Workshop Presenters

Gill Ferrell

Dr Gill Ferrell (Director, JISC infoNet) - Lead contact

University of Northumbria
Hadrian House
Higham Place
Newcastle
NE1 8AF
Email: gill.ferrell@northumbria.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 7977 135312
Fax: +44 (0) 191 243 8469
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk

Gill Ferrell is Director of JISC infoNet the UK's leading advisory service for managers in the post-compulsory education sector promoting the effective strategic planning, implementation and management of information and learning technology to support learning, teaching, research and business processes. Gill is the author of many resources in the infoKit series: Project Management, Risk Management, Process Review, System Selection, Contract Negotiation and Change Management: http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/InfoKits and was the editor of the 'Planning & Designing Technology-Rich Learning Spaces' infoKit launched in March 2007.

Gill has led a number of collaborative projects including the recent CAMEL project (Collaborative Approaches to the Management of e-Learning) run jointly with the Higher Education Academy and Association for Learning Technology (ALT) and is currently leading a HEFCE funded project with a number of national and international partners to help institutions prepare for the implementation of the Bologna Process. Gill has published many papers and reports on issues relating to information systems and the use of technology to support learning and teaching (including 'Making Lifelong Learning a Reality' and 'When Worlds Collide: Changing Cultures in 21st century Education' http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/publications) and has been an invited keynote speaker at many national events.

Lou McGill (Programme Manager, JISC Executive)

JISC Executive
Beacon House
Queens Road
Bristol BS8 1QU, UK
Email: l.mcgill@jisc.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 7766424288
Fax: +44 (0) 117 954 5078
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/contactus/staff_contact_list/people_mcgill_l

Lou McGill is a Programme Manager on the JISC e-Learning team responsible for six cross-sector and cross-institutional projects funded by the Scottish Funding Council which aim to transform e-learning and teaching practice at an institution wide level. She is also the current Programme Manager for the Digital Libraries in the Classroom Programme and the Exchange for Learning Programme (X4L). She has responsibility for two cross-programme themes - e-Assessment and Learning Resources & Activities.

Prior to joining the JISC Development Team Lou worked at the University of Strathclyde for the DIDET Project (digital libraries for global distributed innovative design and teamwork), one of the JISC/NSF Digital Libraries in the Classroom initiatives. Whilst at Strathclyde she was a member of the VLE Implementation Group and was involved in developing a consultation process for the development of the University Teaching and Learning through Technology Strategy. She was a member of the JISC e-Learning and Pedagogy Experts Group and was part of the project team led by Martin Oliver that carried out the Research Study on the Effectiveness of Resources, Tools and Support Services used by Practitioners in Designing and Delivering E-Learning Activities.

Prior to this Lou had 18 years experience as a professional information specialist in the adult education world, working in both institutional and academic libraries. She has always worked closely with educators to ensure that libraries and librarians are considered essential components of the learning environment. As a teacher of information literacy she has employed and evaluated a variety of e-learning technologies to enhance and support student learning.

Les Watson (Education Adviser)

Email: admin@leswatson.com
http://www.leswatson.com/Welcome.html

Les Watson is a freelance educational adviser. He was previously Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Information Services) at Glasgow Caledonian University. He held this post from 1999 to September 2006. During this time he was responsible for Library, C&IT Services, student services, e-learning, the Caledonian Degree and work based learning all of which were integrated into a University wide Learning Service. At Caledonian Les led the development of the Learning Cafe, REAL@Caledonian, and the award winning Saltire Centre.

At Caledonian Les was also the Project Director of the JISC Digital Libraries in the Classroom Spoken Word Project which continues to develop access to streamed digital audio resources and promote their use in the curriculum. The project works with partner Universities in the USA and with BBC Archives. Les has been a regular contributor to Online in the Times Educational Supplement and now writes for Merlin John Online. He has produced synopsis papers on aspects of Higher Education for the European Parliament, contributed to a number of books on the use of IT in education, and was the author of "Multimedia in Schools - the transition from primary to secondary schools" for the Scientific and Technological Options Assessment Office of the European Parliament. He is a Fellow of the RSA, a member of the Universities and Colleges Information Services Association (UCISA) executive, chair of the annual UCISA management conference committee, a member of the JISC Board and a registered consultant with the Higher Education Academy. He was the lead consultant on the JISC infoNet 'Planning & Designing Technology-Rich Learning Spaces' infoKit that was launched in March 2007.