Speakers include                         

Click here to see the programme

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Joe Wilson – Conference Chair

Joe Wilson is currently Head of Centre Technical and Vocational Education at City of Glasgow College A UK and international education consultant and the former Chief Executive of the College Development Network. His work mainly focuses on College and work-based education and its structures and practices. He is currently the UK Ambassador for the Association of Learning Technology, Co-Chair of ALT in Scotland, a board member of Youth Link Scotland, Kelvin College Glasgow, an SCQF Evaluator, a consultant for the British Council and a domain expert for UNESCO. He has held a number of public appointments in Scotland over the last 20 years mainly in areas around adult and community education and learning technology. Previously a school teacher, an adult education tutor, a college lecturer and a senior manager in several Scottish Colleges before working for a range of national agencies and non-departmental public bodies. He has an ongoing interest in On-Line Assessment and Open Education and was one of the co-developers of the Open Scotland Declaration. As Head of New Ventures at the Scottish Qualifications Authority he secured a public statement of recognition in Scotland for Open Badges as a valid means to recognise achievement in formal and informal learning. Through his consultancy he remains an active evangelist for open educational practice, digital delivery and the on-line assessment of knowledge and skills.

 

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.

 

Liam Cahill, Digital Learning and Teaching Policy Officer, Scottish Government

Liam has been with the Scottish Government since 2013. He worked in both justice and constitutional policy before taking up a role in the Learning Directorate in 2015. Since then, he has worked on the development and implementation of the Digital Learning and Teaching Strategy for Scotland and the furtherance of digital learning and teaching policy more generally. 

 

Patricia Dougan, Assistant Director, Education Scotland

Patricia is an Assistant Director with Education Scotland, currently responsible for the Digital Learning and Teaching Programme. This includes the delivery of Glow – Scotland’s national digital learning environment. Patricia has worked in a number of areas across Scottish Government before moving to Education Scotland, including Further and Higher Education, and Health. Before joining Scottish Government in 2004, she was an IT programme manager for a large international IT company.

 

Brian Clark, Education Officer, Education Scotland

Brian is an Education Officer with Education Scotland working as part of the Digital Learning and Teaching team.  He has held a number of education posts over the last 20 years including Depute Head Teacher, Curriculum Leader, Principal Teacher and Development Officer.  Brian’s background is in Computing Science education and has contributed to local and national initiatives regarding learning technology.

 

Robin McGregor - Director of Learning Enhancement, North East Scotland College

As Director of Learning Enhancement at North East Scotland College, Robin is responsible for the College’s Learning Technologies, Central Timetabling, Library, Digital Skills Development and Learning Development teams, and is charged with ensuring the growth of transformational activity aimed at enhancing the learner experience, both inside and outside of the classroom via the adoption of creative and innovate approaches to learning, teaching and assessment. With a background in Sport Science, Robin has worked at NESCol for over 12 years in a variety of academic and support posts including Lecturer, Curriculum Manger and Head of Learning Resources and has a broad range of knowledge and experience in supporting learners to develop the skills necessary to be successful in learning, life and work. In addition to his current position as Director, Robin also sits on the College’s Regional Board, and has recently been leading the College’s “BYOD” project, which has successfully embedded the use of mobile devices and relevant digital technologies within the curriculum of over 4000 students, and the new “Digital Futures” project, which aims to help staff and students to develop the digital capabilities necessary for success in modern life.

 

Dr. Claire McKinley – West Calder High School

Dr Claire McKinley graduated with a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Strathclyde in 2000.  Following university, she worked as a Systems Engineer with BAE Systems for 8 years and was part of the team who designed the tracking algorithms for the Eurofighter Typhoon.  She then completed her PGDE at Moray House, and has been a Mathematics teacher at West Calder ever since.  She has been the SQA SOLAR Centre Administrator since the Mathematics department started using it for assessment in 2014, and is responsible for supporting her colleagues in the use of the tool. Claire is also an SQA marker for Advanced Higher Mathematics.

 

Charlie Love - Quality Improvement Officer - Digital Transformation, Aberdeen City Council

Based in Aberdeen, Charlie Love works to further the development and adoption of ICT across Education in his role focused on Digital Transformation. A recognised leader in the use of digital tools, he has years of classroom experience of using technologies to inspire and to improve education outcomes for young people. He provides guidance to Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority on Computing Science qualifications and support. His current interests include school improvement, classroom digital tools, games based learning and the use of social media in Education.

 

Professor Phillip John - Professor of Chemistry and Executive Chair, SCHOLAR, Heriot-Watt University

Professor Phil John has a substantive research record and given numerous invited lectures at national and international conferences. Apart from his teaching, research and administrative duties he has, since the inception of SCHOLAR in 1999 headed the academic development team and, since 2003, been Executive Chair of SCHOLAR (www.scholar.hw.ac.uk) which currently provides innovative online courses to all 32 Education Authorities, 5 Regional Colleges and 33 independent schools in Scotland. Recently SCHOLAR has completed a major multi-million pound enhancement of National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Maths, Sciences, Languages and Business subjects (33 courses).  A complete suite of National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher English courses was published in August 2016. SCHOLAR is playing a key role in delivering the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) led by the Australian Council for Educational Research with Twig World as the other partner.  SCHOLAR is responsible for the provision of SNSA professional development training for teachers from nearly 3,500 schools across Scotland.

 

Professor Linda Creanor – Professor Digital Learning, Glasgow Caledonian University

Linda is Professor of Digital Learning, based in Academic Quality and Development. She leads the strategic implementation of Digital Learning across the curriculum, underpinned by scholarship and research. The development of strategy and policy is an important aspect of this, as is supporting the professional development of staff. She works with colleagues in Academic Schools, Professional Services departments and the Students Association to enhance teaching through the effective use of technology. Nationally, Linda has taken an active role in the UK’s Association for Learning Technology (ALT), helping to shape its direction on strategy, policy and processes as a former trustee, vice chair, chair and president. She co-founded the ALT-Scotland special interest group in 2012 which she continues to co-chair. She is also a founding member of the Open Scotland forum which aims to explore the potential of open policy and practice to benefit all sectors of Scottish education. Linda is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of the UK Heads of E-Learning Forum (HELF).

 

Matt Wingfield – Digital Assess/Chair of e-Assessment Association

With over twenty-seven years’ experience within the education market as a teacher and working in a variety of roles for technology providers, Matt has built-up significant understanding of the issues relating to the use of technology enhanced assessment within education. In 2012 Matt was elected as Chairman of the eAssessment Association, whose remit is to support and inform policy-makers, providers and educators in the use of e-assessment to support and enrich learning. Matt also works as an independent consultant within the educational technology sector, supporting technology providers with market strategy development and educators in maximising the positive impact of technology.

 

Martyn Ware - Head of Assessment Futures, Scottish Qualifications Authority

Martyn is currently leading SQA’s work to develop a vision of how assessment may change over the medium to long term future and of how, in this changed environment, SQA can ensure that its qualifications and assessments continue to meet the needs of learners and wider stakeholders. Previously Martyn had responsibility for overseeing SQA’s use of digital approaches to assessment including Solar, SQA’s core on-screen assessment product, use of e-portfolios and more innovative applications of technology including the use of computer games and social software to support assessment. In earlier roles Martyn managed a wide-ranging portfolio of qualifications and international development projects on SQA’s behalf. Before joining SQA Martyn worked as a Project Manager for the Ministry of Defence.

 

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