Staff Profile:Mr Guy Pursey

Name:

Mr Guy Pursey

Job Title:

Enhancement Officer (e-Learning)

Responsibilities:

Way back in August 2006, I was appointed to an e-Learning post in CDoTL, initially to help academics with piloting Blackboard's "Academic Suite" and deliver training sessions to students on using this newly-acquired system. I still provide support for staff but now both with the whole of Blackboard and in using other technology to potentially enhance teaching and learning. This includes providing help for and information about many tools from Web 2.0 services to classroom interactivity tools such as the Personal Response System and Smartboards.

However, part of my time is now also committed to the DEVELOP project, which is looking at how we might enhance Blackboard with some of the features that staff have requested in the past and to look into what impact these developments have.

Areas of Interest:

I'm interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs, wikis, social networks and bookmarks, e-portfolios, and podcasts. There are two sides to my interest: exploring the potential these tools have within teaching and learning, but also keeping an eye on the way they are both used in and shaping our lives more generally.

I'm also interested in accessibility and good practice - two terms I think we should be aiming to make interchangeable - and (for reasons perhaps obvious and personal!) the ways in which new technology affects work-life balance.

Research groups / Centres:

I have worked with a wide range of academic and support staff across the University, including the Digital Development Team and the University's Centre for Staff Training and Development.

Publications:

External presentations include:

Developing and Enhancing Virtual Learning Environments and eLearning Options

(Blackboard Teaching and Learning Conference 2011, Leeds, April 2011)

"When and where is neither here nor there": Taking personal tutorials and feedback beyond four walls, with portfolios, tags, and video

(Durham Blackboard Users' Conference, Durham, January 2011)

iLearn@Reading: From the individual approach to the institutional approach

(Telling Stories Conference, Wolverhampton, June 2008)

Enhancing Programme Delivery and Improving the Student Learning Experience with Blackboard Learn

(Bb World Europe, Barcelona, April 2009)

The promise and practicalities of e-portfolios: Getting Blackboard to deliver

(Durham Blackboard Users' Conference, Durham, January 2009)

Delivering PDP Planning for Students: An innovative approach to the implementation of the Blackboard "Basic Portfolio"

(Bb World Europe, Manchester, May 2008)

New Approach to the implementation of Blackboard e-Portfolio

(Durham Blackboard Users' Conference, Durham, December 2007)