The Enigma of Change in Higher Education Institutions

Christopher Christodoulides is the Director of Administration & Finance of the Open University of Cyprus (OUC), the second state University of the Republic of Cyprus. He has been in this role since the University commenced operations in 2006. Christopher started his career with the General Electric Company in the United States and has worked for 17 years in a variety of leadership (managerial) and increased responsibility roles.  Beyond his University Director role, he is also the acting supervisor of the Laboratory of Educational Material and Methodology of the OUC. His background and expertise over the last 12 years are critical in the formation and development of the Laboratory strategy. Christopher holds a BSc and an MSc in Mechanical Engineering (University of Connecticut) and an MBA (University of Cincinnati).

Links

http://www.ouc.ac.cy

Margaret Korosec is Head of Digital and Enterprise Learning Solutions at the University of Derby Online Learning, where she is leading on a strategic initiative to design and develop a portfolio of online degree programmes from existing campus-based programmes. She is building team capacity and competency and determining the boundaries of excellence in online learning design and development. Whilst the design and development of online programmes is rewarding, the greatest impact is garnerned when programmes teams fully embrace the significant shift in practice required to develop and deliver excellent online programmes. She enjoys creating high-performance teams contributing to innovative and strategic initiatives. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK and earned her PhD at the University of Hull, UK, researching the perceptions, concerns, and practices of technology change facilitators in relation to one university's strategic intent. She lives in England and has worked and lived in USA, Austria and Slovenia. 

Links

http://www.opnup.com

Twitter

Dr Daniel Belton is a University Teaching Fellow in the School of Applied Sciences at the University of Huddersfield.

He uses innovative teaching approaches to deliver modules covering analytical science and process simulation to students on a range of degree courses, including Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Forensics. He also teaches on the university’s PGCHE course for new lecturers, regularly contributes to conferences and workshops in relation teaching and learning, and has published papers focused on chemical engineering education.

In addition to his pedagogic research, Daniel has research interests in graphene-based composite materials, analytical chemistry and process simulation. He is a Chartered Chemical Engineering, a Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, a Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Paul Bacsich is the Founder and Managing Director of Matic Media Ltd, a consultancy in the UK active in online learning since 1996. He is also Professor of Practice for the University of West Indies Open Campus, which is headquartered in Barbados.

In addition he consults for the SeroHE division of Sero Consulting Ltd as a Senior Associate: he was a member of the Sero team who recently reviewed Learning Technology Support at the University of Oxford, and currently he is leading a 12-month project at Sero to develop an accredited vocational short online course to teach teachers to teach online for Wey Education (who run Interhigh Virtual School and other similar entities).

He is also Visiting Professor for University of Derby Online Learning (UDOL) in the UK.

He has a long-standing interest in Open Education via a large EU project (POERUP) and several EU/European Parliament studies: in particular he is Co-Coordinator of the Open Education Working Group and an Ambassador for the global advocacy of OER and a member of the OER Advocacy Committee of ICDE.  He was a co-author for the JRC 2017 report “Policy Approaches to Open Education in 28 Member States”.

His interests in leadership in e-learning were developed during the Erasmus+ D-TRANSFORM project 2014-17, which drew on and continued his work over 20 years on management of open and distance learning.

In addition to his public work he consults for a number of international, government, commercial, venture fund and university clients on market/competitor/pricing research, policy, education funding models and retention strategies. He has recently finalised a report on credit recognition and transfer for online masters' programmes, for a university client in Canada.

In 2015-16 Paul chaired the review panel for the Vision and Strategy Appraisal of the UK Open University Library, where he interviewed over 70 staff and students and carried out substantial comparative and policy research. He also chaired the E-learning review panel for Uppsala University, with three days of intensive meetings and presentations, and spent four months chairing a task force for the National Forum for Learning and Teaching in Ireland to prepare a scoping document on infrastructure issues related to online learning.

Some of his recent thinking can be found in his UNESCO policy brief on "Alternative Models of Education Delivery" and in a paper for the "Open Education 2030" higher education workshop run by the EU. He remains very interested in "Multiversity" models and competence-based provision, based on his earlier studies on "Time and e-learning", developed from a speech given in Austria, a country with which he has increasing links.

He is a co-founder of MultEversity, a start-up in online/blended post-secondary education which aims in due course to be an accredited university and higher vocational provider. He also has had involvement in other early-stage online providers over the last six years and has done several studies of them.

In the university phase of his career he was a researcher at Oxford University, had many roles over 25 years at the UK Open University, and was for seven years Professor of Telematics at Sheffield Hallam University and then a Director at the UK e-University. He was also Visiting Professor at Middlesex University and Advisor to the Rector of the Arab Open University.

He has knowledge of and/or experience in higher education in many developed countries.

Links

http://www.serohe.co.uk/team/professor-paul-bacsich/

https://www.derby.ac.uk/online/academics/professor-paul-bacsich

https://independent.academia.edu/PaulBacsich

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bacsich/

Links

http://www.sero.co.uk/people/paul/http://www.matic-media.co.ukhttp://bacsich.typepad.com/elearning/

Twitter

Karoline von Köckritz, actually being an interpreter and translator for French and English, has started working at the Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS), the competence center for e-learning, e-research and multimedia at Freie Universität Berlin in 2001. CeDiS merged with the university library in January 2018. Having initiated and participated in various international projects adressing target groups from all over the world, she is now responsible for the consulting and support section at CeDiS. This section offers integrated services and individual support for teachers and students at Freie Universität Berlin when it comes to digitalization in teaching and learning, including the development of blended/online learning strategies and structures on lecture and faculty level - also focussing international cooperation.

Links

http://distributed-campus.orghttp://www.cedis.fu-berlin.de

Twitter