I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and I am undertaking a part-time Doctorate in Education within the School of Education at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow where I am researching decolonization within the context of higher education concerning decolonial practices they claim to be engaging in. 

I also hold the following qualifications: 

• Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, University of Bath, Bath, UK
• Cambridge Delta, University of Bath, Bath, UK
• Master of Arts in Russian, Middlebury College, Vermont, USA
• Bachelors of Arts in Russian and Spanish, University of Texas-Arlington, USA

My experiences

I have worked in education since 2005 and higher education since 2010. My experience has included: teaching English as a foreign language (EFL); teaching academic writing to international students (EAP); developing the academic, research and writing literacies of students of the hard and social sciences; and developing staffs' pedagogic knowledge, information and digital literacies of digital education and learning technologies through coaching and mentoring.

I have worked with academics to develop their knowledge and skills for creating pedagogy-informed, technology-enhanced curricula, programmes and modules/courses within the context of short courses, MOOCs and microcredentials. I have developed colleagues through dialogue by engaging them with curriculum mapping activities, deepening their understanding of designing for learning, and widening their understanding of information and digital literacies and the importance of these areas for effective education within blended and digital/online education.  

To achieve the above, I provide pedagogic advice, consultation, guidance, insight and developmental support through coaching and mentoring colleagues to develop content and activities for both blended and fully online learning experiences. I regularly source, share and highlight good practices from across the institution and disciplines and draw upon these to develop good practices that can be implemented locally. For example, this can entail engaging in dialogue with colleagues to consider different approaches and experiences of learning and teaching. This can also include working together to analyse the learning design of the modules that colleagues teach in order to develop short and long-term action plans to implement ideas that colleagues wish to deploy.

My current role(s)

I'm an Associate Tutor in the School of Education where I supervise Master's students in education and other subjects, such as TESOL. 

I also teach research methods and occasionally edit education-focused podcasts. 

I have been a member and co-lead of the University of Glasgow Decolonising the Curriculum Community of Practice, and I have been called upon to speak and provide consultations on decolonization across the University of Glasgow and locally. I am open to providing consultations and speaking on decolonizing education and the curriculum more generally. 

Trying out new ideas within education

I also work with lecturers to help them to identify areas for improvement and/or change within their programmes. Where a colleague desires to try out new pedagogical approaches, assessments or ideas new to them and/or transform their teaching and how students learn, I help colleagues to understand how the idea or approach can work and be achieved in practice while helping them to identify and implement their aims.

In brief, I work to develop colleagues’ understanding of curriculum mapping, designing for learning and technology-enhanced learning and teaching practices that are underpinned by pedagogic theories and practices.

decolonizing education, learning development, critical pedagogy, reflective practices, digital education, academic writing, English for academic purposes, academic literacies 

List by: Type | Date

• December 2024 to date. Community building in Decolonising GLAMs (DeCoGLAM) Funding Awarded By The University Strathclyde, Glasgow As Part Of The Cultures Of Collaborative Research In A Socially Progressive Technological University, Wellcome Trust Grant 228116/Z/23/Z. Awarded £19,784.00 GBP to create a community of practice (CoP) bringing together academics, GLAM professionals, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) experts. I am a co‑applicant with Dr Milena Dobreva (Computer and Information Sciences) as lead, Lucrezia MacIocco, Cassandra Kist, Catherine Chavula, Mahendra Mahey.
• July 2024 to date. An interdisciplinary initiative to embed decolonial approaches in learning, teaching & assessment. Awarded approx 7000 GBP to make an interdisciplinary contribution to decolonising the curriculum through a student‑staff collaboration. I am
  a co‑applicant with Dr Colette Mair (Maths & Stats) as lead, Dr Zayba Ghazali‑Mohammed (Psychology), Dr Ines Alves (Education).
• Sept 2022 to Sept 2023. The Pluriversity Podcast. Awarded 5000 GBP for developing The Pluriversity Podcast in collaboration with co‑leads and student interns from the University of Glasgow Decolonising the Curriculum Community of Practice.

I have an ecclectic experience of teaching students from foundation level to pre-Masters level and academic and professional services staff. Below are some of my experiences acquired to date:

Modules led, designed, developed and delivered & taught:

• How to Design Online Activities / for all staff at Lancaster University
• MNGT160 Future Global Leaders: Sustainability Across Business (online w/1200+ students) / Lancaster University 
• English Through The Media Part A: Understanding Media in the UK (blended) / Royal Holloway 
• English Through The Media Part B: Issues that Unite and Divide People (blended) / Royal Holloway 

Modules taught:

• Pre-sessional programmes of 5 to 15 weeks in length / Bristol, Glasgow, St Andrews, Coventry
• English for Biology & Chemistry; English for International Relations / UCL
• Research Writing & Research Skills / UCL; Royal Holloway
• Foundation year for medicine / St Andrews
• LI1001 Linguistics - Foundations of Language 1 / St Andrews

Prizes, awards & distinctions

• 2014: iTech 2014 Winner for Learning & Teaching in Higher Education (Jisc RSC Scotland)
• 2024: LearnHigher Resource of the Year (Association for Learning Development in Higher Education)

Professional & learned societies

• 2011: , BALEAP
• 2014: , Association for Learning Technology

Supplementary

• Reviewer for The Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (Association for Learning Development in Higher Education) Reviewer for The European Journal of Engineering Education