A free webinar with Professor Liz Burd & Dr Emma Mercier

A recording and slides from the webinar are now available from the ALT Repository.

This webinar will introduce participants to the SynergyNet project led by Professor Liz Burd and Dr Emma Mercier from Durham University. The project is part of the TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) programme and is conducting pioneering research into the use of large multi-touch surfaces in the classroom. The aim of the project is to create a technology rich learning environment, where ICT is seamlessly integrated into the fabric of a classroom without intruding on the main focus of the activity. We will describe how we designed and built the classroom and present findings from the project. There will be an opportunity to take questions from participants. Further information about SynergyNet can be found at http://tel.dur.ac.uk/synergynet/.

About the presenters

Professor Elizabeth Burd teaches Software Engineering in the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences at Durham University and holds a chair in ICT in the School of Education. She also has University-wide remit for Technology Enhanced Learning and until recently she was the Director of the UK's Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning - Active Learning in Computing (ALiC).

Liz leads Durham's Technology Enhanced Learning Research Group which consists of around 20 research staff and students. Her research interests are in computing education. She has received around £7 million in funding in this area in the last 10 years. This includes the SynergyNet project, a £1.5 million pound grant funded through the EPSRC/ESRC, for which she is principle investigator. In addition, she is project champion for the new IEEE website called TryComputing.org ($340k, IEEE New Initiatives funding) which is to encourage pre-university students to study computing.

Emma Mercier studied psychology at Edinburgh University (MA hons), and received a PhD in Educational Psychology from Stanford University, where she was a part of the LIFE science of Learning Center. She currently lives and works in Durham (UK), where she is the lead-research for the SynergyNet project.

Her research interests are in the social aspects of learning and how technology can be used to support learning.  Her research considers questions about how learning occurs through social interaction and with technology and consequently her work involves the design and build things to see if we can create better learning environments.

At Stanford, Emma taught an interdisciplinary course to computer science and education students on designing educational technology, where groups of students worked with real teachers and classrooms to build and test a piece of educational technology. She currently teaches a core class on theories of learning and teaching at the School of Education.