Dr. Helen Barrett, International Researcher and Consultant (USA)

Helen Barrett recently retired from the faculty of the College of Education at the University of Alaska Anchorage and is living in the Seattle area. She has been researching strategies and technologies for electronic portfolios since 1991, publishing a website (http://electronicportfolios.org), an Apple Learning Interchange exhibit (http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000156/), chapters in several books on Electronic Portfolios, and numerous articles.

She was on loan to the International Society for Technology in Education between 2001 and early 2005, working as the Assessment Coordinator for ISTE’s National Educational Technology Standards and providing training and technical assistance on electronic portfolios for teacher education programs throughout the U.S.under a federal PT3 grant. In 2005, Dr. Barrett became the Research Project Director for The REFLECT Initiative, an international research project, underwritten by TaskStream, to assess the impact of electronic portfolios on student learning, motivation and engagement in secondary schools. She is currently working on several book projects on electronic portfolios. She is also an Apple Distinguished Educator and a George Lucas Educational Foundation Faculty Associate.

Martin Owen, Smalti (UK)

He is also developing unique playful, tangible devices for early learning with his own company Smalti. He is also working as an independent researcher in technology enhanced learning with particular emphasis on games, mobility and augmented reality. He was the initial Director of Learning and Head of Concept Development at Futurelab. Previously he was an academic researcher and teacher trainer at University of Wales, Bangor. He has also been a school teacher.

Grainne Conole, Open University (UK)

Grainne joined IET as chair of e-learning in April 2006. Previously she was Professor of Educational Innovation in Post-Compulsory Education at the University of Southampton. She has research interests in the use, integration and evaluation of Information and Communication Technologies and e-learning and impact on organisational change.

Before joining Southampton, she was Director of the Institute for Learning and Research Technology at the University of Bristol, a centre of excellence on the development and use of information and communication technology in education.

Grainne has research, development and project management experience across the educational and technical domains; funding sources have included HEFCE, ESRC, EU and commercial sponsors. Current projects include the JISC-funded learner experience project, PB-LXP with Mary Thorpe and the ESRC TLRP Technology-Enhanced Learning project, PI led by Eileen Scanlon and Mike Sharples. Institutionally I am working on an OU Learning Design Project. Past projects include the JISC LXP Learner Experience Proect, the HEFCE-funded E-Learning Research Centre, the JISC/NSF funded DialogPlus digital libraries project and the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods.

Fabrizio Cardinali, ELIG

Fabrizio Cardinali, Chair of ELIG (European eLearning industry Group) and CEO of Giunti Labs. Fabrizio heads up one of Europe's leading companies in eLearning research and development and standardisation activities with more than 30 active R&D Projects in the field of eLearning future, content management and 3rd generation publishing devices and more than 100 bespoke projects for European leading Corporations, Universities and Public Bodies. He is Chair of the European eLearning Industry Group and a regular consultant on eLearning content strategies for the European Commission. He is an active member of IMS, SCORM and OKI technology specification bodies.

Harry Owen, Flinders University (Australia)

Harry Owen is Professor of Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine at Flinders University and also the Director of the School of Medicine Clinical Skills and Simulation Unit (CSSU) based in Adelaide and the Rural Clinical School Simulation Unit based in Renmark.

Harry Owen has been developing a comprehensive simulation training facility and has been very active in research and teaching using simulation. The major strengths of the CSSU are its core of skilled health professionals trained to use simulation for training and an extensive inventory of patient simulators and associated more than 40 airway simulators!

Harry has published research in medical education and clinical discipline journals and presented at several national and international meeting including the annual meetings of the International Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ISSH), the Society in Europe for Simulation applied to Medicine SESAM), the Australian Society for Simulation in Healthcare (ASSH) and Medicine Meets Virtual Reality conference series. Harry’s work is widely recognised and he was asked to contribute chapters to both the simulation textbooks published in 2008.

He has received several research grants, awards and prizes (local, national and international) for teaching and research and has been invited to simulation meetings and to teach in the US, UK, China, Korea, Singapore and Malaysia and New Zealand.

Harry has an active simulation research and development program that has 5 research higher degree students undertaking research related to simulation with 3 of the PhD students working on new simulator technologies and international collaborations with researchers in Spain and Northern Island. Two simulators from this research work have been developed commercially and two more are being trialled.

Harry has been asked to advise several organisations seeking to develop or expand simulation training. Those organisations range from universities and hospitals in Australia (including NT, Victoria, NSW and Queensland) to national bodies including the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the major combat medic training facility (91w) at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio TX.

Harry’s current R&D activity covers development of new simulation technology, improving transfer of training from simulation to clinical practice and an e-Portfolio for tracking training needs of medical students and performance assessment. The goal of this work is to ensure that every medical graduate can perform effective life saving in a range of pre-hospital and in-hospital settings.

Lee Davies, Institute for Learning (UK)

Lee Davies joined the Institute for Learning (IfL) in August 2005 and is responsible for leading the implementation of professionalisation reforms in the further education sector, including conferral of Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status.

Before joining IfL, he was district secretary of the Workers' Educational Association (WEA), Thames & Solent District, and carried national responsibility for educational strategy.

Lee has worked in further education and related areas for over 20 years, having started as a part-time plumbing lecturer at Highbury College, Portsmouth, in September 1987. He qualified as a teacher in 1990, through the Certificate in Education, and also has Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Master of Arts degrees.

Lee is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA); Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (FCIPHE) and a Registered Plumber (RP).

He is passionate about vocational education, and still teaches part-time at colleges. He actively promotes elearning and has worked with Becta, the Learning and Skills Network and other partners to develop the national elearning strategy. As an advocate of using technology to support personalised learning, he has been instrumental in the development of IfL's online learning space, REfLECT.

Natasha Innocent, MLA (UK)

Natasha Innocent is the senior policy adviser learning and skills at MLA. Her role is to work across government departments and other strategic agencies to champion the role that museums, libraries and archives can play in supporting learning and skills policy priorities.

Before joining MLA Natasha worked for the London Libraries Development Agency where she developed and delivered READ ROUTES the first series of london wide reader development promotions that linked up all 400 public libraries. Every themed READ ROUTE promoted a list of London related titles mapped against a real route around London to extend your reading experience.

Natasha also previously set up and ran the Early Years Library Network a national training and development network for early years librarians.

Simon Grant, CTIS (UK)

Simon Grant is an independent professional working in the e-portfolio area, and the joint coordinator of the JISC-CETIS Portfolio Special Interest Group. Previously a teacher, then a lecturer in human-computer interaction, from 1997 he pioneered the conceptual architecture for the development of the University of Liverpool's LUSID PDP system. This led to a full portfolio of work from 2002, including a major role in drafting BSI's UKLeaP interoperability standard. He has acted as consultant to several bodies, particularly the Centre for Recording Achievement, specialising in the more technical aspects of e-portfolio systems, and has authored many academic papers and project reports in this area, especially with his LUSID colleagues Janet Strivens and Adam Marshall. He believes firmly in the desirability of bringing together practitioners, developers and others to further consensus and progress in the field.

John Pallister, Wolsingham School and Community College (UK)

John is currently Leader of Learning for ICT and Business at Wolsingham School and Community College and, as a member of the national Functional Skills Training Task Force, delivers skills training across the UK.
John has managed many successful and innovative, school-based curriculum development projects. Recent projects have focused on supporting students with the development of Key Skills and employability skills. For the past five years, John has developed and piloted E-Me, a video-rich multimedia ePortfolio with students, aged 11-18. More recently he has taken a major role in the European MOSEP ePortfolio project and the University of Teesside UKAN-Skills project.
John has regularly delivered presentations and has contributed to, national and regional conferences. He presented at 4th International Conference, ePortfolio 2006, "eStrategies for Empowering Learners", Oxford; at ePortfolio 2007, “Employability and Lifelong Learning in the Knowledge Society”, Maastricht; at the MOSEP Workshop, Krakow May 2007 and at the 4th Edumedia Conference, Salzburg June 2008.
John is an advocate of ePortfolio practice and Personal Learning and Thinking Skills. He is currently investigating how curriculum mapping tools might support independent learning. John disseminates project findings and regularly contributes to a wide range of Web 2 enabled discussions and activities.

Marij Veugelers, University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

Marij Veugelers is Projectmanager Portfolio Implementation for the IT in Education Department at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (since 2000) and responsible for educational implementation at the eleven schools that have been using an e-portfolio since 2001.

The UvA choose for the Open Source Portfolio system as the first university in Europe.She was also project manager of the Digital University (consortium of 10 universities) Portfolio Implementation Instruments Project. The results are a toolkit for managers on the web with several new instruments.

She had organized the first expert exchange meeting Portfolio UK-NL in April 2004 and the follow up meetings in 2006

Since September 2004 she is communitymanager of the Dutch Special Interest Group NL Portfolio of the SURF-Foundation for the Higher Education section in the Netherlands : http://www.surf.nl/portfolio

The last years she has published and presented several times in the NL and abroad about portfolio implementation aspects (ALT 2004, EUNIS 2004, Eportfolio 2004,2006,2007,2008, AAHE-CRA London 2005 ,2006, EDUCAUSE 2005, Sakai 2006,2007, and the Australian Eportfolio conference 2008 and 2009; an article is published in the Handbook of Research on ePortfolios USA ).

Marij’s background is educational consultant, career/student counsellor and biologist.

Serge Ravet, EIfEL (FR)

Serge Ravet Chief Executive of the European Institute for E-Learning (EIfEL), a cross-sectoral professional body whose mission is to support the development of a knowledge and learning society. EIfEL is at the forefront of the ePortfolio movement in Europe, setting as objective that in 2010, every citizen will have access to an ePortfolio. He is also Vice-President of the European Foundation for Quality in E-Learning (EFQUEL). Combining both technological and pedagogical expertise (20 years experience in training and human resources development) with working experience in Europe and the US, he is retained as an expert and a consultant in learning technology projects. He has published books and articles on eLearning, competencies, quality, learning technologies and ePortfolios - "Technology-based Training" (Kogan Page, 1997) "Valider les Compétences avec les NVQs" (DEMOS, 1999); a Guide to e-learning Solutions (2001).

Philip C. Abrami, Concordia University (Canada)

Philip C. Abrami is Professor, Research Chair, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (CSLP), Concordia University. His research interests include educational technology, social psychology of education and research synthesis.

Víctor Reyes Alcázar Agencia de Calidad Sanitaria de Andalucía (Spain)

Knowledge Management Officer. MD PhD. Specialty: Emergency Medicine. Postgraduate training in Health Management.

Burcu Orenturk Aybat, Enka Schools (Turkey)

Burcu Orenturk Aybat is currently employed at Enka Schools, Istanbul, Turkey as ICT teacher and educational technologist supporting teachers to integrate technologies into their classes. She graduated from Middle East Technical University with a B.S. and M.S. degree in Computer Education and Instructional Technology. Her research interests include methods of integrating technology into curriculum, training teachers to integrate technology effectively into their classrooms, research-based learning, use of research techniques in multidisciplinary environment, computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies in education and eportfolio. She has been working for eight years in primary and high schools in Turkey.

James Ballard, University of London (UK)

James Ballard has been working with the latest learning technologies for the past 5 years and frequently consults with colleagues nationwide regarding practice and potential. He now works as a Learning Technologist at the University of London Computer Centre, where he has been the leading on the development of a framework for personalised learning tools. As part of the DfES ICT Test Bed Project, he has produced research papers and reports assessing the impact of ICT in the classroom and is now consulting on JISC/BECTA projects for Transforming Curriculum Delivery through Technology. James has also been lead on projects for system integration including e-portfolio interoperability and repository interactions.

Maria Barbas, Higher School of Education in Santarem (Portugal)

Maria Potes Barroso Santa-Clara Barbas is currently doing a Post-doc (2007-2010). PhD (2003), Master (1999); Coordinating Professor, is currently the Director of the Masters degree in Communication and Educational at the Higher School of Education in Santarem; ICEM-CIME, PhD; Label European; FCT; 2 books; e-portfolio, second life, FAB LABS and Life Stories

Kathryn Chang Barker -, King Faisal University (Saudi Arabia)

Dr. Kathryn Chang Barker is currently the Director of the Department of Skills Development at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia.  She is a consulting education futurist with a PhD in Education Administration and Policy Studies from the University of Alberta (1994) and a long-time ePortfolio advocate.  At KFU, she is responsible for the development of a system human capital development for the faculty, administration, students, employees and external clients.  That system will use an ePortfolio as the framework for the management of learning.  You might remember Kathryn from the ePortfolio initiatives in Canada and from LIfIA – the Learning Innovations Forum that partnered with EIfEL for ePortfolio events in Canada.  Creating a department for skills development is the perfect opportunity to implement an ePortfolio system for lifelong learning of students and staff, appropriate assessment of student learning, quality assurance for teaching and for programs, the development and utilization of critical ITC skills by all, and the implementation of eLearning that is effective and efficient. 

Sania Battalova, American University of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan)

Sania Battalova is a Director of Information Resources and Technology of the American University of Central Asia. She also serves as President of the Kyrgyz Libraries Information Consortium (consisting of more than 100 academic, public and special libraries all around the country) and national Coordinator of the “Electronic Information for the Libraries” (eIFL.direct) International Project, and as Co-chair of the “Libraries and democratization of society” International Central Asia Conference.
Her sphere of professional interests is developing a comprehensive technological and information infrastructure at the University, improving and extending the country’s electronic  e-libraries and e-resources, and promoting the scientific works of Kyrgyz scientists and researchers  by the creation of open electronic repositories of scientific works at the University and consortium levels.

Elena Boldrini, Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Switzerland)

Elena Boldrini is Junior Researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET). She has obtained a degree in Communication sciences in 2004 at the University of Lugano (CH), with a specialisation in communication in training and pedagogical contexts. In 2009 she completed a PhD programme in Philosophy of Social Sciences at the Università dell’Insubria (IT), preparing thesis entitled: “For a Phenomenology of knowledge at work. About some ambiguities of knowledge and identity in the present job management”. Main research fields: professional competence analysis and recognition, didactic use of ICTs in VET, qualitative and quantitative research methods and CAQDAS - Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Softwares.

Meaghan Botteril, RMIT, (Australia)

Meaghan Botterill has extensive experience in the design and development of student eLearning resources. With a background in teaching English as a Second Language and Adult literacy, she has been the Resources Coordinator of the Study and Learning Centre at RMIT and was primarily responsible for the development of the core online student learning support resource. In 2003, she was the joint winner of the RMIT University Teaching Award for Student Centred Learning. She is currently the ePortfolio Project Leader at RMIT, and is introducing ePortfolios into Learning and Teaching across the university. Meaghan is also undertaking a PhD exploring the issues most critical to the successful development of online learning resources in interdisciplinary teams. Her particular research interest is in exploring the impact of intergroup dynamics on interdisciplinary team performance.

Yuliya Bozhko, Massey University (New Zealand)

Yuliya Bozhko is currently a PhD candidate at Massey University, New Zealand. Her research interests are in lifelong learning supported by ePortfolio processes. In 2008 Yuliya completed her Master of Computer Science Degree with Honours in Information Control Systems and Technologies at National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy", Ukraine. While doing her Master Degree she was involved in TEMPUS Joint European Projects and eFolio development for students learning portal.

Eileen E. Brennan, Mercy College, NY (USA)

Dr. Eileen E. Brennan, Ph.D. PsyA., is an Assistant Professor of Education at Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry New York. As a member of the School of Education, Department of Early Childhood, and the College’s e-Portfolio cohort, she works to “Embed e-portfolios into Early Childhood Certification Courses”. Dr. Brennan serves on the Executive Board of the New York State Council for Exceptional Child and is an active member of the New York City Task Force for Inclusive.

Dr. Brennan’s interest in e-Portfolios, as an assessment tool ‘of’ learning and ‘for’ learning, is rooted in her work inside and outside the classroom. During her nine years (three terms) an elected member of a New York City Community School Board and as Chair of its Special Education Committee, she searched for ‘valid and reliable’ tools for alternative assessment. Her on-going psychoanalytic single case studies in Autism drives Dr. Brennan’s to better understand how e-portfolios best support learning across the intelligences.

Dr Mark Brown, Massey University (New Zealand)

Dr Mark Brown is the Director of Distance Education at Massey University.  He is a member of the New Zealand Academy of Tertiary Teaching Excellence and is past recipient of a National Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching. Associate Professor Brown currently chairs the University's Teaching and Learning Committee and has published extensively in the field of Educational Technologies.  He serves on several journal editorial boards and was New Zealand's first Apple Distinguished Educator. Mark was centrally involved in the development of the Mahara eportfolio system.

Philip Butler, ULCC (UK)

Philip Butler is Senior e-learning Advisor at ULCC. Philip has worked in the post-16 education sector as a teacher and manager for 25 years, developing a strong interest in Technology Enhanced Learning.
He was amongst the founding members of JISC Regional Support Centre for London and helped establish its excellent reputation for providing quality advice and guidance on e-Learning.  He began several important regional user groups for Virtual Learning Environments in order to share good practice.
Now working for the University of London Computer Centre, he has helped establish their Moodle and e-Learning services as a centre of excellence and development, notably their framework for 'Personalisation of Learning'.   In addition, hw has worked as a consultant on several major projects for national advisory boards with JISC, NIACE, BECTA, NLN, etc. along with presentations at universities and national conferences in the UK, USA and India.

Debbie Carlton, Synergetics (UK)

Debbie is a Synergetics Consultant, who has a background in engineering and holds an MBA from Henley Management College, has spent over 10 years working on learning and performance issues, mainly within the government sector, including the military and emergency services. She has also worked on knowledge flow issues for Reuters and runs the Dynamic Knowledge consultancy. DK are specialists in workforce design and performance driven learning and have conducted extensive research & consultancy.  DK help organisations select appropriate technologies and instructional methodologies that enable the optimisation of learning, up-skilling and performance. Previous roles have included Business Development Manager (with academic status) for Henley Management College managing over 7000 MBA students in Asia-Pacific Region, after a range of project & academic roles within the college in the UK. Prior to Henley Debbie worked for a number of engineering consultancies.

Alberto Cattaneo, SFIVET (Switzerland)

Since 2006 he is Senior Researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET) in Lugano, where he is National Project Manager of a project funded by OPET in the framework of the Leading House on Technologies for VET.

He disserted in 2005 his PhD thesis in Psychology at the University of Bologna (IT), investigating the use 1. of CmC tools in professional groups (communication management, conversation and content analysis) and 2. of virtual learning environments for learning (ergonomic point of view), joining a huge theoretical framework concerning activity theories.
His main research interests are 1. the definition of a didactics related to ICTs and to the wide-range implications of HCI and CmC, 2. the role and profile of the "teacher" changing with the introduction of ICTs, 3. the competence recognition, analysis and management. He also appreciates to deal with methodological matters and qualitative methods.

Alan Clarke, NIACE (UK)

Dr Alan Clarke is NIACE’s Associate Director for ICT and Learning. Alan has been involved with ICT and computer-based Learning for over twenty-five years and has undertaken a wide range of investigations, research studies and evaluations. His doctorate was on the design of Computer-Based Learning materials. He has been a member of the DfES Standard Unit’s expert group on ICT, the DfES ICT Skill for Life partners group, LSC’s Distributed Electronic Learning Group and chaired, the Adult and Community E-learning Strategy committee.

He is an Open University associate lecturer and supports their online E-learning Professional module. Alan is particularly interested in how socially disadvantaged adults can benefit from the use of technology including the development of their e-learning study skills and digital literacy.

Kirstie Coolin, University of Nottingham (UK)

Kirstie Coolin works for the Centre for International ePortfolio Development at the University of Nottingham, primarily focussing on technical work for the Lifelong Learning Network project (a regional network of educational institutions and employers) which mainly involves rolling out hosted ePortfolio trials with these partners in a work-based setting as well as pulling together regional data sharing projects using XCRI standards. She is also involved in other JISC related work in the areas of post graduate work placements, ePortfolio standards and IAG.
Kirstie's background is mainly in Further Education and Higher Education in a range of areas including database driven application/web development, VLE rollout, eLearning, design and management of intranets, websites and business systems and project and team management. She has also been involved in teaching and training.

Andrea Christen, St.Gallen University (Switzerland)

Psychology, Zurich University, Switzerland (statistics, social psychology, neurophysiology, padagical psychology)
Professor of educational science, university of teacher education, St.Gallen
From 2005: E-Portfolio structures (training, implementation, research). (see http://eportfolio-phsg.ning.com/)

Publications :

Christen, A. & Hofmann, M. (2008). Summative Produkt- und Prozessbewertung von E-Portfolios an der Pädagogischen Hochschule des Kantons St. Gallen.
Christen, A. & Hofmann, M. (2008). Implementation of E-Portfolio in the First Academic Year at the University of Teacher Education St.Gallen. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), Vol 3, No 1 (2008).
Christen, A. & Hofmann, M. (2007). Portfolioarbeit mit einem E-Portfolio-Blog mit Studierenden im 1. Semester an der Pädagogischen Hochschule des Kantons St.Gallen: Teilprojekt E-Assessment.
Christen, A., Hofmann, M.; Obendrauf, M. (2006). Portfolioarbeit mit einem eLernreisebuch und einem ePortfolio auf einem Blog mit Studierenden im 1. Semester an der Pädagogischen Hochschule Rorschach. Pädagogische Hochschule Rorschach, ICT-Zentrum, Studienbereich Berufs- und Studienkompetenzen.

Neil Currant, University of Bradford (UK)

Neil is a lecturer in e-portfolios and PDP in the Centre for Academic Practice at the University of Bradford.
He is currently researching into technology enhanced learning. He is particularly interested in using social and web 2.0 tools for building learning communities of practice and in using electronic portfolios to support learning, PDP and CPD. He is a member of cohort 4 of the International Coalition for E-portfolio Research which involves institutions across the UK, the USA and the Netherlands. Bradford’s research is looking at how e-portfolios can be used to help develop learner autonomy. He is also interested in how technology such as blogs and e-portfolios can help develop reflective writing and reflection as a means to enhance learning.

Jo Doughty, Sheffield Hallam University (UK)

Jo Doughty is a Therapy Radiographer who has worked for Sheffield Hallam University as a Senior Lecturer on the Radiotherapy and Oncology programme for seven years. Jo leads the clinical education modules that utilise an e-portfolio for pre-registration students. In addition to teaching commitments Jo leads on the Radiotherapy teams CPD provision and has a particular interest in the support of newly qualified and experienced staff to meet statutory regulatory requirements via pebblePAD.

David Eddy, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

David is a Therapy Radiographer by profession, who has worked in radiotherapy education and training since 1987. He joined Sheffield Hallam University in 1991 helping to develop and run one of the first pre-registration degrees in Therapeutic Radiography in the UK. During this period he undertook 2 research projects resulting in the development of a clinical portfolio to provide evidence of learning and development, and a clinical assessment scheme which is unique to SHU. He has maintained his interest in portfolio's development ever since. 

He has been Course Leader for the BSc (Hons) Therapeutic Radiography (1993 - 2001), since when he moved into and continues to be the role of Course Leader for the MSc Radiotherapy & Oncology. This included spearheading the development of a distance learning mode to the programme in 2005. David has been a founding Editor-in -Chief of the international, peer reviewed Journal of Radiotherapy in Practice (1999 – 2007). He also co-ordinates the biennial Radiotherapy in Practice conference (the 5th of which will be hosted at SHU in October 2010). He is a Principal Lecturer who is also appointed as a Teaching Fellow for DL in the Faculty of health & WellBeing at SHU. His interests focus upon LTA, Portfolio's, clinical education, e-learning and work based learning.

Olivia Fox, City University London (UK)

Olivia Fox is the E-Portfolio Project Co-ordinator at City University London.  This role supports the implementation of an institution-wide e-portfolio and Olivia is responsible for developing support for staff and students in the use of the e-portfolio system to structure a range of learning and teaching activities.

Lisa Gray, JISC (UK)

Lisa Gray is a Programme Manager within the e-Learning team at JISC. She has recently completed a programme of work around the HE in FE context, and is now managing projects looking at how technology can transform curriculum delivery. She is responsible for leading the teams e-portfolio activities, which recently culminated in the production of the new ‘Effective Practice with e-Portfolios’ publication,  accompanying online resource (infoKit) launched in September 08, and series of workshops.
Previous to joining JISC Lisa has worked at the University of Bath researching the use of e-learning by mental health practitioners in the region, and previous to that the University of Nottingham working for a JISC-funded service providing access to high quality Internet resources in the health and life sciences.

Alison Gray Thanet College(UK)

Alison has worked as the Lifelong Learning Coordinator at Thanet College since 2007. She has over 20 years experience in operational management, mostly working within industry and has a particular interest in helping people develop. Her current role involves establishing and promoting progression routes into higher education for vocational learners.

She has been involved in Thanet College’s work to instigate performance standards at all levels within the organisation and has been engaged in some exciting work to develop e-portfolios to support the process.

Lori L. Hager, University of Oregon (USA)

Lori L. Hager, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the University of Oregon’s Arts and Administration Program and Associate Director in Community Arts for the Center for Community Arts and Cultural Policy. Hager directs the ePortfolio project, ePortfolio.uoregon.edu, and works with a multidisciplinary faculty team to pilot ufolio.uoregon.edu. The Ufolio project is supported through a grant from the Vice Provost’s office, and is a member of the 5th cohort of the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research. Hager’s research is in the intersections of arts pedagogy, eportfolio practices, and assessment. She co-coordinates the master’s concentration in Community Arts and teaches in the areas of community youth arts, arts learning policy and practice, and community partnership development. She also coordinates and teaches the graduate level professional practice internship program, and oversees the undergraduate minor and practicum.

Mike Hammersley, Fondazione Aldini Valeriani (Italy)

With nearly 30 years experience in foreign language teaching and course development, initially in the United Kingdom (Loughborough University of Technology) and subsequently in Italy (Politecnico di Milano and Modena University), I am currently teaching English language and English/Italian translation for the University of Bologna and Business English for the Bocconi University, Milan. In addition, I am also the Scientific Advisor Language Projects for the Fondazione Aldini Valeriani, a vocational education and training institute in Bologna which develops projects and offers courses in a broad range of technical disciplines, including specific, sector-oriented foreign language training both in-house and ad hoc for local business and industry. In 2008, I wrote the elp-Desk project which has attracted funding from the European Union under the Lifelong Learning Programme (Multi-lateral Network, Key Action 2: Languages). This two-year study concentrates specifically on means of promoting and implementing the European Language Passport and Language Portfolio.

Phil Harley, University of Nottingham (UK)

Phil is a Special Lecturer at the University of Nottingham working specifically in the Centre for International ePortfolio Development. He has contributed to a range of JISC funded projects on ePortfolios, distributed e-learning and a reference model. Most recently the JOSEPH project has used web services to support information advice and guidance for learners considering engineering. Many of these projects are contributing to a more flexible admissions process. Phil has spoken at international conferences on ePortfolios and has also published papers on his work. He is recognised as an authority on the use of ePortfolios in relation to student transition and is involved with projects influencing national policy. Previously whilst working for the local education authority in Nottingham he developed Passportfolio, an eportfolio for secondary school students. At present he is also working for the Leap Ahead Lifelong Learning Network looking at using ePortfolios to support vocational and work based learners.
Phil is the Lead Adviser for Schools for Action on Access the National Co-ordination Team for Widening Participation. He has written a range of papers and publications on widening participation and also carried out international research. He was a teacher in 14-19 colleges for many years with a wide range of roles and responsibilities.

Maggie Hazeldine City of Wolverhampton College (UK)

Maggie Hazeldine is a Teaching and Learning Advisor at City of Wolverhampton College where she also coordinates and teaches on the PGCE(H) ands Cert. Ed. provision.

In addition to her college work, Maggie is the Convenor of the Blend Literacy Network of Practice and is also a CPD / Professional Formation reviewer for IFL.

During a recent secondment to the University of Wolverhampton, Maggie was introduced to Julie Hughes' work on e-portfolios and was inspired to utilise new technologies in all of her professional roles to nurture and enhance learner experiences.

She is currently exploring the use of REfLECT , the IFL CPD tool, as e-portfolio on the Cert Ed and PGCE (H), whilst leading on the college's staff development strategy towards Professional Formation and QTLS. Her aim is to develop the potential uses of blended learning across all areas of post compulsory education.

Wolfgang Helmeth, International Institute for the Promotion of the Development of Youth (Germany)

Wolfgang Helmeth is the founder of the International Institute for the Promotion of the Development of Youth e.V. He characterises his own personal development as the one of a tinkerer and loner. He went to kindergarten only for one day, instead being curious of the world of grown-ups, following them along such locations like building-sites. After wasting eight years in school, he became an apprentice of precision mechanics and moved in 1964 to Paris, working there as a lock-smith and as a radio- and television technician. In Paris he met Ernest Akpa from Côte d’ Ivoire. Without formal qualification he continued to work as a technician of electronics in Hamburg and as a engineer in Freiburg. In 1973 he travelled to Cote d’ Ivoire, and through observation of children, the idea of the promotion of the development of youth came up; he moved with his family in 1990 to Cote d’ Ivoire, where he established the network. Since then many students and volunteers who participated in his projects spread the idea to other countries and continents. In 2001 he found the “project “Denzlinger Cleverle” (engl. “Denzlinger Smarties”) in order to develop the idea further.

Martin Hofmann , St.Gallen University (Switzerland)

Martin Hofmann is professor at the University of teacher education, St.Gallen, Switzerland.. Martin is teaching applied Computer Science in the field of technology-enhanced education, and leading the Competence Centre E-Learning.

Stella Howden, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh (UK)

Prior to my PhD studies (in 2000), I worked within the NHS as a senior neuromusculoskeletal physiotherapist. My PhD research involved the use of qualitative methodologies to explore perspectives on chronic pain in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). I commenced full time lecturing at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh in 2005 and am involved in undergraduate and post-graduate teaching and learning related to the neuromusculoskeletal theme.

My research interests relate to exploration of healthcare users perspectives and educational research. More specifically, my interest in educational research relates to how students can be engaged in curriculum design and exploration of how network technologies may be used to enhance learning. The latter research interests are linked to my current study towards an MSc in Professional Education.

Michelle Jennings 

Michelle has extensive experience as a teacher trainer, university lecturer and education adviser where she has been responsible for leading a number of national e-learning initiatives and programmes to support learners and practitioners In her current role as a CPD Manager at the Institute for Learning  she is responsible for managing REfLECT,  IfL Connections and related projects.

Susan Kahn, at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (USA)

Dr. Susan Kahn is Director of Institutional Effectiveness at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and an adjunct faculty member in IUPUI’s Department of English.  Her interest in portfolios dates from the early 1990’s, when she began working with teaching portfolios in her role as director of the University of Wisconsin’s system-wide faculty development program.  From 1998-2001, she served as national director of the Urban Universities Portfolio Project, which produced the first generation of electronic institutional portfolios, using authentic materials and examples, data, and performance indicators to demonstrate campus-wide effectiveness and accountability.  She continues to oversee IUPUI’s institutional portfolio, using it as the foundation for IUPUI’s web-based accreditation self-study in 2002 and for an annual campus performance report.  In 2006, she assumed responsibility for the campus’s student electronic portfolio initiative as well.  She has written and consulted extensively about ePortfolios in higher education.

Dr Şirin Karadeniz, Bahçeşehir University (Turkey)

Şirin Karadeniz is an Assistant Professor in Computer Education & Instructional Technology at Bahçeşehir University.  She has many publications on developing learner achievement, motivation and lifelong learning skills in technology enchanced learning environments.

Rae Karimjee, City University London (UK)

Rae is the PDP (Personal Development Planning) Consultant and is responsible for coordinating and implementing successful PDP Programmes across the University. Rae has a particular interest in working with Schools to promote the pedagogy of PDP and sharing creative ways of implementing practice. Before City University, Rae has over 10 years experience in managing a Careers & Placement Service within Newman College, through to delivery of a successful placement module at Aston Business School. Rae has also worked as a graduate recruiter where she has gained substantial expertise in screening students for applications.

Derrin Kent, The Development Manager Ltd. (New Zealand)

Derrin Kent works for the Mahara partner organisation: http://TDM.info. Derrin has been involved with web development and e-Learning since the year 2000 and with Moodle since 2005. Derrin has worked continuously in Corporate-Sector Education and Corporate-Sector Educational Management since graduating in Education Studies in 1988: perdominantly in overseas locations including: Spain, Brazil, Peru, Chile, The Czech Republic, Poland and Egypt. Derrin speaks fluent Spanish every day at home and also has a good (if rusty) command of Portuguese. He has been involved with WBL delivery in the UK since 2004. He has an NQF Level 7 Teaching Diploma from the University of Cambridge and is also an LPIC Qualified Linux Professional.

Margaret Lamont, Victoria University (New Zealand)

Margaret Lamont lectures in Information and Communications Technology at the Victoria University of Wellington College of Education. She is currently conducting research in the areas of professional learning for inservice teacher educators and the implementation of an e-portfolio in the university's pre-service teacher education programmes. She is particularly interested in the processes of critical reflection and inquiry in teacher, and teacher educator, professional learning; and the ways in which new digital technologies can enhance and support this aspect of learning.

Polly Lee, City University London (UK)

Polly Lee is a lecturer in Child Health in the School of Community and Health Sciences at City University London. Within education she has experience of traditional teaching for both pre and post registration nursing, and also traditional paper-based distance learning. It is from her experience with distance learning that she is interested in how technologies may enhance (or otherwise) education. As the school e-learning champion for 2008 she was asked to consider the implementation of e-portfolios within the school – particularly for staff. It is from this project that her interest in using audios files to feed-forward to students on practice placements has developed. Currently she is also considering how web 2.0 may be used within healthcare teaching and professional preparation. However, her interests within child health include resuscitation, family centred care and partnership in care and it is within these latter two areas of interest that her research interests also fall.

Patrick Manghelinckx, JES (Belgium)

Since 2001, Patrick Manghelinckx is director of JES. JES is a plural non-profit organisation. Its mission is to create equal opportunities for young people to actively participate in society. Its main activities include training and guidance, training for youth work volunteers, outreach work, support for youth clubs and youth work initiatives, … Patrick Manghelinckx was instigator and coach for several projects to implement a competence-based approach and e-portfolio in JES, mainly the C-Stick project.

Paul Manning Thanet College (UK)

I trainied as a chef at Thanet College before going on to working in a number of hotels including working as a chef in five star hotels, and fine dining to mass production banqueting for up to a thousand covers. I also worked in France for two years to expand my knowledge and technique of producing classical French cuisine.

After seventeen years of working in the catering industry I returned to Thanet College in 2002 to begin my teaching career. Initially I worked primarily with level one and level two students whilst working towards gaining my Certificate in Education which I achieved in 2005. followed with an I.L.M management course. In 2007 I became a Course leader and an Improvements Facilitator, which takes me across the college campus working with other teachers. As a course leader I manage the level three courses within the catering department and now spend all of my teaching time with level three students. As an Improvements Facilitator I am part of the core observation team of teaching and learning, involved with the mentorship of new teaching staff and play an active part in the organisation of training to all the college staff. I use with my students the College V.L.E, the texting service and the use of the pebblepad portfolio within the catering section.

Allison Miller, Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Australia)

Allison Miller is the Business Manager for the E-portfolio – Managing Learner Information Business Activity, for the Australian Flexible Learning Framework. Her other Framework roles have included being the South Australian E-learning Innovations Co-ordinator, and the Project Manager for the Inclusive e-Learning (Youth) Project.Allison has been the Co-ordinator of South Australia’s premier 2-dayz e-learning event, e-dayz, for the past two years, and she was the E-Learning Development Co-ordinator for TAFE SA, Adelaide North in 2006.
Allison has been involved in the VET sector for more than 7 years as a Lecturer in areas of Business Finance, Administration and Small Business Management and has over 5 years experience in creating e-learning environments for students and staff.

Christopher Murray, University of Leeds (UK)

Christopher Murray is currrently a Projects Officer at the University of Leeds. He is leading the development,implementation and launch of a new e-portfolio to support student learning and personal development planning on both the medicine and dentistry degree programmes. He is also investiagting the use of e-portfolios on the School of Medicine's taught post-graduate programmes and is involved in the implementation and research of digital storytelling as a method of enhancing reflective and transformative learning.

He is currently researching how the MBChB prepares students for the job application and interview process.

Elisa Motta, Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (Switzerland)

Elisa Motta is collaborator at Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SVIFET) since 2008. BSc and MSc in Sociology at the University of Milano Bicocca, Milan. She attends to Dual-T project, in the framework of the “Technologies for Vocational Training” Leading House. Her main research interests lie in the field of ePortfolio, Collaborative Writing to learn and Help Seeking.

Frank Nyame-Asiamah, Brunel University (UK)

Frank Nyame-Asiamah is a PhD Researcher at Brunel Business School and Qualified Teacher with 10 years teaching experience. He is currently lecturing in Business at Hackney Community College. He coordinated a British Council sponsored International Educational Project involving three institutions, in which selected students displayed the findings for the Queen’s visit in Turkey, in 2008.
Frank completed his M.Sc. Degree with 1st Class Honours in Management and Applications of IT in Accounting from Dublin City University. He also holds a BA (Hons) Degree in Economics and Geography & Resource Development, and Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). He is a member of the Institute for Learning (IfL) and the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE).
Frank’s research interests include Knowledge Management (KM), Learning & KM technologies, Learning Organisations, Research Methods and application of Web 2.0 technologies in business and education. He has published papers in these areas. He is also passionate about the use of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) in teaching and learning and actively promoting this at work.

David Pitts, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (UK)

David Pitts is the Co-ordinator of the UK Orthopaedic Curriculum and Assessment Project (OCAP), Education Adviser to the British Orthopaedic Association and Associate Director of Leadership & Professional Development at the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. His background is in Occupational Psychology and management development.

Now based in Edinburgh David has worked for many years in academia, public sector, multinational industry and with international voluntary organisations on learning, coaching and organisational development projects in the UK and overseas.

Present projects include “OCAP Online” (eportfolio based delivery of the UK Orthopaedic Curriculum), Training the Trainers (Education programme for surgeon-trainers in the UK, Europe and Africa) and the development of Non-Technical skills programmes for surgeons. He has published articles on a variety of leadership topics and co-author of the UK’s Orthopaedics & Trauma Curriculum with forthcoming publications on overcoming the problems of competence focussed assessment in workplace settings.

Dries Pruis, Kenteq (The Netherlands)

Dries Pruis is Information Architect at Kenteq, the Dutch national centre of expertise on Vocational Education, Training and Labour Market for the engineering industry, since 2005. He translates the employability information and services into internet applications and is involved in innovation projects for vocational education. In this respect, he is engaged in the analysis of the need for information of companies and employees, in the design of business process solutions, and in the start-up and the technical follow-up of vocational training projects. He’s been working on the subject of Education and Labour since 1976, first in the capacity of researcher, then in the capacity of consultant for vocational education in the metal industry, and finally as the manager of SOM Vocational Education and Training in the metal industry.

Geoff Rebbeck, Thanet College (UK)

Geoff has been in Further Education for 12 years starting out as a lecturer in Health and Social Care. He has been a course leader for numerous health and social care courses, as well as assessing and verifying on NVQs across the care spectrum. He also teaches on the Cert. Ed. and its successor courses and has worked as a sessional tutor for the University of Greenwich on an innovative e-learning short course. His job as e-learning co-ordinator was brought into the College quality portfolio and now forms a major strand of improvement and innovation within the College. He recently introduced the idea of electronic personal learning spaces for staff into college to support radical changes in how all aspects of staff development is approached, captured, recorded and completed.

The College was a National finalist in AOC/NILTA Beacon College awards in 2006 in the ‘creating an e-enabling organisation’ category and a finalist this year in the Staff development category. He is also the current National Star Award winner in the Innovation category; based in part on the use of personal learning spaces in his College.

He is a member of the BECTA e-portfolio expert experts group.

The college shared its trials and tribulations in how Personalised learning spaces have changed the behaviour of staff and students last year at Maastricht at a European Conference and subsequently with a wide range of FE colleges, universities and other educational agencies in London, Northern Ireland, South East, Midlands and East Anglia by way of presentations, webinars and training sessions, and through several publications on the QIA Gateway.

Sue Rhodes, Knowsley College (UK)

Carol Silk Thanet College (UK)

Carol has taught in Further Education for 16 years and during that time has worked across a wide range of the provision from 14-16 provision delivering BTEC qualification to year nine learners, to devising and delivering training courses and qualifications to employers both in this area and in Europe. She is part of the teacher training programme team developing individuals who are new to teaching in the life long learning sector

She is part of the College Improvements and Innovation Section with responsibility for coordination of all staff development across the whole college. Her role is to make sure all staff are equipped to meet the needs of the learners in a professional and reflective way. She has been directly involved in the development and introduction of Pebble Pad as a reflective tool for all teaching and support staff, that is seen vital in the drive to enable the college to become a reflective and learning organisation. In her role of coordinating learning observations she has been instrumental in development of using Pebble Pad as a central tool to develop a reflective process for all staff development. She manages the mentorship programme as part of the reflective package to enable support for all in a safe and professionally developmental way.

She works closely with the Institute for Learning in development of reflective practice and has contributed to their research on the subject.

Neal Summer, City University London (UK)

Neal is a lecturer in the Learning Development Centre at City University. His special interests in learning and teaching include staff development, learning technologies and organizational change, the personalization of learning and e-portfolios. For the last three years he has managed the City University e-portfolio/PDP project.

Martin Taylor, Synergetics (UK)

Martin Taylor was a member of a Government sponsored project working at UK national and regional levels with responsible for designing and developing a national system of integrated personal and organisational development for UK Fire and Rescue Services (FRS). Within the project Martin had responsibility for developing an ePortfolio specification that would support workplace learning and workplace assessment.
Martin also provided support to the Fire Service College Managed Learning Service Project. This project provided an e-enabled learning & development platform accessible to the whole of the UK Fire & Rescue Service.
Before joining the IPDS project Martin was a serving member of Somerset Fire & Rescue Service and was the Learning and Development Manager with responsibility for workforce development of all 600 staff.
Now retired from the Fire Service Martin is an independent consultant (MHT Consultancy) and is an associate consultant for Synergetics.

Guy Tilkin,  Landcommanderij Alden Biesen (Belgium)

Guy Tilkin is the coordinator of the European division at the Landcommanderij Alden Biesen in Bilzen, Belgium (www.alden-biesen.be).
The Alden Biesen castle is a state cultural centre and an international seminar centre. A part of its mission is the promotion of the European dimension in culture and education in Flanders. As a result of this the European activities at the castle comprise: European classes (for students), in service training seminars for teachers, international contact seminars for teachers, managing European projects...

Guy Tilkin has been the coordinator of a series of projects and a network under the LLP programme and its predecessors Socrates and Leonardo Da Vinci. Special know how on European citizenship and quality care is gained through projects like: I-ProbeNet: a Comenius 3 network on self-evaluation at school, MICE-T: Model Instruments for a Common Evaluation (Comenius 2), SPECIAL: Strengthening and promoting European Citizenship in Adult Learning (Grundtvig 1), SEALLL: Self-Evaluation in Adult Life Long Learning (Grundtvig 1).
At this moment Guy Tilkin is active in two Grundtvig 1 projects on networking: Euroweaving and ComNet: Competences for Networking, coordinated by Die Berater (AT). He was co-author of ‘The Art of Networking’. The Alden Biesen centre runs international courses on these matters.

Katharina Toifl,  die Berater (Germany)

 Katharina Toifl studied educational sciences at the University of Vienna and specialized on media pedagogy. She has been working as a research assistant at the University of Vienna before she joined the EU project department of die Berater.
Her research expertise focuses on e-learning, qualitative research and media culture. She is also experienced in conducting and coordinating national and international projects in the field of continuing education. She coordinates EU projects like the TOI project YES and the Comenius Project ICTeacher.

Marc Troch, VDAB, (Belgium)

Marc Troch works since 1988 for the official service for employment and vocational training of Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. Meanwhile, he was co-ordinator of a sector skill organisation of the electro-technical sector for our years.
He was meanly active as manager of training centres in metal, construction, transport, industrial automation and social profit.
Since five years he works at the central office in a department for product development, where his main activities are about the development of tools for assessment of technical competencies (APEL) and more generic competencies (key skills). These tools are used in the own organisation

Mayte Periañez Vega, Agencia de Calidad Sanitaria de Andalucía (Spain)

Mayte Periañez Vega is Directora de Acreditación de la Formación Continuada, Agencia de Calidad Sanitaria de Andalucía. She is an expert in personal development .

Marjan Van de maele, JES asbl (Belgium)

Anne Wade, Concordia University (Canada)

Anne Wade is Manager and Information Specialist at the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance at Concordia University (Montreal). Her expertise is in educational technology and information storage and retrieval. She served as Coordinator of the ePEARL project since its inception eight years ago and currently coordinates an information literacy development projec

Tanja Wehr, BUPNET Lt. (Germany)

Tanja works at BUPNET Lt. - Education and Project Network Lt. on European Projects and Training. Since 1996 Tanja is lecturer for several topics at private Training Institutes (adult education centre, adult evening classes, etc.). She worked as Spin doctor for an art historic project in Bad Gandersheim

Kat Wehrheim, SummitSkills (UK)

Kat Wehrheim is responsible for the East Midlands region at SummitSkills, the UK’s sector skills council for building services engineering.

Prior to this appointment Kat held numerous positions within the training and education sectors, including 14 years in the IT sector both in the UK and abroad. Kat is particularly interested in learning at and through work. For the sector where she currently works, she views ePortfolios as a way of supporting independent and ultimately self-directed learning for members of the workforce who are not always able to make time to attend college regularly at a set time each week.

Sandra Winfield, Nottingham University (UK)

Sandra Winfield is Project Manager at the University of Nottingham Centre for International ePortfolio Development. Her previous portfolio career has included a degree in music, time as an editor in both academic and commercial publishing, programmer for the UK railway and primary school teacher, giving her a combined pedagogical and technical perspective on ePortfolios.

Linn van der Zanden, SQA (UK)

Linn van der Zanden has been working in the eAssessment and Learning field as a Learning Technologist for the Scottish Qualifications Authority for the past 4 years. 
She has published several papers in the field on areas such as item banking, technical architectures and international standards and presented UK wide as well as internationally. 
Her main area of work at the moment is development and implementation of e-portfolios and games based assessment for the Scottish 'Skills for Work' qualification. 


Lynn W. Zimmerman, Purdue University (USA)

Lynn W. Zimmerman is an Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Teacher Preparation at Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, IN where she teaches Multicultural Education and Diversity and Education. During Spring 2009 she is a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. Besides university teaching experience, she also taught English as Foreign Language (TEFL) to Polish high school students as a Peace Corps volunteer in Wrzesnia, Poland. Her research interests include immigration, gender, and language.

 Chris Yapp (UK)