U&I Next Generation Technologies and Practice Phase 2 Call

Cover Sheet for Proposals(All sections must be completed)

Capital ProgrammeName of Capital Programme: Users and Innovation

Next Generation Technologies and Practice Phase 2Please tick ONE BOX ONLY, as appropriate

a)Small-scale pilotsb)Large-scale institutional demonstrators

Name of Lead Institution: Thames Valley University

Name of Proposed Project: WEB-BASED TEXT TO SPEECH SYNTHESIZERFOR ENGINEERING SUBJECTS

Name(s) of Project Partner(s): ITECHSOFT Ltd

Full Contact Details for Primary Contact:Name: ROSE-MARGARET BECKLEYPosition: LECTUREREmail: Rose-Margaret.Beckley@tvu.ac.ukAddress: Thames Valley UniversityTel: 01189 675236Fax:Length of Project: 15 monthsProject Start Date: January 2008 Project End Date: March 2009

Total Funding Requested from JISC: £169,642Funding Broken Down over Financial Years (Apr–Mar):

Apr07 – Mar08 Apr08 – Mar09 £37,361 £132,281

Total Institutional Contributions: £20,000Outline Project Description alphaTTS; Development, piloting and dissemination of a web-based text to speech synthesizer for engineering subjects to encourage inclusion and accessibility amongst disabled, work-based and distance learning engineering students.

I have looked at the example FOI form at Appendix A and included an FOI form in the attached bid (Tick Box)

YES NO

I have read the Circular & associated Terms & Conditions of Grant at Appendix B (Tick Box)

YES NO

(b) FOI Withheld Information Form

We would like JISC to consider withholding the following sections or paragraphs from disclosure, should the contents of this proposal be requested under the Freedom of Information Act, or if we are successful in our bid for funding and our project proposal is made available on JISC’s website.

We acknowledge that the FOI Withheld Information Form is of indicative value only and that JISC may nevertheless be obliged to disclose this information in accordance with the requirements of the Act. We acknowledge that the final decision on disclosure rests with JISC.

Section / Paragraph No. Relevant exemption from disclosure under FOI

Justification

None

Please see http://www.ico.gov.uk for further information on the Freedom of Information Act and the exemptions to disclosure it contains.

Example:

Section / Paragraph No. Relevant exemption from disclosure under FOI

Justification

2.4 s.43 Commercial Interests Contains detailed description of our proposed system design which would damage our commercial interests if disclosed, by making this information available to competitors.

(c) Appropriateness and fit to programme objectives and overall value to the JISC community

C.1 M-learning, or "mobile learning", now commonly abbreviated to "mLearning", has different meanings for different communities. Although related to e-learning and distance education, it is distinct in its focus on learning across contexts and learning with mobile devices. One definition of mobile learning is: Learning that happens across locations, or that takes advantage of learning opportunities offered by portable technologies.

C.2 The term covers: learning with portable technologies, where the focus is on the technology (which could be in a fixed location, such as a classroom); learning across contexts, where the focus is on the mobility of the learner, interacting with portable or fixed technology; and learning in a mobile society, with a focus on how society and its institutions can accommodate and support the learning of an increasingly mobile population of learners.

C.3 Over the past ten years mobile learning has grown from a minor research interest to a set of significant projects in schools, workplaces, museums, cities and rural areas around the world. These projects range from providing revision questions to children by mobile phone (BBC Bitesize Mobile), through small group learning in classrooms using handheld computers (MCSCL from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile), to context-sensitive learning in museums (MOBIlearn European Project).

C.4 Each of these projects has shown how mobile technology can offer new opportunities for learning that extends beyond the traditional teacher-led classroom. As the projects developed, the researchers became aware of significant issues that were not obvious at the outset.

C.5 Some are technical problems, such as how to manage technology with short battery life. Some are educational, such as how to coordinate small group learning in the classroom, or to deliver teaching content through a small device. And some are broader issues of society, for example whether it is ethical for software on mobile devices to monitor and control learning activities outside the classroom.

C.6 Another significant problem has been the use of text to speech synthesizers on hand held devices. However text can now be converted to speech, and then using MP3 technology stored on Mobile devices such as iPODS, mobile phones and palm tops.

C.7 Significant research has been done in the field of text to speech synthesis, where large plain text documents can be converted to speech. However not a lot of research has been carried out in converting complicated Engineering Symbols such as Ω(ohms)µ (micro) α,γ,ε,ξ, etc. thus making the conversion of a common Mathematical Engineering expression such as

difficult to convert to speech.

3

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se s

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1

110

110

0

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C.8 This project will build on previous research carried out by the author and other researchers in the field of m-learning. This research has suggested that m-learning is a practical response to three pressing social/educational problems that relate to many young Europeans in the age range 16-24: poor literacy and numeracy, non-participation in conventional education and possible social exclusion. Some of these target audiences may be unemployed or underemployed, and may lack access to a computer; many do however regularly use a mobile phone. Accordingly, m-Learning utilizes inexpensive portable technologies that are already owned by, or likely to be readily accessible for, the majority of young adults.

C.9 The primary aim of this project will be to introduce a new approach to m-learning by harnessing the advantages to be gained by Text To Speech(TTS) synthesisers in developing the ALPATTS toolkit, which will encourage inclusion and accessibility for disabled engineering students and those engineering work-based learners such as the Foundation Degree Students, or distance learning students.

C.10 The expected impact of the ALPHATTS on Students will be as follows

Provision of a learning support tool kit which will aid/support the learning of dyslexic and visually impaired Engineering Students

Increased flexibility, which will be of advantage to those students that have very busy schedules and who will be able to listen to their notes whilst travelling, while walking, or doing house hold chores etc.

Improved memory retention. Research has shown that learning with the inclusion of the auditory senses is a good approach to reinforce learning and memory improvement.

Anytime, Anywhere access to resources

Social Inclusion for Disabled and International students.

Reduced cost of notes dissemination and reproduction.

C.11 The proposed project will therefore:

(a) Analyse and evaluate the quality, accessibility and usability of generic text-speech synthesis on hand held devices for learners using empirical research methods.

(b) Investigate how text-speech synthesis can be used to support learning in engineering subjects, focusing on usability, inclusion and accessibility issues surrounding the use of handheld devices.

(c) Investigate how text-speech synthesis can enhance and support inclusion among dyslexic and visually impaired Engineering students.

(d) Establish how Engineering symbols such as Ω, ε, ≤, ≥, can be converted to speech, using the text to speech synthesiser so as to enable the conversion of engineering texts to speech.

(e) Use the results to model and create a web based text-speech synthesiser that can be used for Engineering Subjects

C.12 The proposed project meets the JISC programme goals of developing and piloting technical models required to support learning and teaching as well as building capacity across the sector. It will contribute to the further development of the e-Framework through a deeper understanding of mobile learning applications and technical interoperability.

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(d) Quality of Proposal and Robustness of Workplan

D.1 The project manager will be Rose-Margaret Beckley who is a lecturer in Engineering in the Faculty of Technology at Thames Valley University. She will report to a Steering Group who’s membership will include Ann Osler (chair) who is the Dean of the Faculty of Technology, Richard Leach the Subject Head, Tad Leduchowicz Head of the E-Learning Unit, Anna Dasquens E-Learning Coordinator of the Faculty of Technology, Dr John Cook from London Metropolitan University, and Andy Turner Manager of the Online Systems Group, Thames Valley University.

D2 Steering Group meetings will be held every quarter and will be the main mechanism for reviewing progress and advising on the way forward.

D.3 Rose-Margaret will also attend all of the JISC project meetings and related events.

D.4 This project is primarily a development project; however some standard research methods will be used to inform the development of the ALPATTS toolkit and also to evaluate the success of the toolkit.

D.5 Therefore the methodology used in this project will be categorized into Development Methods and Research Methods

Development Methods

D.6 The ALPHATTS toolkit will be developed using a standard AT&T TTS application and further coding will be done using Microsoft Visual C#.NET. The toolkit will on completion will be integrated with Blackboard (an E-learning platform).

D.7 The following are the iterative development processes that will be used;

Data Flow Design TTS coding

Research Methods

D.8 The author is aware that ethical approval may be necessary for participants to take part in the proposed trials and the required procedures will be carried out before the start of these. Participants will be provided with written details of what the trials will involve at the appropriate time.

D.9 The author will use standard empirical, ethnographic and statistical methods to analyse and evaluate the quality and usability of the ALPHATTS toolkit.

D.10 The project will be broken down into the following milestones:

The author will establish what research has been and is planned in the subject area by searching the appropriate books, academic journals, conference proceedings, the Internet and by collaborating with other academics from other educational establishments;

The author will undertake trials using generic (non-engineering specific) text to speech applications that already exist evaluating the effectiveness of text to speech synthesisers in learner memory retention.

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The author will use the results of her trials to model a prototype of a text to speech application that incorporates their strengths and aims to address weaknesses that have been identified within the trials of generic applications; this will be mainly focused on engineering subjects.

The author will undertake trials using her prototype model using the same participants, if possible, to analyse and evaluate the quality and usability of the system plus the accuracy of the result of the speech output.

D.11 The detailed project plan will follow the User Innovation and Development Model (UIDM) and reflect the user engagement, transition and decision, technical development and user acceptance and support stages.

D.12 The principle deliverable will be a web-based text to speech synthesizer (named alphaTTS) for Engineering Subjects that can handle complicated engineering and mathematical symbols and convert these to speech.

D.13 The toolkit will be integrated with the Virtual Learning Environment Blackboard and will have the capability to convert entire Engineering lecture notes to MP3 formats which learners can readily download from Blackboard and store on handheld devices such as mobile phones, ipods and palm tops.

D.14 Other deliverables will concern dissemination of the product. These will include a paper covering product functionality and application that will be disseminated using the HE Academy website, workshops on the product and distribution of the application to interested parties.

Key Activity Start Date End DatePACT Analysis for the ALPHATTS Jan 2008 Feb 2008Re-design interviews Feb 2008 Feb 2008Initial Design of the ALPHATTS Mar 2008 Mar 2008Testing of AT&T TTS for Engineering text Mar 2008 Mar 2008Coding of AT&T TTS for Electronics Engineering Text

Apr 2008 Jun 2008

Final coding, components inclusion and web/black board hosting

June 2008 Sept 2008

Usability Test/Evaluation Sept 2008 Oct 2008Amendments from feedback Oct 2008 Nov 2008Final Usability test Nov 2008 Jan 2009Paper presentation / publishing Feb 2009 Mar 2009

D.15 We consider that the possible risks associated with this project concern some of the practical arrangements in getting the work underway and synchronising end-user feedback with the appropriate points in the development cycle.

Potential risk Steps taken to mitigrate risk

– Delays in getting the project manager released from her teaching commitments

– The Subject Head fully supports the bid and has undertaken to assist with staffing arrangements

– Students are not always available for consultation regarding the product specification and to provide feedback on the beta version of alphaTTS

– The project manager will liaise with tutors in good time to block out times for potential student engagement

– The commercial programming company has other conflicting demands on their time

– A written agreement will be sought with the company clearly indicating their level of commitment against agreed timescales

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(e) Engagement with the Community

E.1 This project will build on previous research carried out by the author and other researchers in the field of mobile learning. The author is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Reading with the Department of Cybernetics, and graduated with a Master of Science in Mobile and Satellite Communications Engineering degree from the University of Surrey. The dissertation in the final year included substantial research in the area of 3G mobile services. In the research the author focussed on the technical aspects of the 3rd Generation Mobile Services, especially the location based services, in which she designed and programmed a prototype model for the Centre for Communications research (CCSR).

E.2 The author is currently doing some research with the University of Reading on mobile devices for the elderly.

E.3 Two collaborations will be key to the success of the project. The first is with a local commercial partner, ITECHSOFT, who will provide the programming expertise.

E.4 The second collaboration is with Dr John Cook of London Metropolitan University. He is an acknowledged expert in the field of mobile learning and will provide us with advice and guidance as part of the project team.

E.5 During the pilot phase of the development work TVU students on the following courses ‘Electronics’, ‘Communications’ and ‘Control and Mechatronics’ will be engaged in providing feedback on the beta versions of alphaTTS.

E.6 The main output of this project will be a web-based learning support toolkit / resource for students and tutors called alphaTTS. The author will produce a paper on the application of alphaTTS and publish this on the HE Academy website to provide more information to the wider Engineering community in particular and any other interested parties.

E.7 She will also work with the Engineering Subject Centre to organise a workshop / seminar to explain the functionality of alphaTTS and the benefits to the community. These workshops / seminars will be advertised through the Engineering Subject Centre’s website.

E.8 Most importantly the toolkit itself will be made available to the public via the site. AlphaTTS will be a very versatile toolkit with a clear framework that can be easily adopted and used by any interested party.

E.9 The success of this project will be evaluated against the objectives and aims that were set initially. This will be done by allowing staff and students to fully test the toolkit. Their feedback will be recorded and suggested improvements carried out. The different methods that will be used will range from interviews, to observations while they use the toolkit to questionnaires that will enable them to express their views on the toolkit.

E.10 The feedback gathered from students through questionnaires, interviews and observations made while they used the toolkit, will be collated and the author will carry out both a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data. This feedback will be used to make relevant adjustments to the toolkit.

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(f)

Directly IncurredStaff

April 07– March 08

April 08– March 09

TOTAL £

Project Manager/Developer0.5FTE

£5078 £19952 £25030

Engineering Lecturers (3)30 days

£854 £4271 £5125

Blackboard Technicians20 days

£682 £2730 £3412

Researcher1.0 FTE

£6765 £27060 £33825

ITECHSOFT (Project Partner)135 days@£350

£9490 £37760 £47250

John Cook - M-Learning Consultant15 days@£300

£1500 £3000 £4500

Total Directly Incurred Staff (A) £24369 £94773 £119142

Non-Staff April 07– March 08

April 08– March 09

TOTAL £

Travel and expenses £1000 £3000 £4000

Hardware/software £4500 £ £4500

Dissemination £1000 £4000 £5000

Evaluation £ £5000 £5000

Other £ £ £

Total Directly Incurred Non-Staff (B)

£6500 £12000 £18500

Directly Incurred Total (A+B=C)(C)

£30869 £106773 £137642

Directly Allocated April 07– March 08

April 08– March 09

TOTAL £

Staff £

Estates £2035 £7997 £10032

Other £4457 £17511 £21968

Directly Allocated Total (D) £6492 £25508 £32000

Indirect Costs (E) £ £ £

Total Project Cost (C+D+E) £37361 £132281 £169642

Amount Requested from JISC £37361 £132281 £169642

Institutional Contributions- Managers’ time (Ann Osler,

Richard Leach, Tad Leduchowicz, Andy Turner)

- Use of computer/e-learning infrastructure

- Financial department and HR department assistance

£5090 £14910 £20000

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Percentage Contributions over the life of the project

JISC 89.5%

Partners 10.5%

Total100%

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(g) Previous experience of the project team

Rose-Margaret Beckley

G.1 The author is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Reading with the Department of Cybernetics, and graduated with a Master of Science in Mobile and Satellite Communications Engineering degree from University of Surrey Guildford, which is the highest rating UK University in this field, in 2002, after one year of full time study. The dissertation in the final year included substantial research in the area of 3G mobile services; the Architecture of the OSA interface was analysed and evaluated. In this research the author had focused on the technical aspects of the 3rd Generation Mobile Services especially the Location based Services, in which she designed and programmed a prototype model for the Centre for Communications Research (CCSR) at the University of Surrey, Guildford.

G.2 The author is also currently doing some research with the University of Reading on Mobile devices for the Elderly. Empowering people through Mobile technology is an area of expertise to the author. The author also lectures in Software Development and has previously worked as a Software Analyst and Business Intelligence Consultant

G.3 ITechSoft Ltd is a small business organisation at the forefront of change in software related learning strategy. The company was founded in 2005.

G.4 The company develops leading Microsoft Windows and web based applications using cutting edge Microsoft tools – including Microsoft Visual C#, ASP.NET and the Microsoft Visual Studio Integrated development environment.

G.5 The company offers consultancy services to the IT industry. The services range from design and development of custom software components to multi-tier distributed development systems.

G.6 As an innovator in software related learning, the company has recently released an E-Book reader that is targeted at students and professionals at all levels of education. ITechSoft has also won the rights to resell AT&T Natural voices with this latest application.

G.7 Dr John Cook leads a team that is investigating the issues surrounding the design of effective mobile learning spaces in HE. The RLO-CETL team are seen as innovators in the area of mobile learning and Dr. John Cook and his team were invited to talk at and host an Innovative Practice Workshop in March 2007 (organised by JISC and the Higher Education Academy). They also ran a workshop at ALT in June 2007. Dr Cook’s in-learning bibliography can be found at http://tinyurl.com/354uux.

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(h) Letters of support Office of the Vice-Chancellor

THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITYSt Mary’s RoadEalingLondonW5 5RF

Direct Line: 020 8231 2204Fax: 020 8231 2937Email: Peter.John@tvu.ac.uk

Professor Peter John BA, MA, MSc, PhD, FRSAVice-Chancellor & Chief Executive

28th September 2007

JISC Capital Programme

To whom it may concern

I am pleased to offer my full support to the project entitled: Web-based text to speech synthesizer for engineering subjects applied for under the JISC Capital Programme. The project is vital to our future strategy where we aim to become ‘tomorrow’s university today’. This desire is based on our unique dual sector status which gives equal commitment to both further and higher education embedded in a mission to encourage and enable progression between them. Blended and e-learning have a crucial role to play in the achievement of our mission and we will be investing heavily in both infra-structure and professional development in the coming months and years.

In order to consolidate e-learning developments in TVU a central E-Learning Unit was established in September 2005 to promote the use of ICT across the whole of the University curriculum. At a Faculty level, e-Learning Coordinators were appointed to provide the necessary advice and support to academic staff. An E-Learning Advisory Group acts as the forum for e-learning planning and an E-Learning Development Group looks after operational aspects.

In 2006/7 the University participated in phase 1 of the HE Academy e-learning benchmarking exercise based on the MIT90s methodology. We collaborated with three other universities – Glamorgan, Bradford and Brighton. The exercise was immensely useful and helped us to take stock of the progress we have made with e-learning development and provided an opportunity to put together an action plan for further development. Based on this plan we applied for and were awarded Pathfinder project funding to enhance e-learning support in all the Faculties.

I fully support this bid for JISC funding in the area of mobile learning. Should we be successful I have no doubt that the project will contribute significantly to our e-learning capability and provide us with expertise that will be of real benefit to the wider JISC community.

Yours sincerely

Professor Peter JohnVice-Chancellor

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JISC Capital Programme

To whom it may concern.

I give my full support to this innovative project that seeks to develop and pilot the dissemination of a web-based text to speech synthesizer for Engineering subjects to encourage inclusion and accessibility amongst disabled, work-based and distance learning engineering students.

This project seeks to develop new opportunities for learning and hopefully it will identify and address issues of learning outside the classroom.

I wish them all success.

Yours Faithfully

Ann OslerHead of Faculty of TechnologyThames Valley UniversityKing’s Road CampusReading

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Arnold Williams22 Rainworth CloseLower EarleyReadingRG6 4DP

1st October 2007

JISC Capital Bid

To Whom It May Concern,

JISC bid ‘Web-Based Text to Speech Synthesizer for Engineering Subjects’

I fully support the proposed project and ITECHSOFT is keen to be involved as a partner with Thames Valley University in this initiative.

The proposal builds on expertise we have developed in web-based applications, including in the education sector.

Yours sincerely,

Arnold Williams

Senior Architect and Team LeaderItechsoft Ltd

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Rose-Margaret Ekeng Beckley B.Eng(Owerri), MSc(Surrey),Cert.Ed(Reading), MIET,MIEEE,TF(UK)Education2005- date

2004-2006

2001-2002 (Post Graduate Degree)

Msc. Project /Dissertation:

1994-1999 (First Degree)

Final Year Project:1988-1993

Doctor of Philosophy in Cybernetics (PhD)Sensor Based Networks for Context Aware Mobile Applications, University of Reading,

Certificate in Further/Higher Education (Cert.Ed.) University of Reading

MSc. Mobile and Satellite Communications Engineering, University of Surrey

Enabling Services for 3 G Mobile Networks using the 3GPP Open Service Architecture (OSA), Application Programming Interface (API) (Research). (Programming Tool used for implementation: XML/SOAP). Project implemented on the University’s Wireless LAN test-bed.

Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.B.Eng (Hons) Electrical/Electronics Engineering(majoring in Telecommunications) Grade: 2.1Automation of the University Library using World-Wide Web (WWW) TechnologyFederal Girls’ College Calabar, Nigeria.SSCE (1993)– 7Alphas and 2Credits including Mathematics (A) English Language (A).

Employment

Jan 2004-Date

November 2002-Jan 2004

1999-2001

1999 —

Membership

Programme Leader/ Lecturer in Electrical/Electronics Engineering(Faculty of Technology) Thames Valley University, UK (Reading Campus)Course and Curriculum Design and Development / Management of Lecturers in Programme Team / Advisory role to the Dean on Academic and Research issues.Subjects Taught: Software Development, Signal and Systems Analysis, Telecommunications, Data Communications and Networking); Board Member Graduate School Board; Educational Planning, Policy and Strategy Board; Faculty Academic BoardCommittee Member Faculty Academic Standards CommitteeCommittee Leader Faculty Resource and Logistics CommitteeBusiness Intelligence Consultant (Natalia Solutions Ltd. (UK))Design & Deployment of Integrated End-End Enterprise Performance Management Systems / Design and Development of CRM Software / SQL Database Administration / Data warehousing and Data mining /Analysis, Design & Development of Business Intelligence Solutions Systems Engineer/IT Instructor, Tranter International, Lagos, Nigeria. Business Solutions DepartmentTraining on Microsoft Packages+, CISCO, CIW, Certification Exams / Development & deployment of Enterprise wide solutions for clients using various ranges of operating Systems and application software to meet business solutions, such as Windows 98,2000,Jasmine by CA / Data Base Administration for company and clients using MS SQL7.0 / Software Analysis to suite clients business model / Development of web enabled CRM Workflow and Database management solutions, using Visual Basic 6, SQL, MS Access and other relevant programming languages and software development tools. Automation of the Cross River State Local Government Service Commission.Automation of Guinness Nigeria Ltd using Windows NT. Engineering Assistant Shell Petroleum Development Co Nigeria Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria.Design and implementation of a LAN for the Shell Training School / Modem Configurations / Network Administration (CISCO Networks), Monitoring and AnalysisThe Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Lagos, NigeriaEngineering Assistant (Industrial Trainee)Routine Electrical Maintenance and Refurbishment of Shell Residences /Design and Electrical &Telephone re-cabling of Shell residences (4 no.) / Evaluation and Analysis of the 3GPP and ETSI standardizations / OSA API for 3G Mobile Applications; / Usability Issues in Location Based Services; / Sensor Based Networks for the Elderly User / Learning through Mobile Devices / E-Learning in the Third WorldNetworking (Cisco equipments), Modem Configuration, Hardware assembling, and Circuit Building, GSM Cell Planning, Worked on 3GPP and ETSI standardizations.Knowledge of LABVIEW, Visual C++, MATLAB, MULTISIM (Electronic Work Bench) System View Simulation Package, Satellite Toolkit (STK),HTML,XML/SOAP, Visual Basic.Member –Institute of Engineering and Technology(IET,UK)Member- Institute of Electrical/Electronics Engineering(IEEE,US)Member –British Computer Society(BCS,UK)

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Arnold Williams

Profile Senior C# Architect with over ten years combined experience in all versions of Visual Basic, Delphi & Visual C++. Full life cycle design experience including the use of the UML, Rational Unified Process and the Microsoft Solutions Framework.

Work historyFeb 2002 – Present Senior Architect & Team Leader Voyager Software (UK) Ltd & ITechSoft Ltd

Responsibilities Manage Software Development Team and organise project requirements and tasks. Set and Maintain C# Coding Standards Architect of the Data Access layer and Server Components in a Web-based product Maintenance of existing legacy application designed in Visual Basic 6, Microsoft

Transaction Server (MTS) and ActiveX Data Object (ADO)Achievements Design of a robust web-based application using XML, XSLT and C# Produced coding standards document currently implemented by the development team Refactored Visual Basic 6 code in legacy application.

Mar 1997 – Feb 2002 Senior Analyst/Programmer ExpressHR Solutions LtdResponsibilities Write technical specification for recruitment application. Design and develop recruitment application Gather requirements for enhancement of products

Achievements Developed a 16 and 32 bit applications in Visual Basic 4 and Visual Basic 6 for

advertising jobs by email. Developed an application for processing candidates CV in Visual Basic 5. As member of a three tier client/server development team I developed a client/server

version of CV processing application in Visual Basic ^, MTS and SQL Server. Developed components for all tiers of a client/server system using Visual Basic 6,

Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS), Microsoft Message Queue and Index Server. Developed a lightweight business object component in ActiveX Template Library (ATL) –

a free threading component responsible for all SQL Server database transactions.Oct 1994–Feb 1997 Surface Mount Technician & Visual Basic Programmer Nokia Telecommunication LtdAchievements Created a large-scale database of products and parts using Microsoft Access and Visual

Basic. As member of a Visual Basic project team, I created the help file and menu system for a

Windows test maintenance digital communications package. Developed a spreadsheet for data analysis using Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic for

Application (VBA) macros. Developed project reports using Crystal Report.

Oct 1993 – Sept 1994 Database Programmer Thames Water Utilities LtdAchievements Create tables of customer details and customer payments using Microsoft Access. Developed flowcharts for a customer payment system. Created instalment plans for customer and entered payments details into billing system.

Jul 1990 – Aug 1992 Nuclear Plant Engineer NUCLEAR ELECTRIC PLC Analysed simulation model of nuclear power plant – the modelling language used was

Plant Modelling Simulation Program. Validated and documented code used in the model. Derived data for the boiler and re-heater sections of the model and developed record

sheets and mathematical calculations.

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Dr John Cook (PhD MSc BSc CEng MBCS CITP FHEA)

Centre Manager & Local Academic Coordinator for the Reusable Learning Objects CETL London Metropolitan University.

Résumé

John Cook has over 14 years previous experience as a full-time lecturer at various HEIs and 6 years project management experience, the latter includes AHRB, BECTA and HEFCE work. Furthermore, Cook has been principal investigator or co-investigator on research and development projects that have attracted £4 million in competitive external funding; he has also helped to obtain £500,000 of internal funds. He has published over 130 refereed articles in the area of e-learning and conducts review work for the ESRC, EPSRC, EU and Science Foundation of Ireland. He was Chair/President of the Association for Learning Technology (2004-06). His mobile learning interest centres on user generated contexts.

Experience relevant to proposed role as m-learning advisor

Cook leads a team of 2 full-time equivalents that are investigating the issues surrounding the design of effective mobile learning spaces in HE. The team conducts research, design, development and evaluation.

In one project we have developed interactive multimedia learning objects for mobile phones. Undergraduate survey feedback on our ‘how to reference a book’ learning object includes: “You can go home on the tube or the bus and just read it”; “I think it’s brilliant” and “I thought it was great and really handy.”

Feedback from a project with MA students, who were loaned smart-phones for 7 weeks to carry out an assignment where they visit an outdoor event, included: “It's good that I did not need to bring all the document to the event, I could [instead] check through mobile phone.” and “Its fun and the best part was the comments I got from people, my family, my friends, like 'Oh my god your college has actually given you an N91 phone, how cool is that'. And then when they found out that Brian could text us 'Oh my god, a message from the Brian. So that was really cool.”

The RLO-CETL team are seen as innovators in the area of mobile learning. As a consequence Cook and team have been invited to talk at and host an Innovative Practice Workshop in 2007 (organised by JISC and the Higher Education Academy), 7 March 2007. The team will also present at the Higher Education Academy Internal conference (8 March, 2007) and have been invited to run a workshop for ALT on 13 June 2007.

Cook’s m-learning bibliography can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/354uux

Key recent invited talk: Generating New Learning Contexts: Novel Forms of Reuse and Learning on the Move. Invited talk at ED-MEDIA 2007 – World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, June 25-29, Vancouver, Canada. http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/speakers/cook.htm

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Anna Maria Diaz Dasquens

Education and Training

1984-93 Universitat de Barcelona Degree in Physics with the speciality of Earth Physics and Cosmology (5-year degree/part-time)

I am a Spanish qualified teacher and this status has been recognised by the General Teaching Council (QTS reference number 0419536)

Teaching Courses with certificates:2000 Co-operative groups (30h) and Career advisory training (20h)

1999 Classroom work techniques training (20h)

1995 Physics didactics (50h) – Barcelona & Toulouse

Diplomas:

1988 Director of leisure time activities for children and young people (300h)

1985 Monitor/organiser of leisure time activities for children and young people (150h)

Employment History and Details

TVUAug 2004 to present

Started as a full time Key Skills lecturer in Construction but since Sep 2007 I am 0.5 E-learning co-ordinator for the Faculty of Technology and 0.5 Key Skills tutor in Construction.

Kendrick SchoolSep 2003 to Aug 2004Oct 2001 to Aug 2004

AS Physics teacher, Physics Technician, intranet administrator and teaching supply.Physics technician, intranet administrator and teaching supply.

RACC – Reading Adult Community College 02/03 – 04/05

Adult Numeracy lecturer (Basic Skills – Entry level to level 2)

Escola Pia de Caldes de MontbuiSep 1996 to Aug 2001Secondary school

Mathematics and Physics teacher for 6th form Head of Technology /Engineering department (96-01) & Head of Maths department (96-98) and teacher for YR 9 & 10 for these subjects6th form students work experience coordinator (98-01)6th form student research work mentor (98-01)Head of year for 4 years

Societat Cooperativa de BUP i COU Sant JordiSep 1993 to Aug 1996

Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry 6th form teacherHead of yearLaboratories head

SkillsI am an enterprising, responsible, reliable, adaptable and energetic person. I enjoy being part of a team, learning from people and multitasking.I am computer literate with word processors, spreadsheets, Publisher, Power Point and Access. Finally, as a volunteer in non-governmental organisations I have worked out plans to achieve the proposed targets, obtained financing, supervised projects and wrote interim and final reports so, I am good at planning and budgeting.

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Andy TurnerOnline Systems Manager

Employment history:

2003– present Thames Valley University (formerly Reading College and School of Arts & Design) Online Systems Manager

Responsible for:

management of Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment, delivering training to staff

development of TVU Online, a portal for University students and staff http://online.tvu.ac.uk

managing the design and technical development of the TVU Staff Intranet; liaising with colleagues to ensure Intranet content is regularly updated

managing the design and technical development of dynamic Intranet applications e.g. FE Teaching & Learning Toolkit, Library Digitisation Service website

managing project work carried out by Online Systems Group members. This includes website development for TVU departments and partner organisations e.g. Thames Valley Professional Development Network (http://www.thamesvalleypdn.co.uk); the creation of online learning materials (see http://www.berks-skills.org.uk/s4life/numeracy.html for examples)

1996-2003 Reading College and School of Arts & Design Learning Resources Manager

Managed learning resource centres on three college sites, including the setting up and move into a purpose-built space at the Kings Road campus in 2000.

Oversaw massive expansion in provision of electronic information resources, initially on CD-ROM, then via the Web. Delivered staff and student training to accompany this shift in provision.

Initiated, launched and developed staff and student Intranets.

Worked as part of a team whose wider remit included the managing and delivery of Key Skills, Basic Skills and Study Skills support within the College.

Qualifications:

1990–1991 Reading College and School of Arts & DesignC&G7407 Stages 1 & 2 (FE Teacher training qualification)

1983–1984 Newcastle upon Tyne PolytechnicPostgraduate Diploma in Library & Information Studies

1979–1982 Wadham College, OxfordBA (Hons) Modern History

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