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The journey from Chemistry to E-learning
Gráinne Conole
9th March 2015
International women’s day, Bath Spa University
National Teaching
Fellow 2012 Ascilite fellow 2012EDEN fellow 2013
Outline
• Career history
• Turning points and reflections
• Current role and research interests
• Harnessing the power of social media
Early years…
• Born in Cork, Ireland
• Moved to London when five years old
• One sister, Moya
• Dog named James Joyce!
• Schools– Holy Mary, Kingston
– St Philomenas, Carshalton
Academic performance
• Secondary School 74-82– A late developer!
– 10 O’ levels
– 4 A levels • Chem, Biol, Maths, Art
• University 82-85– Chemistry, 2.1
– Sheffield University
The Thatcher influence…
• …..or life in the ‘real’ world
• 85-86
– Graduate training programme
– Allied bakeries
– Area retail manager
– 150 staff in 10 outfits across London!
Life as a Chemist
• 86-90
– PhD X-Ray Crystallography
– P/T demonstrating and lecturing
• 90-91
– Lecturer on newly established Foundation Science course – HITECC
• 91-96
– Lecturer (Inorganic Chemistry)
Changing roles
• UNL June 96 - Sept 99– Project Director Learning
and Teaching Innovation
– Director of Teaching and Learning Technology Centre
– Head of Technology-based Learning
• Bristol Sept 99 –April 02– Director of Institute for
Learning and Research Technology
Changing roles….
• Southampton 2002 – 2006– Chair in educational
innovation in post-compulsory education
• OU 2006 - 2011– Professor of e-learning
• Leicester 2011 - 2014– Professor of Learning
Innovation
• Bath Spa University Feb 2015– Chair in Education
Early turning points
• Moving to England– Identity crisis – Irish or English?
Integrating into a new society
• O’ and A’ level choices– Switch from Sociology to
Chemistry O’ level
– Switch from Geography to Maths A’ level
– Lack of career advice or choice of university
Turning points• Retail manager! and switch to PhD
(phew)• Securing lectureship• Promotion to Principle Lecturer (96)• Birth of Eleanor (94) & Tabby (98)• Taking the Bristol post, Tabby 6
months• Nannies and au pairs!• Chair at Southampton, then OU &
now Leicester• JISC & EU funded projects• Increasing involvement in national
and international activities
Focus of research
• Enhancing the learner experience
• Effective & innovative use of technologies
• New approaches to design
• Open practices in learning, teaching and research
E-Learning timelineM
ult
ime
dia
res
ou
rce
s
80s
The
Web
93
Lear
nin
g M
anag
emen
t Sy
stem
s
95
Op
en E
du
cati
on
al R
eso
urc
es
01
Mo
bile
dev
ice
s
98
Gam
ing
tech
no
logi
es
00So
cial
an
d p
arti
cip
ato
ry m
ed
ia
04
Vir
tual
wo
rld
s
05
E-b
oo
ks a
nd
sm
art
dev
ices
Mas
sive
Op
en
On
line
Co
urs
es
07 08
Lear
nin
g D
esi
gn
99
Lear
nin
g o
bje
cts
94
Lear
nin
g A
nal
ytic
s
10
Four phases
• Multimedia
• The Internet
• Learning Design
• Social and Participatory Media
My network
Blogs• Of the moment
reflections
• Digital archive
• The power of peer review
• Record of events, reviews and resources
• Wider audience reach and hence profile
• Link into facebook and Twitter
• Complements traditional publication routes
e4innovation.com
gconole.wordpress,com
Using facebook
Ideas for harnessing Web 2.0?
Twitter and facebook #fb
Conferences
• Purpose: presentation & feedback
• Network, network, network!
• Potential collaborators & bid partners
• Put in a symposium of experts
• Expert validation workshops
• Put papers/presentations online
• Follow up contacts afterwards: email, fb, Twitter, blogs, etc.
• Work up into a research paper
• Work the hashtag
• Live blog or follow conference-related blogs
A personal example
Publishing•Write books and chapters
•Become an editor of a special issue of a journal
•Keep publication list up to date in your research repository
•Set up a writing group or workshop (real/virtual)
•Co-write with lots of different people
•Disseminate publications via Tweet, fb etc.
•Set up a blog and read other blogs
•See Twitter, blogs, journals, books as complementary
GO OPEN!!!!
Networking
• Build international links
• Join professional bodies
• Become a reviewer
• Do a special issue
• Sit on committees
• Do a study visit
Reflections
• Difficulty of balancing home and work
• Significance of turning points
• Importance of support –partners, friends and childcare support
• Clash of having children and career breaks
• Politics!
Importance of relaxation!
Porthcurno, Cornwall
Seascamp
