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

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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

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

http://www.slideshare.net/GrainneConoleg.conole@bathspa.ac.ukhttp://e4innovation.com

@gconole