Background

I have a career history of working in formal and informal education and a strong personal interest in the outdoors.

My career in Youth and Community work started in Birmingham and then moved to Suffolk and Hertfordshire. After that, I worked as a Community Education manager in Derbyshire for 13 years. This involved promoting informal and formal learning opportunities and included area management responsibilities and curriculum coordination for languages and humanities.

From 2000 – 2003 I was an Education Officer for the British Education Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) in the community programmes team working on UK online centres and Community Grids for Learning.

Since 2003 I have worked for the National Institure of Adult Continung Education NIACE laeding the Institute's work on Digital Learning. This work has including promotion of E-Learning in Adult and Community Learning in UK and the UNESCO funded Avicenna Higher Education online learning project. 

I spent a full year working in France for the voluntary organisation Compagnons Batisseurs and have fluent spoken French. My MEd Research involved case study work of learner experiences in France and the UK and involved conducting research interviews in French.

Qualifications

Current Employment
Senior Programme Director Digital Learning Team National Institute of Adult Continuing Education  NIACE

Publications
I have have authored and edited a number of paper publications and also written for journals and for the Web.
Details of publications

Conferences addressed
Spaces, Places and Future Learning Futurelab October 2006
Key Comptencies 2007 European Institute for E learning July 2007
Informal Adult laeraning - making the connections - NIACE February 2009

 

ICT and Learning projects undertaken in voluntary capacity

Honorary Director of Wirksworth Connect (not for profit company supporting digital inclusion in Wirksworth, Derbyshire)   www.wirksworth.net

Steering Group member : Digital Wirksworth- successful campaign to bring wireless broadband to rural Derbyshire.

Steering group member: Homefront Memories  digital recording of local resident's memories of Homefront during Second World War

Recent Teaching
Online tutor for Open University Course TU170
Part team teacher of map reading: Derby City Council   (Assesses at Grade 1 in Observation of Teaching and Learning 2006)

Online Identity
Blogging about the outdoors - http://dontgetlost.wordpress.com