Read more about the FLeXchange project in our Welcome post and find out about the team here:
The Team – an introduction to the FLeXchange team at The University of Bath.
Tim Bilham
Director, Flexible Learning Project and Director of Studies, Postgraduate Healthcare Programmes, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Tim is a practitioner in flexible, distance and online learning and in the design and development of novel programmes for professional development.
Tim initiated the first distance learning courses at Bath in engineering (Construction Management, Integrated Environmental Management and Electrical Power Systems) and medicine, Sport and Exercise Medicine and Primary Care Rheumatology, the first fully online course, Healthcare Informatics, and the first University programme to use Moodle as its VLE, Sport and Exercise Medicine, for which he won the University Innovations in Learning and Teaching Award (2005). He was instrumental in the establishment of the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University in the Department of Psychology and contributed to the design of the Professional Doctorate in Health and MSc Sports Physiotherapy.
He has directed two major international development projects: firstly building capacity and capability in open and distance education for the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) and secondly the establishment of a new College of Open and Distance Learning in Botswana (BOCODOL) which plans to become an Open University in 2016.
Research interests
- Participative learning, online communities of practice
- Learning design for effective professional development
- Education for sustainable healthcare, climate change impacts on health
Tim was made a National Teaching Fellow in 2007, an FHEA in 2008 and is an Honorary Associate Postgraduate Dean in the School of Primary Care in the Severn Postgraduate Deanery.
Geraldine Jones
Director of the Flexible Learning Project, e-Learning Development Officer (Faculty of Humanities and Social Science)
Geraldine specialises in e-pedagogies and the design of effective technology mediated learning environments for a variety of flexible contexts including open and distance learning and digital environments that blend with face to face interaction. Geraldine has led the pedagogic design and development of virtual environments for Masters and Doctoral level programmes in Health and in Education. For her work on the MSc Sport and Exercise Medicine she received the University of Bath Innovations in Teaching and Learning award (2005).
Geraldine has won funding for and completed numerous small scale teaching and learning research projects with staff across the faculty (e.g. e-portfolios for ITE, digital media and assessment). These have contributed to capacity building in learning technologies and have changed local teaching and learning practices.
Geraldine’s research interests are in
- e-pedagogies
- digital literacies
- digital learning environments as drivers of change
Geraldine is a FSEDA and FHEA.
Melanie Burton
Project Officer – Flexible Learning Project (FLP)
As Project Officer for the Flexible Learning Project (FLP) within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Melanie is working alongside academic colleagues to explore and promote opportunities for postgraduate level flexible learning provision, in order to respond to student diversity and to the needs of practising professionals. One of the project outputs will be the creation of a protocol for embedding flexible approaches. Coming from an academic publishing background, Melanie is experienced in the dissemination of research, however, the HE context is a new working environment for her and one she is familiarising herself with through the activities of the project.
Melanie is also a student, studying for an MA in Online and Distance Education with the Open University, benefitting from first-hand experience of part-time online distance learning. Through this Melanie has explored the use of various technologies to enhance learning, as well as the role of the eLearning professional and has enjoyed blogging to record her learning reflections and using an eportfolio to collate evidence of her learning. Melanie is particularly interested in the support of distance learning students and in life-long learning.
FLeXchange 