Nicholas C. Burbules

Nicholas C. Burbules is the Gutgsell Professor in the Department of Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His primary research areas are philosophy of education; teaching through dialogue; and technology and education.

His current philosophical work focuses primarily on the idea of “situated” philosophy of education, a way of reframing the question of whether philosophy of education is merely a derivative branch of pure philosophy or an “applied” field. His current work on technology emphasizes the topic of ubiquitous learning, the study of new models of “anywhere, anytime” teaching and learning arising from the proliferation of mobile technologies and pervasive wireless connectivity.

He has authored or edited sixteen books and two hundred journal articles and book chapters. He is frequently invited to lecture at universities around the world, and a number of his publications have been translated into other languages. He holds an M.A. in philosophy and a Ph.D. in philosophy of education from Stanford University.

He is currently the Education Director for the National Center on Professional and Research Ethics, located at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

His most recent books are Showing and Doing: Wittgenstein as a Pedagogical Philosopher, coauthored with Michael Peters and Paul Smeyers (2010, Paradigm Press) and Feminisms and Educational Research, coauthored with Wendy Kohli (2012, Rowman and Littlefield). He co-edited, with Paul Smeyers, David Bridges, and Morwenna Griffiths, the International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research (Springer, 2015).