I love helping people learn, and I find it inspiring and transformative to be on a learning journey with others.
I am presently Academic Co-director at the National Centre for Integrative Medicine in Bristol and have a background in UK Higher Education.
In 2012 I was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship which recognises leadership and impact on student outcomes. In 2016 I achieved Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA) which is the highest level of professional standard for higher education teachers.
Here are some projects that I am most proud of.
Open education projects
Hewlett Foundation-funded UK Open Textbook Project – collaboration with the Open University and WONKHE.com to raise awareness of open textbooks (free books for college and university students). I did all of the logos and artwork too for this project.
GoOpen! – Wiki to support the development of open practice in teaching built with the amazing Catherine Cronin.
At Nottingham University School of Nursing an abundance of learning objects were shared to support students whilst out on placement. I produced a number of Flash animations in 2004, and it is great to see they are still used today and usable via the web.
At De Montfort University I taught across a number of biomedical science subjects and a group of colleagues and myself decided to share open educational resources on basic laboratory skills. I’ve now retired off our Virtual Analytical Lab (VAL). We also helped with the OU Virtual Microscope project. This was a funded initiative between the Open University and the Wolfson Foundation. We contributed an archive of histological slides and I provided the annotations and descriptions.
In 2010 part of the UKOER phase 2 funding, I extended the OER work at De Montfort with the SCOOTER Project, with Professor Simon Dyson and Dr Mark Fowler (Sickle Cell Open – Online Topics and Educational Resources). This aimed to compile a range of teaching materials for blood disorders – particularly sickle cell and thalassaemia. It was a cross-universtiy effort involving arts, law, social sciences and biosciences, and led to some lovely collaborative resources with the Leicester Royal Infirmary Department of Pathology.
In 2011 gained phase 3 funding this time to specifically create life science materials in the Biology Courses project – also now retired off. The work did include these parts that still survive:
Midwifery OER – from De Montfort led by Jacqui Williams.
Available: http://more.library.dmu.ac.uk
Interprofessional teams and working OER – from De Montfort led by Jacqui Williams.
Available: http://tiger.library.dmu.ac.uk
So many people to thank!
There were many people who have been involved in these projects I couldn’t thank everyone, but here are some of the main individuals and groups:
- Biomedical Science students and staff team at De Montfort University
- Forensic Science led by Dr Mark Fowler at DMU
- Midwifery team led by Jacqui Williams at DMU
- Sickle Cell team led by Professor Simon Dyson at DMU
- Faculties of Arts, Design and Humanities; Business and Law; Technology; Health and Life Sciences
- DMU Library
- DMU CELT team – Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology
- Contributions from Professor James Elander, University of Derby
- Contributions from the Pathology Services, Leicester Royal Infirmary
- Northampton General Hospital
- Oxford University Press
- Family of Frank B Livingstone
- Professor Elizabeth Anionwu