People

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	Phillip Beauvoir Senior Researcher and software developer	has been working within the field of Learning Technology Interoperability and Virtual Learning Environments for the past 10 years and currently specialises in developing Eclipse-based rich client applications for e-learning. Currently this includes development of an authoring tool for IMS Learning Design for the European funded TENCompetence project. He has also contributed towards the development of the Personal Competence Manager for the same project. Phil also led the development side of the JISC funded RELOAD project. Prior to joining the IEC, Phil worked with some of the same team members for Bangor University developing the Colloquia VLE. He has worked in computing for 20 years, mainly as a developer, but also as a trainer. He has wide expertise in C, C++, Java, Eclipse, and XML, and has developed systems for a number of commercial and public organisations. This has included co-writing a development emulation environment for one of the first hand-held computers and developing a student management system for a large national training and education provider.
	Dr. Roy Cherian Project Software Developer	is currently involved in the development of software tools for EU funded TenCompetence project. Prior to this he worked on a number of eLearning projects using RELOAD tool for the IEC. His prevous work involved software development for the computer graphics and CAD/CAM industry.
	Dr. Adam Cooper JISC-CETIS Deputy Director	has held a range of roles within further and higher education and educational technology. Following several years teaching chemistry in further education and developing computer-based simulations, interactive tutorials and self-tests he focussed on educational technology and joined Farnborough College of Technology in 1998 as head of their new Teaching and Learning Technology Centre. While at Farnborough, he became interested in the opportunities offered by the newly emergent field of activity in XML-based interoperability in education and in 2000 he moved into the commercial sector to work on European collaborative R&D projects under the 5th Framework Programme with interoperability as a cornerstone principle. Through this work he became involved in IMS, contributing to and co-leading a number of project teams, and first met some of the CETIS colleagues he now works with. He has broad interests in pragmatic educational technology and interoperability and a strong belief that educational technology developed in tandem with progressive educational methods has a great deal of unrealised potential.
	Lisa Corley JISC-CETIS Learning Technology Advisor	founded and led the CETIS Pedagogy Forum, a group launched in April 2003 to enable the UK FE and HE communities to examine and discuss the pedagogic implications of the use of technology in education and widening the scope of CETIS audiences. For the past 2 years she has led the support for the JISC funded Design for Learning programme. Lisa previously worked as a Learning Technologist at the University of Salford, developing online training for the NHS and was also involved in Staff Development activities and supporting lecturers in their use of new technologies for teaching.
	Dr. Simon Grant JISC CETIS Learning Technology Advisor	has worked with JISC CETIS since 2003, from 2008 directly through the IEC. Until then the CETIS work was through the Centre for Recording Achievement, with whose staff he continues to collaborate closely. His CETIS work centres around e-portfolio systems: work in this area dates back to 1997 and the LUSID student personal development system at the University of Liverpool, where he devised the much of the systems architecture. He now plays a key role in the area of interoperability of e-portfolio systems and their conceptual foundations, leading work for CETIS and JISC, and collaborating internationally. He has long taken an interest in the representation of skills and abilities in e-portfolio and related systems, where they play a vital role. He also extends this interest to cover personal values, and relationships with business. His background includes school and university teaching and lecturing, research in human computer interaction and cognitive science (PhD 1991), and entrepreneurship. For more details, please see his web pages at http://www.simongrant.org/home.html\|
	Dai Griffiths Reader in eLearning	has a background is in the arts and in education. He has taught at many levels including primary and secondary education, higher education and continuing education, and in industry. His professional engagement with eLearning started in the early 1990s as a multimedia developer. Since then he has worked on a range of projects focusing on various aspects of technology and education, as a developer, researcher and project manager, and in his current position he has a role coordinating the research carried out in the Institute for Educational Cybernetics. In recent years the main focus of his research has been IMS Learning Design, and he has published extensively on this, including a number of book chapters. He was coordinator of the UNFOLD project, funded by the IST programme, during which led six international events for communities of practice involved in IMS LD. He currently leads the contribution of the Institute for Educational Cybernetics to the TENCompetence project.
	Julie Halliwell Centre Manager	is the Manager of the Institute for Educational Cybernetics at the University of Bolton. Before coming into higher education, she worked as a Finance & Administrative Manager within the engineering industry. Julie has worked at the University of Bolton since 1992 in various financial and administrative capacities, including the Quality Assurance and Enhancement Unit and the then Faculty of Technology where she managed the Faculty's finances. She has managerial responsibility for the Institute’s administrative processes and capabilities and assists the Institute’s Director and Deputy Directors in the operational management of the Institute.
	Paul Hollins JISC-CETIS Deputy Director	was previously Head of Business development for a UK based educational content publisher and before that spent several years in the digital Games industry. Paul’s primary area of research is focussed on themes around the use of digital technologies and the application of learning technology standards in education. Paul has published widely on Learning technology standards and specifically regarding the application of digital games and multi user virtual environments (MUVE) in educational settings. Paul is also academic advisor to a number of organisations including the Department for Business and Regulatory reform (BERR) and the Association of New Generation Interactive Leisure Simulation (ANGILS) and has contributed to a number of research initiatives in the field including the “Teaching with Games Project”, a BECTA/Futurelab initiative with industry partners Electronic Arts and Microsoft.
	Sarah Holyfield JISC-CETIS Communications Director	is the Communications Director for JISC CETIS. She has extensive experience in the use of computers in education since the early 1980s, in both FE and HE (both traditional and 'new'), and had an institutional responsibility over a ten year period for promoting and supporting e-learning at Bangor University through a range of initiatives and strategic activities. She worked at a national level through managing one of nine national Teaching and Learning Technology Support Network (TLTSN) Centres in the mid-1990's, and supported the Community University of North Wales (involving 2 HEIs and 8 FE colleges) in developing its use of technology. She was involved in the development and teaching of a new online degree, the BA Internet, Learning and Organisations, for which she was Academic Co-ordinator. She was previously a senior lecturer in Humanities Computing at the University of North London, and has also taught for a considerable period in FE and schools, and has a particular interest in the social implications of IT and the internet.
	Mark Johnson Reader in Applied Research in Education Technology and Systems
	Christopher Kew Researcher and Project Officer for TENCompetence	currently works on the TENCompetence project which aims to develop a technical and organisational infrastructure to facilitate the provision of lifelong competence development to individuals and organisationas alike throughout Europe. Prior to taking up his position at the University of Bolton, Chris worked as an English Language tutor and lecturer in a number of HE institutions in Paris, France. With post-graduate degrees in both linguistics and ICTs in education, Chris’s research interests include the use of networked technologies and learning environments for use by self-directed language learners.
	Wilbert Kraan JISC-CETIS Assistant Director	is currently responsible for the areas of service oriented architectures, content formats and user-facing educational technologies. Before that, Wilbert worked as the CETIS service's web journalist, where he charted early developments in e-learning technology for a wide audience. Wilbert has also led the development of various interoperability standards, including IMS Content Packaging. Within the soa realm, Wilbert has been involved with the international e-Framework initiative since the start, and continues to chair the e-framework integrity group. Current interests centre around semantic interoperability techniques in general, and its application to education and soa in particular. Wilbert is currently pursuing research into policy interventions for technology commodification.
	Prof. Oleg Liber Director of IEC and Professor of eLearning	was previously Director of the Centre for Learning Technology at the University of Wales Bangor. He has been involved in pioneering work in learning technologies for over twenty years, managing a number of projects developing innovative technical systems, including distributed learning networks, multimedia databases, learning management systems, peer-to-peer collaborative learning environments (Colloquia) and tools for implementing eLearning standards (RELOAD). He co-founded the UK IMS Centre in 1998 and its successor, CETIS, which as director he has steered to its current position of international leadership in the development and implementation of standards-based eLearning. He has published widely on eLearning, including co-authoring the widely cited JISC report “A Framework for the Pedagogical Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments”, and is regularly invited to speak at major eLearning events. He has provided consultancy for national government and European agencies on eLearning issues. His research interests are in organisational cybernetics and constructivist learning theory, and how these can inform the development, implementation and embedding of learning technologies.
	Richard Millwood Reader in Distributed Learning	is working in IEC to develop the IDIBL course framework alongside Stephen Powell and Mark Johnson. He also directs Core Education UK, a not-for-profit organisation devoted to innovation in learning and technology working with the UK Improvement & Development Agency, UNESCO, the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and Becta and is associated with Core Education NZ, based in Christchurch New Zealand. Richard is also establishing the National Archive of Educational Computing. Before joining IEC, Richard co-developed the structure and ethos of Ultralab - one of the most successful innovation centres in learning and technology throughout the world, managing the research and development there to build successful large-scale action research projects. He supported the creative, ethical and conceptual thinking at Ultralab and supervised PhD students in the field of educational computing. For ten years before joining Ultralab in 1990, Richard led software development in the Computers in the Curriculum Project after beginning his career as a school teacher.
	Sharon Perry JISC-CETIS Learning Technology Advisor	is currently involved in the field of Accessibility in e-learning and provides guidance on accessibility issues to learning technology developers, implementers and practitioners, with an emphasis on the use of specifications and standards. She also runs the CETIS Accessibility SIG (Special Interest Group), which acts as a discussion and dissemination forum, focusing on good practice in making learning technology accessible to all. Sharon has a background in IT (Information Technology) and has been involved in e-learning since 2001. She is based at the North Wales office.
	Stephen Powell Reader in Inquiry-Based Learning	undertakes action research into work-focussed learning using inquiry-based approaches supported through online communities of inquiry. This has been the focus of his work since 2003, when he led the development of the successful Ultraversity project at Ultralab (Anglia Ruskin University). This project proved that the combination of ideas brought together in an innovative package could achieve the dual aims of widening participation and an developing an approach to learning that supported undergraduate researchers in making improvements in the work they do. Prior to this, Stephen worked on the management team of the Talking Heads project for the National College for School Leaders, an early use of the concept of online communities of practice for headteachers. Before his move to working in Higher Education, he worked as ICT advisor on the Tesco SchoolNet 2000 project, the first UK wide initiative to develop the use of the Internet in Schools. Prior to this Stephen worked as a school teacher and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator in state secondary schools. Professional weblog.\|
	Mark Power JISC CETIS Learning Technologist Advisor
	Paul Sharples Researcher and Software Developer	works as a software developer and researcher within the Institute for Educational Cybernetics. Paul has been at the university for around 10 years, after gaining a degree in Computing. In his time at the university he has among other things, worked on the university's first online distance learning masters degree, been involved with creating dynamic and database driven content for the university's online presence; and also involved with the technical integration of the university's VLE with its student record system. Paul also previously worked as one of the software developers on both the JISC funded PLE and Reload projects, the latter where he was involved with ADL SCORM and IMS Learning Design runtime systems. He is currently working on the European funded TENCompetence Project, specifically involved with developing IMS Learning Design software tools. He specialises in web application development, using a variety of technologies, but especially using Java, J2EE and XML.
	David Sherlock Research Officer and Software Developer	is a Research Officer within the Institute for Educational Cybernetics whose current work includes developing a Mozilla based tracking application for the SPLICE project and integrating applications for the JISC CETIS web portal. Interests include Web Development, Java and Eclipse. David has only been with the IEC for 10 months but has been with the University of Bolton as a Student for 4 years where he studied BSc Computing Technology and an MSc in IT Systems Development.
	Dr. Christina Smart JISC-CETIS Editor	is the lead journalist for the JISC e-Learning Programme and editor of the JISC CETIS and e-Learning Focus web sites. She has worked in e-learning since 1997 when she was the manager of the CTI Biology Centre. Since then she has been involved in a range of eLearning initiatives in North Wales, including being the project manager for HAWL, a project providing an online platform for courses developed by the Community University of North Wales. As well as working at a national and regional level her work has involved supporting institutional developments as an e-learning development officer at the University of Bangor, where she also taught on the BA in Internet, Learning and Organisations, an online degree launched in Bangor in 2001. Her current role involves interpreting and communicating a wider range of technical developments for the FE and HE sectors. In a previous life Christina was a biological scientist.
	Scott Wilson JISC-CETIS Assistant Director & Senior Researcher	research interests include advanced Internet technologies for presence and identity, information systems design, and the use of cybernetics in the strategic development and adoption of new technologies. He currently manages two research projects at the Institute, one on personal information management (FeedForward) and one on the use of Alternate Reality Games in education (ARGOSI). Prior to joining IEC, he worked for a number of companies in the area of strategic technology and intelligence analysis, including Harlequin (now Tiburon, Inc.). In addition to his position at IEC, Mr Wilson has also been a visiting Senior Research Fellow at Macquarie University, Sydney.
	Dr. Li Yuan JISC CETIS Learning Technology Advisor and Research Officer	research interests include educational content, learning design, digital repositories and ICT policy and practice in Education. Prior to joining IEC, she was a research follow in the School of Education, Queen’s University of Belfast, where she worked on the development of the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland’s (GTCNI) digital repository project - Access to Research Resources for Teacher Space (ARRTS) (http://arrts.gtcni.org.uk). Her background includes an MSc in Computer Based Learning and a PhD on ICT in Education which examined the trends in ICT policy and practice in schools in China. She has presented her research findings in a variety of conferences including CAL 05 and more recently was involved in organising the Chinese Ministry of Education’s national annual conference (2007) on “ICT in Education – Innovation and Development” (http://www.e-chinaedu.cn/zhuanti/index.html). In addition to her own input she organised conference contributions from UK academic experts on e-learning issues and meetings with Chinese policy makers and academics.
	Kamala Velayutham JISC CETIS Learning Technology Advisor and Research Officer