilience of the Finnish education system and improve society's ability to cope with crises in the future.
Project

LearnDigi - Digitalization in and for learning and interaction

LearnDigi is a profiling area of JYU funded by Academy of Finland. We aim to examine ways in which technologies are used to support learning and knowledge construction, and the impacts of increasing digitalization on learning and interaction.