JISC

Information about conference presenters and facilitators will be posted here as it becomes available. Currently confirmed presenters are, in alphabetical order:

Veronica Adamson

Veronica Adamson and Jane Plenderleith are co-directors of Glenaffric Ltd, an independent consultancy founded in 2000 specialising in the evaluation of large-scale development initiatives in the higher and further education sectors across the UK. Based in the Highlands of Scotland, Glenaffric Ltd supports projects and programmes for a range of clients including the JISC, the HE Academy and the Scottish Funding Council. They are currently working on the evaluation of the JISC Design for Learning programme and the review and synthesis of outputs of the Distributed e learning regional pilots programme. They have developed the Evaluation Framework for the JISC Capital Programme and are now working with a number of projects and strands under that programme. They are also currently evaluating the Scottish Funding Council’s e-Learning Transformation Programme, and support the HE Academy’s e-Learning Benchmarking exercise and Pathfinder Programme. Within the partnership, Veronica has a specific interest in technical systems and tools and a particular strength in presenting complex information clearly and succinctly, while Jane’s forte is interviewing and reflective reporting.

Liz Aspden

Liz is a Senior Lecturer in Curriculum Innovation, and works as part of the Academic Innovation team at Sheffield Hallam. Prior to taking up her current post Liz worked as a Research Assistant on the e-learning@shu Project, where she was responsible for evaluating the impact of the virtual learning environment on the student experience. (Her background before this involves archaeology and human resources - though not at the same time.)

Liz's research interests - which developed from her involvement in the e-learning@shu Project - include:

• the changing nature of learning spaces (particularly the interplay between the virtual and physical learning environments); and
• effective staff development and support for e-learning at scale.

She is currently involved in a range of institutional projects focussing on the enhancement of the student experience.

Wayne Barry

Wayne Barry is the Learning Technologist for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Canterbury Christ Church University. Wayne is working with academic staff to develop their use of technology to enhance learning, teaching, assessment and research. He is interested in the teaching and learning applications of social software and how e-portfolios can be developed as educational and professional development tools. He holds a degree in the Social Sciences and this has developed a strong interest into the nature of identity within the digital world. He is also a Chartered IT Professional with the British Computer Society.

Melanie Bates

In March 2002 I joined the Engineering Education Centre (now known as the engCETL) at Loughborough University as a Learning Technology Co-ordinator. My role is to create learning technology products and information systems to support teaching and learning activities within the faculty of Engineering, and the dissemination of best practice to the rest of the University. An example of this is a Univesity wide system for personal and project tutoring called ‘Co-Tutor’, which was highly commended in a recent external QAA report. I also support and advise Academic staff on the use of technology in their teaching and administration of students. I represent the Centre on University wide steering groups and working groups concerning learning technology related projects and reviews. Part of my role is to constantly review emerging technologies, specifications and standards relevant to UK Higher Education and to advise the Centre on strategic development in the use of these technologies. I am also the Project Manager for the JISC funded 'WebPA Project', which is aiming to make our own online peer assessment system available to UK HE as an open source project.

Helen Beetham

Helen is Research Consultant to the Joint Information Systems Committee's e-Learning Programme, in which role she develops and supports the JISC's activities in e-learning and pedagogy. Previously a Research Fellow in e-learning at the Open University, she is widely published and a regular speaker at conferences in the UK and abroad. She is currently editing a book for Routledge entitled Rethinking Pedagogy for the Digital Age. Her research and publication interests include:

• Learning design
• Organisational change
• e-learning and educational theory (particularly activity theory)
• Models of effective practice and effective learning
• e-portfolios and personal development

Helen has contributed to a wide range of nationally-funded research and development projects in e-learning. An experienced workshop leader, she has been involved in staff and educational development for e-learning since 1997. She was a Senior Lecturer in Educational Development at the University of Plymouth and has contributed to e-learning strategies at two other HE institutions. She regularly advises departments on the development of effective, subject-based and pedagogically sound approaches to e-learning.

Richard Benefer

Richard Benefer is the Foundation Degree Manager at Staffordshire University’s Regional Federation (SURF), a HEFCE recognised funding consortium led by the University. Over the last three years he has overseen the development of 30 new Foundation Degrees, validated by the University and delivered by its partner colleges. He has also steered one Fd programme through a very successful QAA review and contributed to an equally successful QAA audit of the University’s collaborative provision.

Richard’s academic discipline is English. After graduating from Sussex University and following teacher training at Manchester University, he taught humanities at colleges of FE in the North West, gradually moving into Teacher Education, Learning Resources Management, Professional Development and Quality Assurance. In the mid-eighties he became Staff Development Officer at a ‘monotech’ engineering college in the West Midlands. Following college merger, Richard worked as a senior manager, firstly as Head of Student Services, later as Professional Development Manager and most recently Curriculum and Quality Manager. During this time in Further Education, Richard studied for two Masters’ degrees – in Education and Business Administration. He is currently researching for an MPhil/PhD in History. Richard is a Fellow of the Institute for Learning and Member of the Institute of Quality Assurance (IQA).

In his work as a registered consultant with the Learning and Skills Development Agency, Richard has carried out successful consultancies in a range of providers in several of the English regions. Richard has also worked part-time as a Regional Officer for Fento, (Further Education National Training Organisation, and now part of the Life Long Learning UK Sector Skills Council).

Greg Benfield

Greg Benfield is an educational developer within the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development at Oxford Brookes University. He has particular responsibility for e-learning and is a member of the Oxford Brookes Centre for e-Learning. He provides internal consultancy on e-learning developments for Brookes course teams, is a tutor on the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education, and runs workshops and online courses for higher education staff across the UK. He has participated in an HEA-funded review of the research literature on the undergraduate experience of blended learning and was a member of the JISC Learner Experience Scoping study project. Currently he is working on the Learner Experience Phase 2 Synthesis and Support project and an institutional evaluation of e-learning at Brookes under the HEFCE Pathfinder project.

Steve Bond

Steve Bond is a learning technologist of ten years' standing with experience in campus-based, open and distance learning. At the University of Edinburgh he developed web-based courses in meteorology for the EuroMET project, then moved on to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to develop CDROMs for a distance-learning course in epidemiology, and set up computer-mediated support systems for the students. Also at LSHTM, he helped set up the CeLSIUS project, providing support to users of a large UK government database and creating online training materials for these users. Since 2003 he has been working on the DART project at the London School of Economics to develop innovative learning resources for teaching undergraduate anthropology.

Mark Childs

Mark is an Academic Staff Development Advisers in the CAPD and has worked on a variety of UK and European e-learning projects at Warwick and in his previous post at the University of Wolverhampton. Previous projects at Warwick include the use of distance-spanning technologies to provide remote access to expertise and the JISC-funded development of a digital repository to enable the storing, creation and delivery of learning objects. Mark currently draws on the findings of these projects to provide advice and guidance to other institutions, and to support the activities of staff within Warwick, both in terms of e-learning design and in project management and communication. With interests and expertise in eLearning implementation and evaluation, Mark is an active member of the JISC Stream Team, and the JISC repository communities of practice.

James Clay

James Clay is ILT and Learning Gateway Manager of Gloscat, one of the largest further education colleges in the UK, have gained a national reputation after successfully developing and implementing Moodle as their VLE. They also have one of the largest installations of interactive whiteboards.

James makes extensive use of digital video and images. One of his other interests is in learning on the handheld devices that learners have, and asking how can we create learning activities that work on mobile phones, iPods, PSPs, PDAs, digital cameras, PVRs and others...

He makes extensive use of Web 2.0 technologies and is a regular blogger as well as seeing how we can use Web 2.0 websites for learning.

Before Gloscat, James was Director of the Western Colleges Consortium since 2001. He was responsible for the shared MLE used by the partner FE Colleges of the WCC. James also worked with colleges at a strategic level to develop ILT throughout the curriculum through a staff development programme and online delivery and support.  At the WCC James managed a range of e-learning and ILT projects, including the JISC Exemplars for JISC Collections and FAIR Enough for JISC. He delivered a range of workshops on copyright and digital video across the UK and in Europe.

Before the WCC he worked for at-Bristol, a Millennium project within the Harbourside of central Bristol - a job which involved delivering hands-on science education and designing educational websites on subjects as diverse as handheld learning experiences, via Antiguan racer snakes, through space science to the mummification process of ancient Egyptians.

Prior to the above, James spent ten years in Further Education as a lecturer in Business & Economics, employing learning technologies. His resources and web sites were used extensively by students and were praised by verifiers and inspectors.

Thom Cochrane

Thom is an Academic Advisor (elearning and Learning Technologies) with Unitec (March 2004 to present). His role at Unitec includes providing support for elearning and learning technologies for Unitec teaching staff, and pushing the boundaries of educational technology for enhancing teaching and learning at Unitec.

Previously (1997 to 2004) he was a Tutor of Audio Engineering and Music Production at the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand, where he specialized in digital recording, loudspeaker design and multimedia production. While at MAINZ he developed their elearning environment, website, wireless network, and developed a range of interactive multimedia learning objects.

His research interests include mobile learning, web2, and communities of practice. He is currently implementing mobile learning trials for his PHD thesis: 'Mobilizing Learning: The potential impact of wireless mobile computing on teaching and learning in higher education in New Zealand'. Harnessing the potential of social software tools (such as: Mobile Blogging, RSS, Instant Messaging, Moodle and Elgg…) using wireless mobile devices, such as: PDAs, laptops, and the new generation of mobile phones.

Andrew Comrie

Andrew is the Project Director for TESEP and has been actively involved in the project since its inception in 2005 when he was part of the original bid writing team with Napier University, Lauder College and Edinburgh’s Telford College. Between 1999 and 2006 Andrew was Assistant Principal at Lauder College in Dunfermline Fife where he had responsibility for Learning and Teaching, e-learning, quality enhancement, library and learning resources, staff development and ICT.

Andrew’s career in Further Education started in 1985 as a lecturer in micro-computer technology and over the last 20+ years Andrew has held Senior Lecturer posts, been Head of a Centre for Flexible and Distance Learning and prior to going to Lauder College was Head of Learning Resources at Perth College. In the mid-90s Andrew was heavily involved in developing the concept of a federal, distributed University for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland which is now established as the UHI Millennium Institute.

Grainne Conole is Professor of E-Learning in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University in the UK. Previously she was Professor of Educational Innovation in Post-Compulsory Education at the University of Southampton and before that Director of the Institute for Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include the use, integration and evaluation of Information and Communication Technologies and e-learning and the impact of technologies on organisational change. Two of her current areas of interest are focusing on the evaluation of students' experiences of and perceptions of technologies and how learning design can help in creating more engaging learning activities.

She has extensive research, development and project management experience across the educational and technical domains; funding sources have included the EU, HEFCE, ESRC, JISC and commercial sponsors). She serves on and chairs a number of national and international advisory boards, steering groups, committees and international conference programmes. She has published and presented over 200 conference proceedings, workshops and articles, including over 50 journal publications on a range of topics, including the use and evaluation of learning technologies and is editor for the Association of Learning Technologies journal, ALT-J. She is co-editor of the recently published RoutledgeFalmer book 'Contemporary perspectives on e-learning research'.

Website: http://iet.open.ac.uk/pp/g.c.conole/index.cfm

Fleur Corfield

Fleur Corfield has been developing learning objects for over 5 years and for the past 2 years has been focused on Work Based Learning at Staffordshire University, using her past experience of working in Further Education to support project partners. 

George Corfield

George raduated at Birmingham University in 1966 with a BSc in Chemistry. The first twenty years of his career involved employment in a number of industries (papermaking, retail and engineering) as a Work Study Engineer, Systems Analyst, Production Manager and a Management Consultant.

In the mid-80s he decided to change career path into education after a period of consultancy work at the Open University. The last twenty years has involved career progression from lecturing in Computing and IT to Head of Department (Computing) at a variety of FE colleges throughout the UK. George’s current post has come about due to a new college development at Redcar & Cleveland. His role as ILT project Manager, involves the exploration of technology based initiatives in teaching and learning in order to create a blended learning model for the new build in summer 2008.

George completed an MSc in Learning Technologies in 2004 and is currently studying for a DProf at the University of Teesside looking at new models of management using innovative technology as part of college managers’ practice..In addition to development work, George teaches on a number of vocational programmes in which he is using Web 2.0 "philosophy" as the basis for his delivery strategy.

David Cornforth

I am currently on a one-year industrial placement whilst studying a Computing degree at Northumbria University. My job role includes website design and development, search engine optimisation and researching new and innovative web technologies.

Sarah Davies

Sarah Davies has worked in educational technology for many years, and is currently an e-Learning Programme Manager at the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). Previously she managed the National Grid for Learning portal at the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta), worked as a learning technologist in higher education, and managed the development of educational software for schools. As with most people, entering this field was an accident, caused by a deviation from linguistics to the use of speech technology in language learning. However, it’s been a pretty interesting accident.

 Mike Docker

Mike Docker is Director of Information, Communication and Learning Technology at the Sixth Form College, Farnborough. His role is to manage the operation and development of the College local area network and support the development of e-Learning and e-Assessment at the College.

Dr Docker was previously Head of Chemistry at the Sixth Form College, Farnborough and before that a teacher of Chemistry at Farnborough and several other colleges. In 2000 he lead a successful bid for a Beacon Award for the College for his innovative work in the area of computer-based formative assessment using mastery quizzes.

Before entering the teaching profession Dr Docker worked for BP Research specialising in the field of remote sensing. His first degree is in Chemistry and his doctorate in Physical Chemistry in the area of Molecular Photodissociation Dynamics.

Angie Donoghue

Angie Donoghue is Senior Information Adviser in the Virtual Learning Centre Team of Learning and IT Services at Sheffield Hallam University. As a member of the e-learning group in the Learning and Teaching Institute she is also involved in academic and library staff development and support for e-learning. Her interests include the promotion of awareness and use of electronic information resources in e-learning, information literacy, and supporting distance learners.

Steve Draper

Steve Draper, following a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, worked as a post-doc. with Don Norman where he entered the field of HCI (Human Computer Interaction), and co-authored the book "User Centered System Design". He is currently at the University of Glasgow, where he has worked on evaluation of applications of learning technology, and developed the method of "Integrative Evaluation". The practical teaching innovations he has recently been personally concerned with include the use of EVS in lectures, and setting up a Peer Assisted Learning scheme. Much of what he has written is available at http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/.

Jane Edwards

Jane Edwards has been working at the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies since 2005, as a lecturer in tourism and joint programme manager for the BSc Tourism Management programme. Jane’s teaching incorporates a variety of Tourism and Business related modules and more recently Managing Research and Information.

Jane has previously presented on her experiences as a student involved in a pilot programme using ePortfolios and has more recently used her experiences to drive her own research into the use of ePortfolios to support the personal tutorial process in Higher Education. Other research projects currently being undertaken by Jane include the development of an interactive tourism-focused careers’ webpage in which podcasting and video imagery are used and the exploration of an online pastoral tutorial space in which students are encouraged to interact with their lecturing staff and peers.

Dave Foord

Dave started lecturing (Loughborough College) in 1998, and within a year started delivering what is now known as ‘blended learning’. In 2000 he became the college ILT Champion, and continued to develop this area of work, applying many of the theories and practices to his teaching. Dave has always been on the ‘cutting edge’ of e-learning and is recognised for his ability to ‘makes things happen’. Dave is primarily a lecturer, rather than a technologist, and has become extremely proficient at putting the pedagogy first, and technology second, and in a sustainable way that can be rolled out across institutions to other lecturers, without the need for high levels of technical expertise.

In 2005 Dave started working at the University of Derby as e-learning staff development coordinator, managing and delivering the e-learning staff development across the university. Over the years he has delivered over 600 hundred training sessions, on over 80 different topics.

In 2007 Dave set up his own company (A6 Training and Consultancy Ltd) offering training and consultancy services to the education sectors, and the tagline of the company, encapsulates Dave’s working desires ‘Trying to raise the standards of learning, teaching and assessment’.

Liz Foulis

Liz is a lecturer in Art and Design and a Learning and Teaching Advisor at Lauder College in Dunfermline. She is a member of the Expert Group in the TESEP Project, one of the Scottish Funding Councils transformation projects. A key role in the project has been to assist practitioners to evolve their learning and teaching practices.

For the past five years Liz has worked in elearning in number of different ways. She has worked with SQA on Higher Still Art and Design Support Materials, with NLN in the review of Learning Objects, with RDN on mapping resources to the curriculum and as an E-Learning Co-ordinator.

Since working with the TESEP project, Liz has developed a range of resources/workshops that will assist practitioners to develop their learning designs to increase learner engagement. For example the Buffet Game can be used to promote creative lesson planning with focus on effective pedagogy for the use of technology in teaching.

Before working in education, Liz worked in theatre and Art Therapy in Switzerland and subsequently as a portrait painter back in Scotland.

Sara de Freitas

Dr Sara de Freitas has recently taken up a new role as Director of Research at the Serious Games Institute at Coventry University where she leads the applied research group. Sara also holds a Visiting Fellowship at the London Knowledge Lab where she previously held the post of Manager.

Sara is also working with TruSim (Blitz Games), the Vega Group PLC and the Universities of Birmingham and Sheffield on a £2 million UK Department of Trade and Industry co-funded Serious Games research and development project which will develop highly immersive learning games to solve business training needs.

In 2003 Sara founded the UK Lab Group, which brings the research and development community together to create stronger links between industrial and academic research through supporting collaborative programmes and for showcasing innovative R&D solutions for the knowledge economy.

Sara publishes in the areas of: pedagogy and e-learning; change management and strategy development for implementing e-learning systems and educational games and electronic simulations for supporting post-16 training and learning.

Lisa Gray

Lisa Gray is a Programme Manager for JISC, within the e-Learning Team. Shemanages a portfolio of projects looking at the use of technology within the HE in FE context, and also has a co-ordinating role across the teamse-portfolio related work. Before joining JISC, Lisa worked for the University of Bath on an NHS-funded research project exploring the use of e-Learning to support mental health practitioners, and at the University of Nottingham as a manager for a JISC-funded Internet resource discovery service in the health and life sciences (now called Intute).

John Guy

John Guy has been Principal of The Sixth Form College, Farnborough since 1992 during which time it has tripled in size from a little over 1000 to currently nearly 3000 students. He entered teaching from a research background in x-ray crystallography and is thus predisposed to expect occasional disorder within an ordered structure.

Dr Guy taught in the independent, grammar and comprehensive school sectors before his appointment as Principal of St Philip’s Sixth Form College, Birmingham, in 1985. He has served on a number of Ministerial advisory committees, including the Tomlinson Committee on 14-19 Qualifications Reform, chairing its assessment sub-committee; he is currently a board member of Cambridge Assessment (UCLES).

In his spare time he enjoys plumbing and is a novice fly-fisherman. He was awarded the OBE for services to education in 2001.

 Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

Elizabeth Hartnell-Young has been a Research Fellow in the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Nottingham since February 2006, and is a founder of ePortfolio Australia. She focuses on using computers to create, rather than consume information, and has written frequently, from the user's point of view, on uses of technology in education, with articles in the British Journal of  Educational Technology (BJET), Lecture Notes in Computer Science and The Handbook of Research on ePortfolios.

In 1997 she established women@the cutting edge, an Australian project developing digital portfolios to support adults learning through technology. She has researched the impact of ePortfolios on learning for Becta, and is currently using mobile phones with students and teachers to capture information and evidence. The second edition of her book with Maureen Morriss - Digital Portfolios: Powerful Tools for Promoting Professional Growth and Reflection - was published by Corwin Press in December 2006.

She is now exploring how ePortfolios can support the development of 21^st Century literacies, and how various audiences value ePortfolios and make judgements about them.

Alun Hughes

Alun Hughes is Director of Learning and Information Services at UHI Millennium Institute in Inverness . He is chair of the JISC Learning and Teaching Committee, and Secretary to the Board of IMS/Global Learning Consortium. 

Julie Hughes

Julie Hughes is an eportfolio teacher and learner who works in the School of Education at the University of Wolverhampton. Julie is a passionate user of technology to support learning and teaching and an avid educational blogger. During the past year Julie has introduced eportfolios and blogging to Foundation Degree and PGCE students creating interesting and challenging learning communities. Current and previous students have presented their elearning experiences to national and international audiences and have been included in JISC (The Learner’s Voice) and ESCalate publications. Julie is also currently seconded half time to the University’s CETL with a remit for supporting innovation in learning and teaching and mentoring staff in their development as eportfolio practitioners and researchers.

Julie’s research interests focus upon the use of technology to create, sustain and develop reflective learning communities from Foundation Degree level through to mentoring colleagues in HE. Julie is the co-chair of the University’s eportfolio research group which is one of two British members of the International Coalition for Eportfolio Research.

Brian Irwin

Brian is a Lecturer in Curriculum Innovation in the Learning and Teaching Institute at Sheffield Hallam University. He is an educational developer with a specialism in e-learning. Brian's research interests include the staff experience of e-learning and the potential of web 2.0 technologies to enhance student learning.

Jill Jameson

Dr Jill Jameson is Director of Research and Enterprise, School of Education and Training, University of Greenwich, and Director of the JISC eLISA http://www.gre.ac.uk/elisa & eLIDA CAMEL projects http://elidacamel.cms.gre.ac.uk/ . Jill has been a senior manager in HE/FE for 19 years, as Head of IT & Media, Director Student Programmes & Director of Lifelong Learning. Series Editor of Continuum International’s The Essential FE Toolkit http://tinyurl.com/3bodxp , Jill is SRHE FE-HE Network National Coordinator with Prof Gareth Parry and Co-Chair of LSRN LSE. Jill was Special Editor for Alt-J’s (2000) edition on ILT in FE, with Prof Gráinne Conole, & joint Guest Editor with Dr Sara de Freitas of BJET’s Special Edition on Collaborative e-Support for Lifelong Learning (Nov, 2006, 37:6). An Editorial Board Reviewer for AACE, Reviewer for ALT-J, ALT-C and international presenter at AACE ED-MEDIA (2004), E-LEARN (2003-06), the International Conference on Knowledge, Culture and Change (2006). Jill is an invited biographee for Who’s Who International of Professionals (2003-06) and Marquis Who’s Who in the World (2006), Jill is author of Leadership in Post-compulsory Education (Jameson, 2006), Research in Post-compulsory Education (Jameson and Hillier, 2003) and Empowering Researchers in FE, with Prof Yvonne Hillier.

Fiona Jennings

Fiona Jennings left college in 1988 qualified as a medical secretary with shorthand typing skills and no IT experience. Working at Middlesbrough General Hospital on manual typewriters Fiona decided a move to a move innovative way of working was necessary and gained a position in a bank where ‘state of the art’ electronic typewriters made life easier. In 1992 Fiona decided to travel to Australia and gained employment at CityRail where personal computers were common place. Determined to succeed at using a computer, and by trial and error, Fiona became a competent operator of WordStar. On return to England Fiona once again gained employment only to find that Word Perfect was the preferred package and undertook another learning curve. With the move to a local college in 1994 Fiona started working towards IT qualifications, namely advanced word processing and IBT2 using Microsoft office suite. Once competent in the use of spreadsheets and databases Fiona decided to undertake a HNC in IT as she could see the potential for changing the way information was held within the Faculty. Fiona was contacted by many of the staff, at what is now Middlesbrough College, to solve problems they were having creating resources and in 2004 was promoted to Workforce Development Officer providing a dedicated training service to academic, support and visiting lecturer staff. In 2006 Fiona was nominated by staff and won a college ‘Reach’ award for going that extra step and was then nominated and won the RSC Support Personal of the Year Award. This January Fiona was promoted to the role of e-learning officer and is championing e-learning technology within Middlesbrough College.

Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson combines working on a number of projects with the Centre for Educational Technology and Interoperability Standards (CETIS) with his role as senior lecturer in the Department of Games Computing and Creative Technology at the University of Bolton. He has a varied background, having graduated initially in music and worked in the computer industry for several years. Recent work has been on a CETIS project concerning 'Personal Learning Environments' funded by JISC, which is work that has involved the application of philosophy, phenomenology and socio-cybernetic modelling to the emerging world of 'social software'. His particular interests are in social ontology and the study of the relationship between technology, being and human creativity. He is also active as a software developer, writing software for e-portfolio, games-based learning and classroom interactivity.

Giedre Kligyte

Giedre Kligyte is an Academic Advisor (E-learning) at the Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Unitec, New Zealand. Her role at Unitec is to work with lecturers on improving students learning outcomes through innovative use of technologies.

Previously she worked as an Interactive Media Design lecturer and a Learning Academy associate in Temasek Design School, Singapore. Before that Giedre was involved in ITCOLE (Innovative Technologies for Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Building) project (2001-2004) at University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland. ITCOLE project focused on developing innovative pedagogical models, design principles and technology for collaborative knowledge building to be used in European education. In this project Giedre was in charge of the User Interface design for the Fle3 open source software. Fle3 was designed to support learner and group centered work that concentrates on creating and developing expressions of knowledge (i.e. knowledge artefacts) and design.

Personally, Giedre believes in dialog, communication and interaction as the most powerful (and most student centred) teaching and learning aproaches and she tries to practice what she preaches.

Glenis Lambert

Learning Technologist for the Faculty of Business Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University. Glenis joined the University in December 2001 as a member of the newly formed Learning Technology Team within the LTEU. She has been involved in helping develop the University's PDP system, PROGRESS, and working on the use of Computer Aided Assessment.

Glenis graduated from the University of London in 1974 having completed a teaching degree in Art and Psychology. She also has a Postgraduate Certificate in Mathematics and taught art, mathematics and technology in schools in London and Kent. In 1998 she gained her Master's Degree in Graphic Fine Art at KIAD, concentrating on the use of digital imagery. In 2005 she gained her PGCLT from Christchurch, and has presented work on computer aided assessment and resources to support transfer to HE at national conferences.

Glenis's interests focus on keeping on top of the house and garden, planning the next round of foreign travel and looking forward to her next career in retirement, working in her partner’s travel business and running a small resort in Kerala, Southern India- but that’s not just yet!

Niki Lambropoulos

Niki Lambropoulos was born in Ancient Olympia, Greece. She holds two BAs and a Diploma in Education from the University of Athens, Greece and an MA in ICT in Education from the Institute of Education, University of London. She started working as a Greek language teacher in Greece in 1989. In 1999 she moved to London where she worked as an ICT teacher and ICT coordinator in primary and secondary schools. In 2002 she started working as a Project Manager for the Greek Education Office in London responsible for the UK and Ireland. Then, she decided to do a PhD combining knowledgeability and practicality. Now, she is a Research Student in Human-Human and Human-Computer Interaction for Online Education at the Centre for Interactive Systems Engineering, London South Bank University, with Dr Xristine Faulkner and Professor Fintan Culwin. Additionally, she is the Director of Intelligenesis, a consultancy company specialised in Online Education.

She lives and works in London.

Samuel Leung

Before becoming an e-learning researcher at the University of Southampton, Samuel taught cartography and geomatics at Oxford Brookes University for six years. He joined the DialogPlus project at Southampton in 2004, working in the School of Geography and supporting the academics as they implemented innovative approaches to learning and teaching based on the use of digital assets embedded in online learning activities. Samuel is highly skilled in creating and assembling learning objects using content packaging tools such as Reload and, while investigating interoperability issues, he has developed an extensive knowledge of various e-learning standards such as AICC, IMS and SCORM. His repurposing of an ‘Academic Integrity’ learning activity, created initially at Pennsylvania State University, one of the DialogPlus partners, has been widely adopted at the University of Southampton. He is also familiar with current work on repositories and metadata standards, for example Intrallect’s IntraLibrary, Dublin Core and the Data Documentation Initiative. He is currently a registered contributor to and user of the Jorum repository service for the University of Southampton. Samuel saw at first hand the impact of the project on staff in the DialogPlus project team, the School of Geography and other departments at Southampton.

Graham Lewis

Graham is an Academic Staff Development Advisers in the CAPD, and has extensive experience as an e-Learning consultant both at Warwick and at three other HEIs, since the early 90's He is project development adviser on the Warwick e-Learning Award programme, advisees academics on e-Learning and blended learning funded through a variety of internal funding routes and has a particular interest in the role of active learning based teaching development projects in CPD an in the evaluation of e-Learning innovations.

Graham coordinates the Warwick partnership on the NETTLE project led by Southampton and has previously worked for the CLT at the University of Southampton. He has been involved in a number of nationally funded e-Learning projects.

Oleg Liber

Professor Oleg Liber is Professor of eLearning and Director of CETIS at the University of Bolton. He was previously Director of the Centre for Learning Technology at the University of Wales Bangor. Professor Liber has been involved in pioneering work in learning technologies for over twenty years, managing a number of projects developing innovative technical systems, including distributed learning networks, multimedia databases, learning management systems, peer-to-peer collaborative learning environments (Colloquia) and tools for implementing eLearning standards (RELOAD). He co-founded the UK IMS Centre in 1998 and its successor, CETIS, which he has steered to its current position of international leadership in the development and implementation of standards-based eLearning. He has published widely on eLearning, including co-authoring the widely cited JISC report 'A Framework for the Pedagogical Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments', and is regularly invited to speak at major eLearning events. He has provided consultancy for national government and European agencies on eLearning issues. His research interests are in organisational cybernetics and constructivist learning theory, and how these can inform the development, implementation and embedding of learning technologies.

Steve Loddington

Since 2005, Steve Loddington has been a researcher at Loughborough University on the Rights and Rewards in Blended Institutional Repositories Project. Prior to this, Steve graduated with a degree in Information Management & Computing and worked for a year in industry, split within the UK and Australia. Steve currently works in association with the Department of Information Science, the Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (EngCETL) and the University Library at Loughborough University. Rights and Rewards is funded under the JISC Digital Repositories Programme and is primarily focusing on Institutional Repositories containing teaching materials. Steve is interested in the legal, motivational, organisational and technical aspects of Institutional Repositories of this kind and has carried out studies in these areas. Steve is a member of Loughborough University’s Legal and Policy Research Group.

Robin Mason

Terry Mayes

Maria Rodriguez-Yborra

Maria Rodriguez-Yborra is a Senior Lecturer in eLearning and the eLearning team leader in the School of Arts, Media and Education at the University of Bolton in the North West of England, UK. Her most recent roles have included the design of the blended learning approach to the new education department ITT framework; as well as the masters program new blended learning model for selected modules. She has designed, leads and delivers one of the modules of the masters in eLearning for educationalists and she also delivers one module on the undergraduate program. In addition, Maria gives frequently keynote lectures in the use of ICT in education in a number of modules on the undergraduate, masters and ITT programmes and across school. She also is an active online tutor for a Venezuelan University who offers Masters programmes online for international students in English, Portuguese and Spanish languages.

Maria has had long term employment in countries like Venezuela, Spain, USA and the UK. She is also an active international consultant with organisations including UNESCO, SIDA, The British Council and the European Union in countries as diverse as Russia, Zambia, Nigeria, Turkey, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Sweden and Spain. She has also worked in Venezuela, Spain, USA and the UK.

Maria’s other work includes undertaking research in comparative ICT and use of technology in education; new innovative teaching approaches using technology in education; blended learning and distance learning; quality assurance in eLearning delivery; usability and accessibility issues using technology in teaching and learning; communities of practice; practical use of mobile technology in education; and eLearning and blended learning moderation and pedagogics.

Gill Scott

Gill is a key member of the senior management team of the GMSA Life Long Learning Network with specific responsibility for learner support, IAG and tracking and monitoring of learners within the network provision. The development of appropriate tools to monitor and track life long learners, as well as the development of innovative PDP processes for work based and vocational learners, is a key focus of her role. She has significant experience through Aimhigher and previous management of vocational programmes in FE of developing and delivering innovative projects and programmes of study for work based and vocational learners.

Chris Smith

Chris Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Technical and Vocational Teacher Education in the School of Arts, Media and Education at the University of Bolton in the North West of England, UK. His most recent roles have included: B.Ed (TVE) Overseas Pathway Leader and B.Ed (TVE) Zambia Programme Leader; he also designed and delivers several modules on both undergraduate and masters TVE programmes. In addition Chris gives keynote lectures on a range of subjects including: `prevention of disruptive behaviour’; ‘student-centred learning’; ‘TVET in developing countries’;and, `the role of the Inspectorate’.

Chris has worked as an international consultant with organisations including ODA (now DFID), UNESCO, SIDA, FINNIDA, The British Council and the European Union in countries as diverse as Bulgaria, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Kosovo, Libya, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda and Zambia.

Chris’ other work includes undertaking research in comparative vocational education; innovative teaching and learning strategies and competency based training. Chris was awarded a PhD.from the University of Nottingham UK after researching into `cultural transfer of TVET teaching strategies’. This research related to his work in Bulgaria and challenges the growing trend of exporting educational systems from one country to another without sufficient thought to the contextual and cultural issues involved. Recently Chris has turned his attention to the implications of the increasing use of ICTs in distance education programmes in developing countries, delivering a paper at the 1st International Conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training in Africa in Addis Ababa in 2006. Apart from his work in TVET, Chris’ main passion is music. We understand he does a mean Rumba on the dancefloor…!

Ros Smith

Now a consultant and writer on e-learning, Ros Smith joined the Ferl team at Becta in 2002 where she worked on the Ferl Practitioners’ Programme and on issues related to inspection and e-learning.

She has since co-authored and written a number of well received publications and training materials on e-learning for national organisations. These include ‘Managing Inspection and ILT’, (Becta, 2003) ‘Demonstrating Transformation’ (Becta, 2004), ‘Effective Practice with e-Learning’, ‘Innovative Practice with e-Learning’, (JISC, 2004 & 2005) and ‘Designing Spaces for Effective Learning’ (JISC, 2006).

In the last year, Ros has also worked on the LSN ePD Framework and is currently working on a publication for JISC synthesising outputs from the JISC learner’s experience of e-learning theme.

Keith Smyth

Keith is an Academic Development Adviser at Napier University, Edinburgh, and a member of the TESEP project’s core team.

Prior to joining Napier, and subsequently the TESEP project, Keith had several years experience teaching in a range of subjects including human-computer interaction, research methods, and networked learning, and within a range of classroom, blended and online course contexts.

Keith is research active in a number of areas relating to blended and online learning, and is particularly interested in the student experience of online learning, which was the main focus of his PhD.

In his role at Napier, Keith’s key responsibility is staff development in blended and online teaching and learning, and he is part of the team developing Napier’s new MSc Blended and Online Education for tutors, staff developers, and other education professionals working in FE and HE.

Within TESEP, Keith has been heavily involved in practitioner support, developing pedagogic tools including the 3E Approach, and in helping bring together the lessons learned and resources to be shared with the sector.

Mark Stiles

Mark Stiles is Professor of Technology Supported Learning and Head of Learning Development and Innovation at Staffordshire University. Mark's team is responsible for managing and facilitating eLearning, and for research and development in strategy, policy, technology, and pedagogy for eLearning. Recently, he and his team have been working on organisational issues around the embedding of eLearning, and their work on eLearning Policy and quality assurance for eLearning has received considerable national attention. He has led many projects for JISC and other organisations, including the COSE VLE project, interoperability pilots and SURF X4L (on content reuse). His most recent JISC projects were SUNIWE (web services for individualised support to Foundation Degree eLearners) and SURF WBL (e-support for work-based learning). Mark has also carried out various evaluations, including one of the JISC DiVLE programme. He is a regular speaker and has published widely in the field. Mark's latest project, SURF WBL-Way, is working on the the use of portals and repositories to provide support for all involved in the development and delivery of WBL, with a particular focus on employer engagement. Mark is a member of the JISC Learning and Teaching Committee and of the JISC-CETIS Board.

Janet Strivens

After working at the Universities of Exeter, Aston and York, I joined the Department of Education at the University of Liverpool in 1979. During the 80s I was involved with all aspects of the department's work including initial teacher training. In the early 90's I became closely involved in the University's Enterprise in Higher Education Initiative, running staff development for academic staff on teaching, learning and assessment issues, and was seconded to the University's Centre for Careers and Academic Practice, the forerunner of the Centre for Lifelong Learning, where I have worked ever since.

My interests all cluster around supporting the learner and the learning process. I have a special interest in all aspects of assessment. I am also leading the implementation of personal development planning within the University, which reflects a range of interests from e-portfolios to the self-managed learner. I helped to design the Liverpool University Student Interactive Database (LUSID), the University's personal development planning support tool, and am still involved in its development.

I currently have a half-time secondment to the Centre for Recording Achievement (http://www.recordingachievement.org) as Senior Associate Director, which gives me access to national and international developments in both technology and pedagogical practice to support the lifelong learner.

Iain Wallace

Iain Wallace is Digital Services Development Librarian for Spoken Word Services in Learner Support, based in the Library within the multi-award winning Saltire Centre, at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Spoken Word Services is centred around the Spoken Word project, one of four in the JISC / NSF Digital Libraries in the Classroom Programme. It is a partnership of, in the UK, Glasgow Caledonian University and the BBC (Future Media and Technology) and, in the USA, Michigan State (MATRIX) and Northwestern (OYEZ and Academic Technologies). The project is ongoing and runs from 2003 to 2008.

The Spoken Word team maintain and develop a repository of several hundred hours of digital audio and video resources for the educational community. These resources are sourced primarily, though not exclusively, from the BBC Television and Radio Archive.

Iain has day to day management responsibility for the Spoken Word project at GCU and related projects. He is involved in a number of ongoing University development projects related to digital scholarly communication.

Iain has previously worked for the Arts and Humanities Data Service and for the ADAM Service, now made available as part of INTUTE.

Martyn Ward

Martyn is a member of The School of Life Sciences Learning & Teaching, College of Life Sciences, The University of Dundee. He was Head of Department of Anatomy & Physiology from 1997 - 2000, when the Life Sciences departments merged to form the School of Life Sciences. He became Associate Dean of Science & Engineering in 2000, a role he retained in Life Sciences after it became a separate faculty 2002 - 2006. He is Director of the CeLLS project within the SFC-funded Transformation Programme. Martyn is a card-carrying physiologist involved in the learning & teaching of human physiology with medical, dental and science students.

Andrew Wodehouse

Andrew Wodehouse has been a design lecturer in DMEM at the University of Strathclyde since September 2003. He graduated as an MEng in Product Design Engineering at the University of Glasgow/ Glasgow School of Art and Ing from the Hanzehogeschool Groningen, the Netherlands, before working as a product design engineer for Cambridge Consultants Ltd., a technology consultancy in Cambridge, England. Currently undertaking a PhD in interactive digital environments to support collaborative engineering design teams, he is part of the JISC/NSF-funded Digital Libraries for Distributed Innovative Design Education and Teamwork (DIDET) collaborative research project between the University of Strathclyde and Stanford University and the EPSRC-funded Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Grand Challenge Project.