About Me
In my position as Senior Learning Technologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, I have successfully contributed to the widespread uptake and use of technology in support of teaching and learning.
I manage the E-Learning team, chair the E-Learning Users Group (E-LUAG), contribute to the CAPITAL programme for new lecturers and encourage, support and provide networking opportunities for a growing and diverse community of e-learning practitioners.
My main interests are how technologies can impact positively on the student experience, and the successful embedding of e-assessment in teaching and learning. The technologies in use at Royal Holloway include:
- Virtual Learning Environments such as Moodle and Blackboard
- Online quizzing and assessment tools such as Question Mark
- Turnitin, the electronic plagiarism detection, online marking and peer review system
- Personal Response Systems and interactive whiteboards
- Social Networking tools such as Elgg
- The Learning Object Repository Equella, which is about to be launched
The range of activities and achievements to which I contribute is extensive but not limited to the:
- publication of key course information
- timely availability of course materials and resources (including Anti-plagiarism and Study Skills resources to which all staff and students have access)
- creation and use of efficient communication channels between students and between students and staff
- use of discussion fora to build confidence, develop writing skills, encourage deeper approaches to learning, to extend and support full participation in discussions, and in support of group project work
- use of electronic submission of assignments to check against plagiarism and collusion, to facilitate the rapid turnaround of marking and the timely provision of feedback, and to provide opportunities for student peer marking
- flexible, accessible and ‘trackable’ access to specialist software and copyright-cleared content
- use of electronic tests and exams for both formative and summative assessment
- use of electronic collaboration tools such as wikis, blogs and discussion fora in support of dissertation support, virtual study groups, project teams and seminar groups
- use of online audio tools to capture Modern Language student oral presentations (this initiative received a College teaching prize in 2009)
- gathering of student feedback through a variety of channels
As well as evaluating, promoting, developing, and supporting the appropriate use of institutional technologies, I advise on the use of external web 2.0 services such as blogs, del.icio.us, Twitter and Facebook in teaching, learning and community building.
I have an M.Sc. in Multimedia and Information Technology and a BA in Management. I have also recently gained an ILM Management Level 5 Qualification and a Post Graduate Certificate in Teaching and am now an Associate Member of the Higher Education Academy. In May 2009 I was awarded the Royal Holloway College Teaching Prize, for my use of Wimba in French language oral assessment.
Before arrving at Royal Holloway I was an E-Learning Consultant & Developer, Web Usability Engineer and Web Master & Designer for a Brighton based e-commerce and training company. Prior to that I delivered multimedia training courses to a wide range of public and private organisations on behalf of Edinburgh's Napier University, and carried out research into the use of multimedia in the community for Queen Margaret University. I have also undertaken a number of freelance e-learning, new media consultancy, development and web usability projects for a variety of clients.
