Head of eLearning & Head of Centre for Learning Development (Interim)
Centre for Learning Development
University of Hull
Hull, HU6 7RX
United Kingdom
E-mail: s.p.atkinson@hull.ac.uk
Lived and worked in the:
United Kingdom, New Zealand, Switzerland, Israel, France, Indonesia, and Netherlands
 
• British Citizen
• New Zealand Indefinite Returning Residents Visa

Fifteen years post-graduate experience in strategic educational management, training and development, non-profit management and communications. Excellent communication skills. Experience of responsibility across corporate and public sector roles including senior levels. A reputation for diplomacy, plain talking, inspirational leadership, motivation and imagination.

• Strategic Management for education, development and organisational restructuring
• Communications Consultancy for educational institutions, development organisations and the arts
• Learning and teaching design and management for CPD and Open, Distance and Flexible Higher Education
• Marketing Strategy development, forecasting and design - by traditional PR means and digital technology
• IT System Development - including teaching and consulting

Employment
8.2004- Head of Centre for Learning Development (Interim) – University of Hull
• Appointed following major review process of Centre between November 2003 and May 2004 to oversee internal restructuring and realignment with revised Teaching & Learning Strategy ahead of newly approved Professorial level appointment of Head, anticipated in Summer 2005
• Member of University Learning Teaching and Assessment Committee
6.2003- Head of eLearning – Centre for Learning Development – University of Hull
• University Strategic leadership of e-learning technologies, distance and flexible course development and management of learning innovations for schools and individuals
• Advisory services to teaching & learning departments at University of Hull and partner institutions
• Development and maintenance of staff development programme for learning technologies
3.2001-5.2003 Project Officer - Academic and Professional Development Programme
 Institute of Educational Technology - Open University (UK) (Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, UK)
• Development and implementation of online CPD solutions for OU internal staff
• Advising on pedagogical development of workshops and online resources
• Authoring online learning materials in support of writing, assessment and evaluation strategies
• Initiation of PRIDE – Project Information Dissemination and Exchange group
10.1999-2.2001 Programme Manager - Centre for Continuing Education - Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
• Acting Director September-November 2000 – responsible for submission to deficit reduction consultation process
• Development and implementation of Professional Development Programmes
• Management of network learning facility: Multimedia Suite, supporting Decision Support
• Co-author/initiator of University Foundation Studies programme
04.1996- Communications Consultant  - Self-employed  - UK and New Zealand
• Project development, assessment, policy guidance and implementation for clients in charitable causes and education on incorporating new media into existing commercial strategies
1994-1996   Communications Executive - Opportunity International UK
• Development of broad base marketing and fund-raising programme, donor recruitment and profile raising for international micro-enterprise charity
1993-1994 Major Gifts Fund-raiser - Oxford University Development Campaign, UK
• Identification, solicitation and management of "major gifts"
1991-1993 Continuing Education Development Officer- Criminal Justice  - Exeter University, UK

Formal Education 
2004 - University of Hull – Doctoral studies in progress concerning the institutional implications of the development and use of learning object repositories

2003 Open University (UK) - Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

1990-1991 MA Western European Studies  - Exeter University, UK
Dissertation: European Media Policy and the Implications for Regional Cultural Identity
Economic History since 1945; Rural Policy; Tourism Policy; European Community; Eastern European Political Economics; Research and Methodology in Social Science
Assistant on Computing Module - Research Methodology

1985-1988 BA Hons Religious Studies (with Education)  - West Sussex IHE, UK
Dissertation: Post-Holocaust Jewish Theology and its Implications for Jewish-Christian Dialogue.
Eastern and Western Theology Modules covering Philosophy and Sociology

1979-1984 King Alfred's School, Wantage, Oxfordshire, UK - 3 'A' levels, 8 '0' Levels

1972-1979 International School of Geneva, La Chataignerie, Founex, Switzerland
 
Professional Activities
• Member of the UK Heads of Educational Development Group
• Member of ESCalte (LTSN) National Advisory Committee (ESCalte, the Education Subject Centre for the Learning and Teaching Subject Networks) January 2004 – December 2006
• Member of the UK Heads of eLearning Forum
• Member of the International Editorial Board - Malaysian Online Journal of Instructional Technology (MOJIT) August 2004 – December 2006
• Recipient of an Open University Teaching Award 2003 – Introduction to Teaching and Learning Online Team

Research & Project Activity
• Doctoral research in progress considers the impact, on institutional and individual academic identity and performance, of the use of decontextualised learning materials shared through digital content repositories

• Project Team Lead – Open Distance Learning Network Experience ODL-NET – European Socrates Project. Project seeks to share the experiences from 40 online programmes at various levels and disciplines across Europe to establish potential models of good practice

• Team Member – RePLIKA - European Socrates Project. Project examines the practical difficulties in the international shared authorship and reuse of material in digital content repositories

• Areas of interest are in learning environments and learning contexts, situated learning and academic development.

Relevant Conference Papers
July 2004 – Pan Commonwealth Open Learning Forum, Dunedin, NZ – Heal Thyself - effective e-learning
December 2001 – EducaBerlin – Visual Metaphors in Virtual Learning Environments

Recent Invited Presentations
• February 2005 – Ngoro University, Kenya/British Council  – developing a flexible e-enabled Gender Studies programme
• December 2004 – CARNet (Croatian Academic Research Network) – Zagreb
Two day workshop for educators  - Online Tutoring
• July 2004 – Alexander Turnbull Library – National Library of New Zealand
Commonwealth Open and Distance Education Today
• July 2004 - Victoria University of Wellington – e-Learning Professional Development (Workshop Series)
• March 2003 - UK Science Enterprise Council E-Learning Seminar (Warwick University)
Thinking outside the rectangle: Enterprising thinking styles for e-learning
• December 2003 –Institute for Educational Technology (Open University)
eLearning@hull – turf wars in eLearning