Location

C29, Sherrington Building
Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
Sherrington Road (off Parks Road)
Oxford OX1 3PT

I lead Medical Sciences Division Learning Technologies team and am responsible for planning, design, development and management of, largely web-based, technologies for the delivery and administration of teaching, learning and assessment within the Medical Sciences Division. 

My main interests are:

- in the use of computer simulation to get students to engage with material and scenarios which might be tricky to understand using traditional teaching methods, and to carry out virtual experiments which would be too difficult (costly, dangerous, time-consuming, etc.) in the real world – e.g Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics.

- exploring how AI, in the form of LLMs, can be used to help in teaching and learning. Currently working on a communication skills chatbot for medics, and a Canvas ChatGPT plugin to level the playing field for LLM access.

I work closely with the Centre for Teaching and Learning, and with central and MSD IT Services, and I represent learning technologies on the MSD IT Committee. 

I am 'fluent' in web languages such as PHP, MySQL, JavaScript and CSS – we do most of our development in Laravel/CakePHP with React and Angular. I have also written Android/iOS and Windows apps and numerous programmes using Flutter, C++, Java, VisualBasic and ColdFusion.

I joined the team in 2004, coming from the Open University where I was an Educational Software Developer for four years. Before that, at Newcastle University, I researched, taught and developed computer simulation models of agriculture and water management, with an emphasis on smallholder farming in East Africa. I did my PhD in my spare time. I took over the running of Medical Sciences Division Learning Technologies from Vivien Sieber in 2010.

In my spare time, among other things, I sail at Medley Sailing Club, do deliveries for Oxford Mutual Aid and μαθαίνω ελληνικά πολύ αργά (am learning Greek very slowly!).

I can help you with

• Educational technology for distance learning or to enhance traditional learning methods
• Simulation modelling, scenario simulation and virtual or web-mediated experimental work
• If there is something that you would like to be able to do on the web to help your teaching, I can help you find something suitable or develop something that will do what you need
• Using computer-marked assessment in your course
• Making the most of Oxford’s virtual learning environment, Canvas