The Open University has awarded Roy Pea, the David Jacks Professor of Education and Learning Sciences at Stanford Graduate School of Education, with an honorary doctorate degree. At a ceremony in London in September, the U.K.-based university honored Pea for his “tremendous contribution” to the field of learning science.

“I’ve devoted my career to the building of university training programs in the learning sciences and technology design and associated research centers, research partnerships and projects, and scholarly publications,” Pea said while accepting the honor.

“My aims in all of these works were to open up equitable opportunities for advanced learning of complex subjects for everyone no matter their circumstances, backgrounds or characteristics. I want to ­– and we can – use the sciences of learning to increasingly achieve this goal.”

Pea said it was particularly meaningful to be recognized by The Open University, as its goals of providing educational opportunity to all through distance teaching, innovative technologies and research align well with his life’s work.

The university said while bestowing the honor: “For more than 35 years, Professor Pea has been at the forefront of research into technology, teaching and learning and has shaped the development of this field, not only in academia but also in policy and practice.”

“At The Open University, we share the professor’s belief in the power of technology to transform education. We are proud to be the pioneers of digital learning in the U.K. and Roy Pea’s thinking has been a direct inspiration for some of our innovative work.”

Pea joined Stanford in 2001. He grew up in Detroit and went to Michigan State University, becoming the first in his family to attend college. He was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford.