I have worked for several universities in the UK and Australia for over 20 years as an academic, consultant and professional staff member. I specialise in educational technology, e-Learning and web strategy in higher education.
I originally trained in construction management and, after graduating, I spent some time working in architectural offices for the BBC in London and the Alex Gordon Partnership in Cardiff. I then returned to the University of Glamorgan to carry out research into organisational innovation in the construction industry. Subsequently I became a lecturer in construction technology and taught at two universities in the UK before coming to Australia to teach in the School of Architecture and Building at Deakin University in Geelong in 1995.
In 1995 I first started to develop web-based e-Learning materials for my students. I also provided strategic advice about web-based e-Learning to the School of Architecture and Building and the Faculty of Science and Technology at Deakin University.
In 1998 I formed Myoporum Pty Ltd to carry out a major project for a large medical research organisation. Since then Myoporum has carried out several large projects for higher education clients in Australia.
In 2000 I left Deakin University and became the lead web architect for Commander Communications Ltd, a large telecomunications company.
From 2002 until 2007 I provided consulting and web software development as full time Director of Myoporum. Clients included Deakin University and DeakinPrime (the private arm of Deakin University), the University of Tasmania and the University of Melbourne.
In 2007 I became the Manager of e-Learning and Web Development in the Division of Nursing and Midwifery at La Trobe University, one of the largest and oldest providers of nursing and midwifery higher education in Australia.
I started my current position as Senior Manager, Teaching and Learning Support at RMIT University in early 2009. In this role I manage three teams that provide support for university wide educational technology systems including the LMS, eportfolio and web conferencing systems as well as the university portal amongst others. The university is the third largest university in Australia with roughly 50,000 equivalent full time students and approaching 70,000 actual students enrolled. It is the largest dual sector (vocational and higher education) university in Australia.
The views represented in this blog do not necessarily represent the views of my current employer.
My interests are centred on organisational innovation in higher education with a focus on the use of educational technology and e-learning. Specifically I am interested in observing how and why universities innovate or don’t innovate in the face of rapidly changing patterns of knowledge distribution bought about by the rise of social networks, the read write web open education and the edupunk movement. Working in an IT Services organisation, I am particularly interested in the shifting boundaries between institutionally supported educational technologies and those provided in the cloud.
More broadly I am interested in how we can use educational technologies to provide better learning outcomes for students in a more flexible and responsive way than has been the case in the past.
You can find my public feeds on the following social networks.
http://www.twitter.com/marksmithers
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marksmithers
http://delicious.com/marksmithers
http://www.google.com/profiles/masmithers
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marksmithers
http://friendfeed.com/marksmithers
Other Things
The dog in my photograph is my much loved dog Jess. You can find out more about her here.
In my spare time I help run my sister’s web store http://www.caddywampusstore.com as well as do other fun stuff involving books, movies and stuff in the fresh air.
