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Professor Cliff Beevers, Conference Chair
Professor Cliff Beevers OBE taught Mathematics for over thirty years at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and was granted the title Professor Emeritus in 2005. Cliff worked for over two decades in the area of Computer Aided Assessment, mainly in the field of Mathematics. Through projects like CALM, MathWise, Interactive PastPapers, SCHOLAR and PASS-IT he sought to enhance the student experience in both secondary and tertiary education. Cliff is the ex-Chairman of the burgeoning e-Assessment Association. www.e-assessment.com
Keynote Address -Dr Gill Stewart, Director of Qualifications Development, SQA
Gill Stewart is the Director of Qualifications Development within SQA, with responsibility for the development of qualification assessments and services to meet the needs of schools, colleges, training providers and employers within Scotland. She has led a number of successful large scale development programmes in education and training, including Curriculum for Excellence Programme. She is passionate about the impact that education can have in transforming lives and helping to transform Scotland. Previously she worked in the University sector. Gill holds a BSc (First Class) from Edinburgh University and a PhD from the University of Glasgow. She is married with a fifteen year old son.
Jim Fanning, Head of Emerging Technologies, Education Scotland
I am Head of Emerging Technologies at Education Scotland. I was assistant head teacher at Tideway, a secondary school of 650 students on the south coast of England, near the city of Brighton. Tideway was an early adopter of learning platform/VLE technologies (a pilot programme using think.com was set up in 2003, with a commercial product -Fronter -being purchased in 2004). The results of this work into the use of VLEs in the classroom can be found at www.learningplatforms.co.uk. I am particularly interested in the ways in which this technology has the potential to 'change' pedagogy and school structures. I completed an MEd in Technology Enhanced Learning at Stirling University in 2005 and an EDd in Professional Educational Studies at Sussex University in 2006. The focus for my research was the use of the collaborative tools on a VLE -message forums, chat areas -by secondary age students and the ways in which these enhance student achievement.
Prof. Philip John, SCHOLAR Programme, Heriot-Watt University
Prof. Phillip John, was born in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales into a mining family. He is currently Professor of Chemistry and Senior Dean of Science and Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. In the thirty-five years that he has been with Heriot-Watt he has published over 150 papers and eight patents and supervised 28 PhDs and had extensive learning and teaching experience. Ten years ago he led the Chemistry team in the creation of e-learning materials inside the SCHOLAR courseware (scholar.hw.ac.uk). Since 2002 he has managed the SCHOLAR programme, and is Chair of the legal consultative body (the SCHOLAR Forum), which delivers complete Higher and Advanced Higher e-learning courses to students in virtually every state secondary school in Scotland, the independent sector and FE Colleges. The SCHOLAR team has successfully integrated the research findings of the PASS-IT assessment programme into the SCHOLAR courseware in over 20 subjects in mathematics, science, business and modern languages and represents a major deployment of formative e-assessment.
Matt Wingfield, MD, TAG Assessment
Matt has over twenty-five years’ experience within the UK education market including seven years as a primary school teacher and ICT Coordinator and more recently over sixteen years’ experience working in a variety of roles for TAG Assessment, a leading provider of e-Portfolio/evidence based e-assessment solutions for schools, F.E., H.E. and work-place training, Matt has built-up significant understanding of the issues relating to assessment within education. Matt is dedicated to building close and highly productive partnerships with key stakeholders within the wider education market, so that through promoting greater awareness of the innovative e-assessment solutions available, he can continue helping educators, learners and policy makers understand how e-assessment can be used to enhance and improve teaching and learning. Matt is the Chairman of the e-Assessment Association. www.e-assessment.com
Nora Mogey, Institute for Academic Development, University of Edinburgh
Originally a maths teacher, Nora Mogey now works in the Institute for Academic Development at The University of Edinburgh and is a senior fellow of The Higher Education Academy. She has extensive experience of supporting academic staff across all disciplines to make effective use of technology and researches in the area of technology supported assessment. Current projects include understanding staff and student attitudes to allowing students the choice of using laptop computers in otherwise traditional (essay) examinations, and exploring the use of comparative judgement techniques to rank student achievement rather than awarding a percentage or grade. The comparative judgement technique has been used in the assessment of the “Edinburgh Award” – a programme that wraps around, and gives recognition for, some of the co-curricular activities that students engage in alongside their studies.
Tim Burnett – Business Development Manager, BTL Group
Tim joined BTL in 2006 and, in 2012, progressed from his role as Programme Manager to become Business Development Manager. A combination of Tim’s educational background as a trained teacher and over 8 years of working in the Assessment sector make Tim well placed to understand the technical, commercial and social aspects of assessment and its role in the learning journey. Tim has worked with clients such as NCTL, BBC, City & Guilds, EAL, WJEC and Institute and Faculty of Actuaries whilst working at BTL. His involvement has spanned both strategic and technical development for those organisations, as well as commercial activities. Tim is proud to have been involved in the evolution of Surpass into a world class assessment solution and looks forward to
engaging with organisations across the world in future projects. Tim previously worked at the National Media Museum as Web Manager; this role enabled him to work on high-profile museum projects such as ‘The Art of Star Wars’ and the ‘James Bond’ Exhibition.
Ann Attridge, KLIK2LEARN, Strathclyde University
Ann Attridge Founding Director Klik2Learn, is a Chartered Teacher with degrees in English, French, and Educational Management. She has over 20 years in education including the secondary, further and tertiary sectors. Nine years in ESOL teaching led to an M.Litt research degree in Applied Linguistics. In 2010 Ann was awarded A Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship to set up Klik2Learn.
Denis Saunders, Founder and CEO, Calibrand
Denis has developed Calibrand the currency for talent® into a leading e-Assessment solutions organisation that operates internationally. Calibrand’s ‘e-Assessment anytime, anywhere and on any device’ ethos has been successful in diverse global markets such as financial services regulation, government compliance, medical revalidation, awarding bodies, corporate talent management and international IT certification.
Duncan McMillan, St Kentigern’s Academy
I am currently a teacher of mathematics at St Kentigern's Academy in West Lothian. I have been a teacher for only three years but have worked in various industry sectors over the last 25 years. Qualifying originally as an electronics engineer, I worked as a technical support engineer before moving into customer support management then on to management in the construction industry. My career has been instrumental in helping to develop our Lifeskills Mathematics course, supplying a number of real life scenarios in which pupils can apply their skills.
John Casey, City of Glasgow College
John is the senior learning technologist at City of Glasgow College. John has been involved in some major UK e-learning initiatives including: • The University of the Highlands and Islands (Digital Learning Resources Manager)
• Open Educational Resources at the University of the Arts London (Project Manager)
• Jorum, the UK national digital learning resources collection (Project Manager)
John has experience and expertise in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Instructional Design. e-Learning, as well as deep involvement in staff and organisational development to support development in these areas. He has had his work in these fields published as well as being commissioned by national agencies including the QAA and JISC. John has a long-standing interest in cognitive psychology in relation to the design and usability of learning materials and learning activities. Through his practical involvement in the design of online and distance courses using technology John has become increasingly interested in the implications for organisational and professional change in the public education system.
Ciara Duffy, Virtualisation Manager, South West College Northern Ireland
Ciara manages the award winning Virtual Services Team within SWC which is responsible for e-curriculum design and development, digital skills training, learning resource centre management and curriculum software applications development. She is responsible for delivering Virtual Education Solutions locally, regionally and internationally and is involved in a highly successful e-learning project in Zambia. Previous to managing the Virtual Services team she was ILT Services Manager and led the team through a merger with two other local Colleges. South West College is situated in a largely rural area of Northern Ireland, covering two counties and has five separate Campuses which present its own challenges. It has recently been awarded a Grade 1 by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) and is the only Regional College in Northern Ireland to achieve this accolade, ranking it among the top 4 colleges within the 413 across the UK. Ciara was the project manager who successfully delivered a “Virtual Stud-e Day” and “Virtual Week” in November 2011 with 5,665 learners logging in remotely to study on-line. She believes passionately in harnessing technology to deliver innovative curriculum solutions which enhance the student learner experience and that the only barrier is our imagination.
David Crosbie, CCEA, Principal Officer – Qualifications and Skills Accreditation
David Crosbie taught business and business start-up in further and higher education for ten years before moving into qualifications regulation with CCEA for the last ten years. During his time at CCEA he has been involved in a wide variety of development work including e-assessment in qualifications. He works with colleagues in Northern Ireland and across the four nations of the UK. More recently David has been involved in electronic assessment and reporting linked to school and college 14-19 learners. David also enjoys social business interests and domestic and European cycling.
Roger Trigg, CCEA, Education Manager
Roger Trigg has been an Education Manager in the CCEA Accreditation (Northern Ireland regulator) team since April 2013. During that time he has been involved in a range of development work that has included e-assessment in qualifications in Northern Ireland and with colleagues UK-wide. For the 7 years prior to this current role, Roger was officer for GCSE and GCE Music, Drama and Moving Image Arts (MIA) in the CCEA Examinations team. In particular, his work in MIA gave him a unique insight in to e-assessment in the UK. He has also taught Music in post-primary schools in both Australia and the UK. Roger hails from sporting Mecca, Melbourne and will watch his hometown with interest to see if Andy Murray can replicate his recent feats with another tennis Grand Slam win this week.
Kenn Palmer, Welsh Government
I am a member of the Welsh Government General Qualifications and Regulation team responsible for the accreditation and quality of GCSE, A Level and similar qualifications. I hold the responsibility for the Database of Approved Qualifications for Wales and lead for Wales in 3 country accreditation and equality and diversity issues. Previously I led development of new approaches to curriculum design and funding and projects to test and implement the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales (2004-13) in which I led on recognition of prior learning. I am an experienced presenter and organiser of conferences and seminars for Welsh, UK and International audiences. Implementing education reform contributes to social justice and the recognition of achievement for individuals, employers, and education & training providers. Recognition of learning from formal, non-formal and informal education helps to raise the skills profile and competitiveness of the individual, their employer and the overall skills profile of Wales. I am experienced in developing and delivering change in the public sector, education and the voluntary sector. I have worked in education training and workforce development since 1997. Prior to that I worked in public services and the voluntary sector where I designed and implemented a national information service for Mencap, the major charity supporting people with learning disabilities and their families.
Martyn Ware, e-Assessment Manager, SQA
Martyn Ware is SQA’s Business Manager for CAA, a position he has held since SQA first established a dedicated CAA team in May 2003. Prior to this Martyn has worked in a number of areas of SQA’s operations including most recently managing some of its international activities. Martyn has an MBA from the University of Strathclyde, Graduate School of Business. www.sqa.org.uk
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