Personal information
Biography
Following a brief career as a secondary school science teacher, I worked in the IT industry. After twelve years in various roles, including software engineer, Database Consultant and Project Manager, I moved to Staffordshire University as a senior lecturer. I was particularly interested in the university’s focus on practical scholarship and its links to local industry. My own industrial experience continues to help me illustrate academic concepts through real life experiences and link my classroom teaching to career roles.
My previous work in industry underpins my firm belief that our experiences in non-formal and informal settings both complement and extend our formal learning. Throughout my time at Staffordshire University, I have been a passionate exponent of experiential and life-long learning. This has resulted in me leading the development of programmes such as negotiated learning frameworks and degree apprenticeships which support these goals and provide alternative pathways through Higher Education.
I welcome opportunities to work with industry partners and am involved in part-funded innovation projects in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. At Staffordshire University, I am a member of the C3 research centre, and my cross-disciplinary research also links to the SCoLLP research centre. It is focussed on improving the learning experience including developing innovative pedagogies for non-traditional learners, and understanding the perspectives of apprenticeship stakeholders including apprentices, employers, mentors, regulatory bodies and government departments.
My teaching includes work on degree apprenticeship programmes as well as non-apprenticeship courses at levels 3 through to 7. My teaching focus reflects my industrial experience and is centred on Informatics, Data Science, Technical Service Management and IT Project Management. Additionally, I enjoy working with non-traditional students and am heavily involved in academic skills development and strengths coaching with the computing foundation year.
I am delighted to have been conferred as Associate Professor of Life-long and Life-wide Learning as the title reflects my journey and my continuing mission to innovate and inspire learners of all ages in formal and other diverse settings.
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