Dr Palitha Edirisingha

I’m an Associate Professor in Education at the School of Education.

My research interests are: Technology-Enhanced Learning; Artificial Intelligence in Education; Learning Design; Distance Education; Internationalisation of Higher Education; Internationalisation at a Distance; Digital Divide and Digital Literacy skills; and Open Educational Resources from a Global South Perspective

Scopus ID: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=14423952500

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2402-7024

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=IuhMWs8AAAAJ&hl=en

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Palitha-Edirisingha

Generative AI in Distance Education.This project focuses on understanding the views of distance learning experts as to how they believe artificial intelligence may influence distance learning programmes in the next 5 years. Principal Investigator: Prof Phil Wood, Nottingham Trent University.

AI-enabled Study Buddies: Exploring the potential of the Large Language Models for learning using custom-designed GPTs (based on based on the recent release of ChatGPT4). Funded by the University of Leicester. We are currently developing and testing several scenarios of use of this GPT Author service at the University of Leicester across three Schools (Museum Studies, Medicine and Education).

Internationalisation of Higher Education in China: Perspectives from international students in China (2019 – on-going. With colleagues from the University of Durham and the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.). This research explores how internationalisation is understood and experienced within universities in China.

Completed research projects

1. An After-Action Review Project to Safeguard Health and Well-Being of Adolescents' Learning Online During School Closures in the Response to COVID-19 Pandemic: A Pilot Project in China to Inform Education Policy and Programme (since March 2021). A co-investigator of A British Academy-funded research project (Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling Global Challenges Programme).
2. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) (Feb – Sept 2014).  An EU-funded project called EMMA (European Multiple MOOC Aggregator) which developed and piloted two technology-enhanced learning courses. 
3. Project-Based Learning (PBL) (2012 – 2014). Work package leader on an EU-funded research project called SCENE (http://www.sceneproject.eu) on the use of ICT to develop and evaluate PBL in secondary schools and vocational education and training institutes in a selected five European countries.
4. Podcasting, mobile learning, and 3-D Multi-User Virtual Environments. (Five research projects from 2006 – 2012). Research grants from the JISC and the HEA have contributed to further development of research projects on e-book readers, Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Learning Design. 

Marín, V. I., Edirisingha, P. (2026) Codes of Ethics for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Do They Matter?, Mediations and Mediatizations (25) DOI  https://doi.org/10.52358/mm.vi25.510

Qin, P., Jin, T., and Edirisingha, P. (2026) Navigating language, culture, and futures: Asian international students’ self-formation in China’s higher education, Language & Intercultural Communication, DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/14708477.2026.2652956.

Jiang, M., Bartholomew, K. J., Edirisingha, P., Liu, Q., Wang, Y., Jin, T., Russell, K. (2026). Family Social Capital and Sustainable Well-Being: Navigating Chinese Adolescents’ Well-Being During COVID-19 Lockdown. British Journal of Educational Studies, 74(1), 77–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2024.2422446

Edirisingha, P. (2025). Rural Educational Technology: Issues to Consider for Sustainable Implementation. In: Peters, M.A., Heraud, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Innovation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2262-4_321-1

Zhao, T., Huang, J. & Edirisingha, P. (2025) How Do Rural Teachers in China Explain Their Students’ Underachievement? An Attribution Theory and Agency Perspective. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 34, 1021–1029 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-024-00917-3

Zhao, T., Guo, J., Sang, G., & Edirisingha, P. (2025). ‘Where you put your attention, where is your heart’: understanding rural teachers’ perceptions and choices of retention in China. Teachers and Teaching, 31(6), 993–1008. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2024.2381035

Edirisingha, P. (2024). Working with Generative AI to support interactive learning and teaching: reflections from the European Distance and E-Learning Conference in 2024. Interactive Learning Environments, 32(9), 4763–4765. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2024.2414152

Edirisingha, P (2023) Educational Technologies to Support Learning and Teaching: Issues to Consider, in Higher Education in a Digital Era through Project-based E-learning, in Paulo C. Dias et al., eds., Higher Education in a Digital Era through Project-Based E-Learning, Psicologia 10 (Braga: Axioma - Publicações da Faculdade de Filosofia, 2023). https://doi.org/10.17990/Axi/2023_9789726973676_041

Edirisingha, P. (Ed) (2022) Online and Distance Learning during Lockdown Times: COVID-19 Stories. Volume 1: K-12 Education. MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/books/book/6088 (ISBN 978-3-0365-5248-4)

Edirisingha, P. (Ed) (2022) Online and Distance Learning during Lockdown Times: COVID-19 Stories. Volume 2: Higher Education. MDPI. https://www.mdpi.com/books/book/6089 (ISBN 978-3-0365-5250-7)

Oraif, I., and Edirisingha, P. (2022) Is It the Right Time to Include Kahoot?: An Experiment on an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Grammar Course, International Journal of Smart Education and Urban Society (IJSEUS) 13(1), pp. 1 – 18. DOI: 10.4018/IJSEUS.299046

Edirisingha, P. (2021) Editorial Introduction to the Special Issue "Online and Distance Learning during Lockdown Times: COVID-19 Stories-Series 1". Education Sciences, 11, 482. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090482.

Li, F., Jin, T., Edirisingha, P., and Zhang, X. (2021) School-Aged Students' Sustainable Online Learning Engagement during COVID-19: Community of Inquiry in a Chinese Secondary Education Context, Sustainability, 13(18), 10147; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810147.

Simmons, T., Edirisingha, P., and Jiang, M. (2021) Chinese students' use of digital resources for their learning in UK higher education, Global Research in Higher Education, 4 (2), 50 - 68, https://doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v4n2p50 [http://www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe/article/view/3884/4118]

Muhammad, A., Edirisingha, P., Ali, R., and Shehzad, S. (2020) Teachers' Practices in Blended Learning Environment: Perception of Students at Secondary Education Level, Journal of Education and Educational Development, 7(2), 286 - 306. http://jmsnew.iobmresearch.com/index.php/joeed/issue/view/11

Torres-Kompen, R., Edirisingha, P., Canaleta, X., Alsina, M., and Monguet, J.M. (2019) Personal Learning Environment based on Web 2.0 Services in Higher Education, Telematics and Informatics. 38, 194-206. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2018.10.003

Edirisingha, P., Cane, C., Cane, R., and Jiang, M. (2018) Student-contributed podcasts to support transition to higher education, Journal of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1 (1), 43 - 58.

Edirisingha, P., and Wood, P. (2018) From Evaluation to Sense Making: Emergent Development of a Masters Distance Learning Research Methods Module, European Journal of Open Distance and E-Learning. Special Issue of Best of EDEN 2016. ISSN 1027 5207. pp. 59-80.

Edirisingha, P., and Wood, P. (2017). Emergent Evaluation: An initial exploration of a formative framework for evaluating distance learning modules, European Journal of Open Distance and E-Learning. https://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=current&sp=brief&article=722.

Edirisingha, P., Salmon, G., and Nie, M. (2008). Developing pedagogical podcasts, in G. Salmon and P.

Edirisingha (eds.). Podcasting for Learning in Universities, London: Open University Press and SRHE.

Salmon, G., and Edirisingha, P. (eds.) (2008). Podcasting for Learning in Universities, London: Open University Press and SRHE.

As the first supervisor

• Investigating university students’ use of Generative AI and their digital Literacy skills: A case study in Saudi Arabia.
• Augmented Reality for Improving Science Concepts and Learning Engagement Among Kindergarten Children in Saudi Arabia
• OERs to improve access to Higher Education in the Global South
• The Flipped Classroom Learning Ecology: a heuristic model of Flipped Learning

As the second supervisor

• Positive emotions in Saudi university EFL education
• Exploring digital multimodal approaches to teaching, learning, and assessment through the perspectives of English lecturers in Higher Education
• Islamically Reconceptualised Digital Citizenship for Learners in Saudi Arabia
• Psychological Distress of Social Media Exposure to Cyberbullying Content Among Hong Kong University Students: The Perspective of Phenomenological Psychology
• Digital museum learning: Possibilities and affordances of Cultural Institutions’ digital resources in Singapore school contexts

Completed PhD projects (as the first supervisor)

• Localising Western Transnational Higher Education in the GCC: Instructor Agency, Third Space, and Culturally Relevant and Responsive Teaching and Learning. Mary Renton.
• Psychological Distress of Social Media Exposure to Cyberbullying Content Among Hong Kong University Students: The Perspective of Phenomenological Psychology [Co-supervisor]
• Evaluating the use of online learning for English language teaching at the University of South Africa (first supervisor), Jack Chokwe.
• Investigating the barriers to using educational technology in higher education in Saudi Arabia
• Laurillard’s Conversational Framework in Developing the Critical Thinking Skills of Student Teachers of Mathematics in Saudi Arabia. Mona Alharbi.
• Teachers’ attitudes towards the use of technological tools within the pre-school in Saudi Arabia. Sarah Alarfaj.
• Technology Integration in Schools: A comparative Study of Public and Private School Systems in Pakistan. Muhammad Shahbaz Khan.
• Travel without visas: teacher perception of a technology intervention in the Dadaab refugee camp. Rebecca Telford Mansour.
• The Development of Digital Literacy in Adapting to the UK Learning Environment - A Learner Experience Study on Chinese International Postgraduate Students. Mengjie Jiang.
• Impact of Flipped Classrooms Approach on Intrinsic Motivation to Learn on an EFL Writing Course at a University in Saudi Arabia. Iman Oraif.
• Social Networking Website-Based Learning Activities to Develop Critical Thinking Skills among Undergraduate Students in Saudi Arabia. Nada Alsaleh.
• Developing Readers’ Metacognitive Skills In The E-Learning Environment. Nathalie Caroline Auer.

MA International Education - distance learning (programme leader)

MA International Education - campus-based (pathway module leader – Innovation and Reform)

Postgraduate Certificate in Learning Technologies (former programme lead)

Digital Learning

International Education

Distance Learning

EDEN Network of Academics and Professionals (NAP) - member

External Examiner - MA Education (International), Manchester Institute of Education, School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester (2020 - 2024)

Associate Editor: Journal Interactive Learning Environments

Advisory Board member: USKT Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

Editorial Board Member: Educational Sciences; and Trends in Higher Education

Guest editor, Special issue of the journal Educational Sciences ("Online and Distance Learning during Lockdown Times: COVID-19 Stories"). (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/education/special_issues/learning_education?listby=date&view=default)

Guest editor, Special issue of the Journal of Studies and Research on Technological Education: Manaus, BR ("EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES AND ADVANCES IN TIMES OF COVID-19") (https://sistemascmc.ifam.edu.br/educitec/index.php/educitec/issue/view/21)

Member of the conference committee: European conference on e-Learning (ECEL)

Edirisingha, P., Vavoula, G., and Bird, T.(2025) Personalising Learning with Custom GPTs in Higher Education: Practitioner Reflections on Design and Implementation, Shaping the Future of Education in the Age of AI: Empowering Inclusion, Innovation and Ethical Growth, EDEN 2025 Annual Conference, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, 15-17 June 2025, https://eden-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/EDEN-2025-AC-Proceedings.pdf#page=54

Edirisingha, P., Vavoula, G., Bird, T., Cantlow, G. (2024) Enhancing Student Learning with Custom-Designed AI Study Buddies: The Potential of Large Language Models (LLMs), Learning in the Age of AI: Towards Imaginative Futures. EDEN 2024 Annual Conference Proceedings, 16 – 18 June 2024, Graz, Austria, https://eden-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2024-AC-Proceedings_final-version.pdf

Abeyrathne, D., Edirisingha, P. (2024) Potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Addressing Injustices of Access to Open Educational Resources (OERs) in the Global South Higher Education, Learning in the Age of AI: Towards Imaginative Futures. EDEN 2024 Annual Conference Proceedings, 16 – 18 June 2024, Graz, Austria, https://eden-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2024-AC-Proceedings_final-version.pdf

Edirisingha, P., and Wood, P. (2023) Internationalisation at a Distance (IaD): A conceptual framework for the inclusion of diverse perspectives from distance learners, European Distance and E-Learning Network Annual Conference, Dublin, 18-20 June 2023, https://eden-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/EDEN-2023-Annual-Conference-Proceedings.pdf#page=138

Qin, P., and Edirisingha, P., and Jin, T., (2022) Internationalisation of Higher Education in China: Intercultural perspectives from international students, 12th International Academy for Intercultural Research (IAIR) Conference, Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland, 23 – 28 July 2022. 

Edirisingha, P. (2021) Digital Technologies to Support Science Education. Research Congress of the Postgraduate Institute of Science (RESCON) - 2021 (October 29-31, 2021), University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (31 Dec 2021). 

Edirisingha, P. (2021) Learning and Teaching using Immersive Digital Environments, A guest lecture for The annual Postgraduate Course "Heritage Education and Digital Technologies", Dept of Education and Humanities, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia (08 Nov 2021).

Edirisingha, P. (2021) The invisible digital divides: Stories from the West, International Seminar on Technology and Rural Education, 16 - 17 Jan 2021, UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education, Beijing Normal University, China (16 - 17 Jan 2021)

Edirisingha, P. (2020) Developing 21st century skills through teaching online: opportunities and challenges, contribution for a one-hour webinar as part of EDEN webinar series: "Education in time of a pandemic #onlinetogether #covid19". http://www.eden-online.org/covid-webinar-series/ (08 June 2020). 

Edirisingha ^, P. (2019) Transactional Distance Theory as a framework for a qualitative evaluation of distance learner experience, ICERI2019 Proceedings (pp. 7319 – 7326). 12th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, 11th-13th November, 2019. Seville, Spain.

Windale, M., Daniels, T., Edirisingha, P., Montanchez Torres ^, M., Mart ínez Suárez, P., Domínguez Crespo, C., and Cabrera Mejía, J. (2019) An international collaboration resulting in the use of problem-based learning to deliver community outreach solutions, ICERI2019 Proceedings (pp. 5288 – 5296). 12th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation, 11th-13th November, 2019. Seville, Spain. 

PhD in Educational Technology (Open University, UK)

MEd in Education and Mass Media (The University of Manchester, UK)

BSc in Agriculture (University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka)

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy