STEM Faculty

I have been in higher education in the UK since 1987 and have been employed within the Open University, UK since 2005. I have held senior management positions within the faculties of science and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In science I was Associate Dean for Student Support (from 2012-16) and this came with responsibility for assessment and I was instrumental in positioning the science curriculum as an on-line offering and for promoting on-line assessment through interactive computer marked assignments. I had responsibility for approving and signing off all tuition and assessment strategies. In the STEM faculty I was the Associate Dean for Student Support (2016-2021) with responsibility for assessment matters within the faculty. 

Across the University I chair the Assessment Exceptions Group that makes decisions on matters pertaining to exemptions to University policy on assessment matters. My expertise in this last role has resulted in me chairing the University’s Assessment Policy Review Group, which identifies policy gaps and produces new policy. I am also Co-Director of the University’s Assessment Programme.

I have scholarship interests within three main areas, firstly how students are best supported as they enter the Open University and move through onto Stage 1 modules, secondly in the area of effective student support and thirdly around assessment and in particular on-line assessment.

My academic background started off within the area of plant science having a BSc in Agricultural Botany and a PhD in Plant Physiology/Biochemistry. My early publications were within this field and having moved to the Open university I published a book “Why People Need Plants in conjunction with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to support an OU course in this area. Since being at the OU my academic interests are in the area of environmental biology and sustainability.