Speakers
Gordon Bell
Gordon Bell has been a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, since 1995, researching the lifetime capture and storage of everything for an individual. Previous roles include VP of R&D, Digital Equipment Corp. (1960-1983); professor, Carnegie-Mellon University (1966-72); founding assistant director of NSF’s Computing and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE) Directorate (1986-1988); chairman, cross agency committee (FCCSET) for creating the Internet(1987-1988); advisor /investor in 100+ start-up companies; and a founding trustee of the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA. He has bachelor and master of science degrees from MIT (1956-57), was a University of New South Wales Fulbright Scholar (1957-58), and has an honorary doctorate in Engineering from Worchester Polytechnic Institute. He is a member of the ACM, Am. Acad. Arts & Sciences, IEEE, NAE, and NAS and 1991 National of Medal of Technology, medalist.
Martin Dougiamas
Martin Dougiamas is best known as the founder of Moodle, the popular free course management system used by millions of teachers in 200 countries around the world.
As the executive director of Moodle Pty Ltd in Perth, Western Australia, he leads the team of software developers at the heart of the Moodle project and the global network of 40 Moodle Partner service companies that help provide funding for this independent open source software project.
Martin has a mixed academic background with post-graduate degrees in Computer Science and Education, and continues to focus on researching how educators approach internet-based education. His major goal for the future is to improve the quality of education by encouraging social constructionist and collaborative practices within online learning communities.
Carie Page
Carie Page is the Program Administrator for the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, committed to advancing learning through IT innovation. At ELI, Carie works with campus faculty, librarians, and IT staff to promote and integrate teaching, learning, and technology principles on campus. Recent projects include the development of a three-day alternate-reality game to demonstrate collaborative learning opportunities and white papers on both campus security and Green IT. Her research interests include virtual collaboration, game-based learning, Net Gen students, and the development of 21st century literacies on campus.
Her interest in the relationship between campus IT and student success started in the classroom where, as an undergraduate studying history, she discovered that simple online tools and pedagogical methods can lead to greater student engagement. She also turned a keen eye to the characteristics of her classmates as a college editor and Student Government official. Those observations culminated in “The Student’s Perspective,” a chapter in the 2005 EDUCAUSE e-book, “Educating the Net Generation,” edited by Diana and James Oblinger. Recent works on today’s students include, "Father Google and Mother IM: Confessions of a Net Gen Learner" in the EDUCAUSE Review and a white paper on info literacy, entitled, "Getting Past Google: Perspectives on Information Literacy from the Millennial Mind." A frequent keynote speaker, she is currently co-facilitating a series of workshops on, “Building a Blueprint: Net Gen Students, Web 2.0, and the Future of Learning.”
She earned a B.A. in History (2005) from North Carolina State University, where she studied as a Park Scholar, and a M.A. in Irish History and Politics (2007) from the University of Ulster in Derry, Northern Ireland, where she spent one year as a Mitchell Scholar.
Professor Arshad Omari
Professor Arshad Omari is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) with key responsibilities for the student experience, academic profile and load planning, quality assurance, human resources, risk management and audit assurance. He is presently leading a number of large-scale IT developments at ECU including the re-development of the ECU web-presence and a university-wide Enterprise Information Management Data-warehouse implementation.
Originally trained as an Architect, Professor Omari has a diverse research and teaching background covering a range of disciplines; Architecture and Design, Computer Science, Interactive Media, Communications, the Internet and Online Learning. His research has been focused upon the development and application of online technologies, and in particular the effectiveness of these in teaching, learning, communication and online community.
He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Architecture (Hons) and Doctor of Philosophy, both from the University of Western Australia.
Leonard (Leo) Plugge
Leonard (Leo) Plugge received his Masters degree in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Utrecht in 1986. He was the first master student Psychology in Utrecht who specialized in machine learning. In 1992 he received his PhD from the Medical Faculty at University Maastricht for his thesis on computer aided medical diagnosis of Alzheimer and other forms of dementia.
From 1993 Leonard worked at the dept. of Computer Science as associate professor where he did research on knowledge management and the use of the Internet. Among others, he introduced in 1993 the Internet as a private network (Intranet) for the Dutch police forces and as cross border extranet for communication with the police forces in Germany, Belgium and France. In 1999 Leonard was appointed as researcher and later manager at the Learning Lab of the Maastricht McLuhan Institute.
In 2001 he was installed as Executive Secretary of the Scientific Technical Council (WTR) of Stichting SURF. The WTR is an independent advisory council for the Board of Stichting SURF and all higher education institutions in The Netherlands. Additionally Leonard is Executive Secretary of the Board of GigaPort NG, which deploys a highly innovative hybrid research network infrastructure for The Netherlands. This networks plays a central role in the data processing of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. More information about Leonard is available at www.plugge.org.
Professor Peter Reimann
Peter is currently employed as Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney. Peter studied Psychology at the University of Freiburg (Germany) and received his PhD from the same university. Her worked for a number of years as assitant professor in Cognitive Psychology in Freiburg, and was between 1996 and 2003 Professor for Educational Psychology at the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He also spent two years as a researcher at the Learning Research and Development Centre, Univ. of Pittsburgh (USA). Peter's primary research areas are learning research with a focus on educational computing, multimedia-based and knowledge-based learning environments, e-learning, and the development of evaluation and assessment methods for the effectiveness of computer-based technologies.
Current research activities comprise among other issues the analysis of individual and group problem solving/learning processes and possible support by means of ICT, and analysis of the use of mobile IT in informal learning settings (outdoors, in museums, etc.). He's also interested in e-research methods for learning research, in particular educational data- and text mining. In addition to basic research, Peter has been involved in a number of European Commission-funded R&D projects and has been working frequently as consultant for the European Commission's educational technology research programs. He has also done consultancy for numerours industry partners, and more recently for the Singapore Ministry of Education as well as The Learning Federation.
Since 2003, he co-directs the CoCo research centre at the University of Sydney, which has grown to 20+ researchers and PhD students, and also, since 2005, directs the ICT unit of the Faculty of Education and Social Work. To learn more about the CoCo research centre and Peter's projects, please visit http://coco.edfac.usyd.edu.au/
Dr Michelle Selinger
Dr Michelle Selinger is a director in the education arena of the Global Public Sector practice of the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) with a focus on the Asia Pacific region. In her work with the IBSG, Michelle's focus is primarily on education transformation in all areas of formal education. Prior to joining IBSG, Michelle was the education strategist for Cisco's social iBusiness Solutions Group (IBSG) with a focus on the Asia Pacific region. In her work with the IBSG, Michelle's focus is primarily on education transformation in all areas of formal education. Prior to joining IBSG, Michelle was the education strategist for Cisco's social investments in education, including the World Economic Forum's Global Education Initiative. She also has experience in working with governments on developing their strategies for education reform through technology.
Michelle was the director of the Centre for New Technologies Research in Education at the University of Warwick, UK, a research and multimedia centre dedicated to research and development in ICT. She has the fairly unique experience of having worked in traditional, distance, and online education in all sectors from primary schools to universities, as well as vocational education and training, across many countries. Michelle was a member of the second chamber of the eEurope 2005 Action Plan Advisory Group, which informed the European Union i2010 initiative, and she sits on steering committees for various ICT and education initiatives.
