Professor Betty Collis

Prof. Dr. Betty Collis (B.A., Mathematics, University of Michigan; M.A., Mathematics Education, Stanford University; and PhD, Measurement and Evaluation of Computer Applications in Education and Training, University of Victoria, Canada) is a specialist in the application of technology for strategy, learning and change in educational institutions and corporate training. She was a member of the Faculty of Education at the University of Victoria from 1976-1988 and a member of the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology (now, Behavioural Sciences) at the University of Twente from 1988 until she took early retirement at the end of 2005.

At the University of Twente she was head of the research team Technology for Strategy, Learning and Change. Now she works full time as a consultant with her husband Prof. Jef Moonen in the Moonen and Collis Learning Technology Consultants B.V., and among her many research activities, is a senior consultant for the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in the UK as well as working in different ways as an advisor in both the tertiary and corporate learning sectors. She is a prolific author with approximately 690 scientific publications, a frequently-invited conference speaker (with close to 700 presentations including more than 50 keynotes in more than 35 countries), and someone who sees technology as a learning workbench whereby learners can contribute to their own learning as well as the learning of others.

Professor John Cowan

John Cowan is a former Scottish Director of the Open University (OU), a Visiting Professor and Honorary DEduc of at Napier University, and Emeritus Professor of Learning Development in the OU. He is a widely published and respected author, and his work includes the seminal On Becoming an Innovative University Teacher: Reflection in Action (2006, second edition).

In 2003 the eminent educationist, Graham Gibbs, described to an international conference the difficulty of redirecting the ponderous bulk of the supertanker called ‘higher education’. He instanced John Cowan, pulling sideways from his canoe and – despite his energetic and enthusiastic efforts to innovate, during a career lasting for 40 years – having little impact. John laughed with the others. Yet prominent teachers, here and abroad, often acknowledge that they and their colleagues have made radical changes in their students’ learning experiences as a result of something John said, suggested or did while he was working with them at the cutting edge of practice.

Professor Terry Mayes

Terry Mayes is an Emeritus Professor at Glasgow Caledonian University where he was Head of Academic Practice until 2006. He currently leads the evaluation and dissemination team for the Higher Education Academy’s e-learning benchmarking and pathfinder programme. He is also advisor to the Scottish enhancement theme for the first year experience.

In the first part of his career Terry taught cognitive psychology at the University of Strathclyde. He moved into full time research in 1986, and in 1990 became Director of Research in the new Institute for Computer-Based Learning at Heriot-Watt. Terry has a broad research experience in learning and has been largely responsible for the modern awakening of interest in vicarious learning.

Dr. Martin Oliver

Martin Oliver is a Reader at the London Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education. He is also seconded part-time to the Higher Education Academy, where he is working to develop the e-learning elements of their research observatory. His research interests include the impact of new technology on roles and practices within Higher Education (including how this changes what students learn and do), evaluating ICT use and the development of theory and methodologies in the field of e-learning.

He edited ALT-J: research in learning technology from 2001-2008, is currently an editor for Learning, Media and Technology and serves on the editorial boards of Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning and Innovations in Education & Teaching International. Martin has also guest edited special issues of Educational Technology and Society (twice), Quality Assurance in Education and Reflecting Education.