Invited Speakers
 | Dr Norm Vaughan Professor in the Department of Education, Faculty of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| An educator and researcher with interests in blended learning, faculty development and K to 12 schooling, Dr. Norm Vaughan is a Professor in the Department of Education, Faculty of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. He is the co-author of the book Blended Learning in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2008) and has published a series of articles on blended learning and faculty development. Norm is the Co-founder of the Blended Online Design Network (BOLD), a member of the Community of Inquiry Research Group, the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning and he is on the Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Excellence in e-Learning, Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, the Journal of Distance Education, the Journal on Centres for Teaching & Learning, the Learning Communities Journal, and the Journal of Information Fluency. Further information about Norm can be found on his personal web site. | |
 | Professor Gràinne Conole Professor of Learning Innovation, Director - Beyond Distance Research Alliance United Kingdom |
Gràinne joined Beyond Distance as Director on 1st September, 2011. Prior to this, she was Chair of E-Learning at the Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, since April 2006. Previously, Gràinne was Professor of Educational Innovation in Post-Compulsory Education at the University of Southampton, and was Director of the Institute for Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol, a centre of excellence on the development and use of information and communication technology in education. Gràinne has research interests in the use, integration and evaluation of Information and Communication Technologies and e-learning and impact on organisational change. Gràinne has research, development and project management experience across the educational and technical domains; funding sources have included HEFCE, ESRC, EU and commercial sponsors. Very recent projects include the EU-funded projects OPAL, Deisgn-Practice, and X-Delia, the JISC-funded learner experience project, the ESRC TLRP Technology-Enhanced Learning project, PI led by Eileen Scanlon and Mike Sharples, as well as an OU Learning Design Project. Past projects include the JISC LXP Learner Experience Proect, the HEFCE-funded E-Learning Research Centre, the JISC/NSF funded DialogPlus digital libraries project and the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods. Also see Gràinne's website: http://e4innovation.com/. | |
 | Simon MacIntyre Senior Lecturer, Online Postgraduate Director COFA Online The University of New South Wales Australia |
Simon is currently the Co-Project leader of 'Learning to Teach Online', a free professional development resource designed to help teachers from any discipline, whether experienced in online teaching or not, to gain a working understanding of successful online teaching pedagogies that they can apply in their own unique teaching situations. You can read about the Learning to Teach Online project here Since 1996 Simon worked as a designer in Sydney Australia, producing CD Roms, web sites, print and film graphics in the pioneering days of interactive design and new media. From 2003, he has become increasingly involved in the process of design education. Now a full time academic at the College of Fine Arts, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, Simon has since co-operatively pioneered learning and teaching approaches for fully online art and design education, and has helped establish an internationally recognised quality online learning reputation for the Faculty's online learning and teaching unit, COFA Online. Simon's research now focuses on the development of new online pedagogies to evolve design education into a globally networked practice. In 2006, his implementation of online learning and teaching research was nationally recognised by the Australia Learning and Teaching Council by being co-awarded a Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning for 'Pioneering internationally recognised best practice in online education in the creative arts and design'. In 2007, McIntyre's research and design education practice led to the development and supervision of an international, fully online Master of Cross-Disciplinary Art and Design program for COFA. 2010 sees Simon working on the creation of a free resource for design educators worldwide called 'Learning to Teach Online'. Through his continued research and online teaching practice, Simon hopes to continue to help develop strategies to improve the quality and delivery of online education in across disciplines. You can find more information about Simon's research here. | |
 | Karin Watson Sessional Lecturer - School of Design & COFA Online; Professional Development Coordinator, Online Courses & Programs - COFA Online The University of New South Wales Australia |
I'm an architect and have studied, lived and worked in South Africa, London and Sydney. Since 2003 I have been also been teaching in design-related studios and programs at UNSW. I enjoy working across a number of faculties and across different teaching environments, as they provide me with a range of new and transferable set of skills. I consider these constantly evolving skills essential for the cross-disciplinary nature of the contemporary design workplace. I am currently the First Year Design Studio Coordinator and also teach in the Second Year Environments/Spatial Design Programs at the School of Design Studies. At COFA Online I teach the Spatial Design and Unravelling Urban Design courses. I am the professional development coordinator of online courses and programs at COFA Online. My research reflects my varied interests and currently focuses on the shift to online and blended learning education, but more specifically the pedagogy that should '“ but often doesn't - support this change. I have presented at numerous international conferences on subjects relating to the notions of trust in online environments; studio teaching; learning to teach online; strategies for implementing change towards blended learning practice; using multi-disciplinary practice in your teaching; encouraging social innovation and global citizenship in students; and preparing students for the global workplace. I almost always work in collaborative team environments. | |
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