Speakers

Dr. Alec Couros is a Professor of educational technology and media and the Coordinator of Information and Communications Technology at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina, Canada. Alec works with undergraduate and graduate students to develop their understanding and competencies in working with technology and media in learning environments. He has given hundreds of workshops and presentations, nationally and internationally, on topics such as open education, social & networked learning, instructional design, digital citizenship and critical media literacy. More about Alec can be found at his popular educational blog, Open Thinking.

Glynis Cousin is Professor of Higher Education and Director of the Institute for Learning Enhancement at the University of Wolverhampton. Professor Cousin has worked in adult, community and higher education.

Professor Cousin's research interest is discipline-based, threshold concepts - the fundamental concepts needed to understand specific disciplines.She has an interest in the internationalisation of the curriculum particularly in relation to 'rethinking diversity' and her recent book entitiled 'Researching Learning in Higher Education' explores learning and teaching scholarship.

Her work is of broad interest across the University and specifically to program teams and those interested in first year curriculum and students' learning journeys, including matters of retention and progress.

Norman Jackson is a Professor of Higher Education and the former Director of the Surrey Centre for Excellence in Professional Training and Education, where the primary focus is on helping students develop their capabilities for the professional world. He is interested in connecting with people who have an interest in how we develop students capabilities so that they can become effective professionals.

An important strand of his work since 2001 has been to develop understanding of the meanings of creativity in higher education and the ways in which students’ creative development is supported and encouraged.

More about professor Norman Jackson can be found at his academia.edu profile.

As Controller of BBC Learning, Saul is responsible for the BBC’s formal learning content, including the highly popular Bitesize. He’s also responsible for commissioning key factual TV programmes, formal and informal online Learning content, and off-air events and campaigns like Headroom and Breathing Places, which promote education and learning to all audiences.

Prior to joining BBC Learning, Saul was based in Mumbai where he was General Manager and Creative Head of BBC Worldwide Productions India from 2007 to 2009, producing the Indian version of Strictly Come Dancing amongst others. Before that, the popular and critically acclaimed India and Pakistan season in 2007; and he was Creative Head of Development for Specialist Factual in 2006.

Professor Ghassan Aouad is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Salford. Ghassan joined Salford in 1992 as a Research Fellow working on the Integrated Construction EPSRC-funded project. Prior to joining Salford, he spent five years in the Department of Civil and Building Engineering of Loughborough University, where he obtained his MSc in Construction (1987) and his PhD entitled ‘Integrated Planning Systems for the Construction Industry’ (1991).

Ghassan is passionate about research and is committed to supporting both staff and students in developing a vibrant, innovative research environment in Salford.

Professor Huw Morris is the newly appointed Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Salford. Huw takes up his new role in mid July and will be joining Salford from Manchester Metropolitan University where he was Dean of the Business School and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Enterprise for five years. Previous roles included five years as Associate Dean at Bristol Business School and Kingston University as well as research and lecturing roles at Imperial College and Surrey University. He is currently chair of the Association of Business Schools and a board member of the United Kingdom Business Incubators (UKBI). Professor Morris's research interests have changed significantly over the last 20 years. He focused initially on employment law and human resource management and more recently he has concentrated his attention on HE policy, in particular e-learning initiatives. He is also the author of three books and many refereed journal articles.