I have been working at Ultralab for over five years as a researcher
particularly using an action research methodology. The first three years were
on the Talking Heads project. This involved facilitating the head teacher
communities in Think.com and later in Talk 2 Learn. In addition to working with
the head teachers there was substantial online work designing the community
spaces and designing an online facilitation course for the National
College for School Leadership. Essentially
this work was an action research consisting of a number of iterations involving
online community and the construction of knowledge by community members. I
recently had a paper published based on work done in this project in the
Innovations in Education and Teaching International Journal. This article
looked at a theoretical framework for online community and how key features of
this were practiced within the online communities.
For the last two and a half years I have been working on the Ultraversity
project. This again is an action research looking at a completely online
research based degree for undergraduates. Last year, with Stephen Powell, we
took the first of our undergraduate researchers through the final year of their
research based degree. This year, together with other colleagues, I am working
with 150 undergraduates on the third and final year of their degree course
which will give them a BA (Hons) Learning, Technology and Research. Being in the
first cohort of the degree we have been, innovating the actions for the first cycle
of the research, evaluating the outcomes of this and passing on our experience
and lessons learnt to later cohorts. I am currently completing a paper for
publication in a peer reviewed journal examining the effects upon students self
worth as a result of doing the online degree.
Prior to working at Ultralab I was a teacher in inner city Liverpool
for thirteen years and a head teacher for twelve. As a head teacher within my
school I initiated and led two related pieces of action research on the amalgamation
of two very different inner city schools and ways of improving standards within
the inner city.
I have a keen interest in music both playing the keyboard individually and
with others.
As a Christian I am heavily involved in my church which currently numbers
over eight hundred and is growing rapidly in central Liverpool.
I am currently examining the possibility of combining both my interests in
researching learning with issues of faith.
