My intention was always to work in education and I chose my placement year carefully during my undergraduate degree carefully, working as a technician at Warwickshire College of Agriculture, supporting both staff and students in their goal to gain IT skills.

 

Subsequently though, I accepted employment in the commercial sector, delivering programming,  information technology infrastructure design, system administration,  consultancy, support and training to both staff and external clients.

 

In 2007  however, I made a life changing decision to follow my original goal and move into the educational sector, where I could apply my information technology skills , communication skills, training experience and adaptability to allowing others to achieve their education and career aspiration.

 

While bringing a host of specific  I.T. skills with me, I pride myself on my ability to understand new technologies with ease and the ability to communicate with others at an appropriate level, This facilitates me in becoming proficient with emerging learning technologies and appreciating the value of their adoption, This in turn allows me to advise academic and support staff on the application of learning technologies within their pedagogy and  facilitate them to do so through face to face training, coaching and a variety of training material delivered online.

 

My role at the University of Huddersfield is a dual role.

 

Provide staff development, coaching and online training material on all aspects of Learning Technologies, ranging from how-to technical training to advice on how to apply learning technologies in order to enhance current pedagogical practice.

 

Provide system administration, infrastructure design and support to the institutional learning technologies (VLE, ePortfolio system, virtual classroom provision and video streaming service)

 

While at the University I have gained a City and Guilds PTTLS qualification and an MSc in Multimedia and eLearning, both of which have given me a greater insight into the pedagogical process and helped me to understand where technology can be applied to enhance the process while at the same time recognising their  limitations and appropriateness. In 2013, I gained industry accreditation by obtaining Certified Membership of the Association of Learning Technolgies.

 

I have presented papers at a number of E-Learning conferences

Social Networking for Pre-Induction 

Using Screencasts in a Classroom Environment  

ePortfolios for Originalty Checking, Formative Feedback and Student Engagement.

 

While I enjoy my current role, my career aspirations are to move further into the delivery of training and the development of online resources with a view to having more direct contact with students studying at the University.