Dr Sandy Britain is currently employed as e-Learning Coordinator at Tairawhiti Polytechnic. He is also seconded to the Ministry of Education to assist with strategic development work around e-Learning in New Zealand. Recently, Sandy has represented New Zealand interests in international work surrounding interoperability specifications and standards development and adoption. In addition he is currently leading the ECDF 3 project - eXe2 which involves a collaboration between Tairawhiti Polytechnic and AUT. A key focus for the project is the issue of sustainability of FLOSS software developments in education. He has published widely in the field of e-Learning.

Graeme Everton runs a small company that looks to improve the adoption of collaborative technologies in the workspace. He has most recently worked at Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa, where he led initiatives to engage Māori educators and learners in the use of technology for more effective teaching. His work included education broadcasting, Te Reo online and Video Conferencing for Marae Based Studies, a programme designed to deliver Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa’s course to over 27 Marae and Kura Kaupapa based affiliates.

Peter Mellow has been teaching Sport Science at AUT for the last 19 years. In this time, his interest has moved from anatomy and anthropometry, to pedagogy, and using technology to allow students to learn better.

Peter has produced CD-ROMs and DVDs for his students over the last five years, taught online and is now focusing on an mLearning project (StudyTXT), delivering content via text messages onto students cell phones in the tertiary and secondary sectors.

Peter attended the Apple Higher Education Leadership Summit in the USA earlier this year where they developed a road map for creating an online educational journal that uses multimedia assets.

Peter holds a Postgraduate Certificate in eEducation, Waikato and a Graduate Diploma in Teacher Education (Tertiary) AUT.

Dr Bill Rosenberg is manager of the Educational Technology Services division of the Information Technology Services department at the University of Canterbury. Bill has been working in universities since 1983 in various roles related to his profession in Information Technology. Bill has taken a strong interest in flexible learning and e-Learning, both in his employment and at a policy level.
Educational Technology Services focuses on provision of and support for technology in teaching and learning, including the University’s learning management system (WebCT), technology in teaching spaces, multimedia support, and student computer workrooms. In this position he works closely with the University Centre for Teaching and Learning which is the University’s academic staff development centre and provides pedagogical support for e-Learning.

Bill is a member of the Ministry of Education’s Tertiary e-Learning Reference Group, the University e-Learning Directors committee, and the Canterbury Tertiary Alliance e-Learning working group. He is also a Commissioner of the Tertiary Education Commission.

Presentation notes (50kb PDF)

Mark Nichols was a Flexible Learning Leader in New Zealand (2005-2006) who opted to examine the dynamics of institutional change toward e-Learning. He is a member of the DEANZ executive and a prior convenor of the ITPNZ e-Learning Forum. He has extensive experience as an e-Learner, e-Course developer, e-Teacher and consultant and is currently confronted with the challenges of bringing an entire University College into e-Learning and chairing an eCDF project for the development of an ePortfolio platform. He has the dubious honour of being the first person in New Zealand to legitimately attend a graduation ceremony in his pyjamas (MA in Open and Distance Education, OU). Mark keeps a blog about his work at the Massey University College of Education: http://masseyself.blogspot.com.

Presentation notes (40kb PDF)
Presentation notes (300kb PPT)

Sue Dark is the Professional Development Advisor for e-Learning at The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Since obtaining her MSc in IT & Learning in the UK, Sue has worked in computer-based learning, training and e-Learning for over 15 years in a variety of roles; instructional designer, staff developer and in management. Sue manages the Professional Development team and the Instructional Design team at The Open Polytechnic. She has been involved in a number of Government-funded e-Learning capability projects within New Zealand, including the Open Source Virtual Learning Environment project, e-Learning Guidelines project, eXe project and the Networked Education Pilot project. She engages with a range of national groups and forums and is particularly interested in instructional design. 

Bronwyn Hegarty (MSc (Dist), BSc (Hons), Diploma of Teaching (Tertiary), Graduate Certificate in Clinical Teaching, RGON) has been teaching online and developing resources for the online environment for ten years. She currently works in the area of educational development at Otago Polytechnic. Bronwyn's role is to assist academic staff with the design and development of online courses, as well as to support them as they learn to become online facilitators. At present there is a strategic push to develop courses and programme for flexibility. As a result there is an institution wide buzz of activity as redevelopment gets underway.

Bronwyn is also involved in the eCDF Information Literacy e-Learning Modules project, as part of a team designing and developing content for the modules, and she also oversees evaluation of the modules. Bronwyn is also a Doctorate candidate with the University of Wollongong investigating how a reflective framework may be used to help professionals develop skills of reflective practice, and evidence which may be suitable for inclusion in an electronic portfolio.

Mark Northover (MSc, MComp, DipTchg) is currently the Manager of Flexible Learning Services at AUT University. He is responsible for all operational aspects of flexible learning delivery, as well as the academic support and uptake of flexible learning at AUT. Mark has been involved in the development and support of e-Learning capability in the New Zealand tertiary sector since 1997, with previous teaching experience at both secondary and tertiary levels. He has published and presented papers at international conferences in New Zealand, Australia and the USA, and has recently completed a Master of Computing degree. Mark is a member of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) and the Blackboard Ideas Exchange (BIE), and is a current holder of a Flexible Learning Leaders in New Zealand award (www.fllinnz.ac.nz).

Dr Stanley Frielick is Director of Flexible Learning at NorthTec. He has wide-ranging interests in educational theory, complexity science, and emerging approaches to networked and distributed learning. He was project leader of the Certificate in e-Learning Design and Development (CeLDD) project in 2005/6 and a Flexible Learning Leader in New Zealand in 2004/5 (both funded by the e-Learning Collaborative Development Fund). 

Dr Nicki Page manages the e-Learning and Web Support Unit at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, and has been directly involved in distance and online learning in the tertiary sector for many years. Her professional interests range from ICT and information literacy to e-Learning infrastructure and digital repositories. She is currently leading a multi-institutional eCDF-funded research repositories project.

Nicki is a member of the Distance Education Association of New Zealand [DEANZ], having held past roles of Vice-President, website manager (for four years), and guest editor of the Journal of Distance Learning (2003/2004). Other e-Learning forums she is actively involved with include ITPNZ, TANZ and the Canterbury Tertiary Alliance.  She was selected as a Flexible Learning Leader in New Zealand for 2004-2005.

Presentation notes (440kb PDF)
Presentation notes (2.3MB PPT)

David Sturrock is the Flexible Learning Team Leader at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology. David has been involved in eLearning developments at NMIT since 2002 including the implementation of Moodle and a number of eCDF projects such as the e-Learning Networked Education Pilot. NMIT is a member of The Loop project establishing a high-speed network between schools in the Nelson/Tasman region. The Loop schools are currently exploring options for shared services such as LMS, ePortfolio and a platform for supporting common interest groups.

Richard Wyles leads the e-Learning Networked Education Pilot currently involving nine ITPs. Open standards and open source is enabling the potential of a networked system for educational delivery. In a previous eCDF project, Richard led the NZ Open Source Virtual Learning Environment Project which involved development and deployment of Moodle (LMS), Elgg (ePortfolio) and ePrints (repository) systems.  Richard is also co-founder and director of the Flexible Learning Network, www.flexible.co.nz. The company embraces the potential of mixed modes of delivery for public sector, corporate and education sector clients.       

Elizabeth LH Valentine is Chief Executive at Plumbing, Gasfitting & Drainlaying ITO Ltd. Elizabeth has an MBA from Henley (UK) specialising in the use of technology in learning and performance support. She also has a diploma in Business Studies from Massey University (endorsed Training & Development) and a Diploma in Teaching from Trinity College London.

Her recent career spans a range of executive level roles encompassing training and education in both the public and private sectors. As a long-time contract consultant, Elizabeth brings a wealth of business experience, nationally and internationally to the organisations she works with. Teams she has lead have appeared in three international Best Practice Journals.

Elizabeth sits on a number of advisory boards including the Ministry of Education’s Tertiary e-Learning Advisory Group, and is a current Board member of the Wellington Aftercare Association.

Her experience in e-Learning is broad and deep covering being an active e-Learner, managing the purchase and implementation of Learning Management Systems, advising private and public sector organisations in e-Learning strategy, leading e-Learning projects including design and delivery.

She has also published a number of articles and research papers. These include education and training related research on behalf of NZ Trade and Enterprise and the Ministry of Education, and the people aspects of mergers.

A sought after international speaker on learning delivery methods, Elizabeth has spoken at conferences in the USA, UK, Australia and Italy, the most recent the European Commission Conference on Mobile Learning in Rome in 2005.

Paul Grimwood joined The Open Polytechnic as Chief Executive in March 2003 after running his own Wellington and Sydney-based strategic management consultancy for 12 years, working at a senior level with a wide range of organisations in Australasia. His career also includes appointments as Director-General of the New South Wales Department of Transport, Chief Executive of the Australian Railway Research and Development Organisation, Deputy Chief Executive of West Rail, Australia, and Senior Chief Manager, Strategy and Planning, BNZ.

Paul served on the Council of Cornell University, New York, from 1984-95, and was a member of the Western Australian Post Secondary Commission. Both roles involved identifying and implementing tertiary policy in academic institutions. Paul's experience as a strategic management consultant includes significant work in identifying and evaluating social policy options. Examples include assessing the competencies of international organisations who could assist the Government of New South Wales with micro-economic reforms, and advising the Government of Victoria on world best practice in managing community service obligations.

Paul holds a PhD in aerospace engineering from Cornell University, where he also worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow, research assistant and teaching assistant.

Murray Leach has played a pivotal role in New Zealand education for a number of years. For the last four years, Murray has led a team in the Ministry of Education responsible for the management of education systems, processes and relationships that enable sector–wide collaboration and effective service delivery across the sector. Murray is also the Chair of two key Information Communication Technology (ICT) forums involved with the development of ICT initiatives across the education sector.  These two forums involve representatives from all six education sector agencies, the National Library and other key government agencies and are working towards the vision of “improved learner achievement in an innovative education sector, fully connected and supported by the smart use of ICT”.

Keith Tyler-Smith is currently the project manager on a number of eCDF and other internally funded eLearning projects for the Tertiary Accord of New Zealand (TANZ). He has been working in the ITP sector since 1993, initially as a programme leader in TV & Video Post Production at the NZ Broadcasting School at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT). In 2000 he took up the role as Manager of eLearning & Web Support for CPIT and was responsible for the roll out of Blackboard, staff development in eLearning & the development of a variety of eLearning projects. In 2004 he was seconded to TANZ to project manage a first round eCDF contract.

Keith has a Bachelor of Broadcasting Communications from CPIT and a Masters in Online Education from the University of Southern Queensland.