Ever since postal systems arose, people have engaged in distance learning. But how are digital technologies impacting learning contexts? This month's guest René Kizilcec discusses his work in this area, including massive online open courses (MOOCs): who uses them, what are they learning and do MOOCs improve access to knowledge? Chris and René also touch on whether digital learning perpetuates achievement gaps along race and gender lines or narrows them.

René Kizilcec is an assistant professor in the School of Computing and Information Science at Cornell University, where he directs the Future of Learning Lab. His research is on the impact of digital technologies in formal and informal learning contexts and scalable interventions to broaden participation, raise academic performance and reduce achievement gaps. Kizilcec is known for his research in Learning Analytics on understanding and supporting learners in open-scale courses such as Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCs. He also works on developing methods for the design and analysis of experiments.

Doing Translational Research is recorded, edited and produced by Carrie Chalmers.