Participants

Let us know who you are. Click on "Edit" (top right of this page) //Then,//
 * Click on 'Text Editor' in the 'Editor' tool bar and add some brief information about yourself to the list below. Use the 'Editor' tool bar create links, write in bold, upload an image etc.
 * When you are in the 'Edit' view, upload a picture if you can. To do this, click on the 'Insert images and files' icon (the rectangle showing a green and red image) on the 'Editor' tool bar. Browse your computer for an image (50x50 pixels) and double click on the image to insert it on the wiki page. Align the picture on the Left.
 * Don't forget to click **Save** when you have finished your profile!

Hi - I'm **Sheila** - OUBS regional manager, OUBS senior lecturer chairing MSc HRM, MBA AL, life and organisational coach, management trainer etc, and here by virtue of seeking to increase critical engagement of MBA students.

Hello All, I'm **Anya Brooks** and I am a Manager working in a playgroup in Cambridge and also an NVQ Assessor working with candidates in my own setting and other settings nearby. I have been a student with the OU for 5 years, having gained my Foundation Degree in Early Years, BA in Early Years and I am hopefully almost completing my honours in Childhood and Youth. I look forward to meeting everyone over the next two days.

Hi everyone. I'm **Christine Pretty** and I have been tutoring MFL students on the OU Flexible PGCE for 6 years. It's a great course and I really enjoy working with trainee teachers and school-based mentors. Between us we produce excellent teachers. I'm looking forward to meeting people from all different fields on Friday and Saturday.

Hello all, I am **Siv Vangen**. I am a Senior Lecturer at the Open University. Throughout my academic career, which began at the University of Strathclyde in 1992, I have always been interested in different aspects of practice; the link between theory and practice and the notion that management education must provide useful learning to inform practice etc. I think its quite possible that this preoccupation stems from my Norwegian upbringing.... In any event, I have devoted much of my research time on the development of practice based theory about the management of inter-organisational collaboration, considering appropriate research methdologies and how to effectively bridge theory and practice. I look forward to working with you all this Friday and Saturday.

Hi there - I'm **Mick McCormick** and I'm a Lecturer in Social Work at the Open University. I have been in this post since 2004. Prior to this I worked as an AL and,for 20 years, as a social work practitioner - mainly in the field of adult care – mental health, learning disability and substance misuse. Looking forward to meeting and working with you all on Friday and Saturday.

Hi, I'm **Gill Goodliff**. I live in Oxfordshire and have been working with the OU early years team developing the Foundation Degree since 2004. As my of my EdD studies I am currently enjoying sessions in a day nursery participating with 2 and 3 year olds to explore their spirituality. I have previously worked as a social worker in family centres, as a childminder and a pre-school leader. 'm really looking forward to the workshop and meeting everyone.

Hi, my name is **Mike Reed** I have been an Associate Lecturer with the OU for many years. Also part of the writing team for the OU Foundation Degree in Early Years Education. I am also a Senior Lecturer in Early Years Education (Part-time) at the University of Worcester. I am now (I think) Semi-retired. My outside education interests are gardening, music and film. Most recently, my time is spent spoiling a newly arrived grandchild and worrying what to do with a glut of strawberries. Look forward to meeting you all.

Hi, I'm **Debbie Edwards**__**,**__I've been a childminder for 18 years and I am also from Surrey. Having completed the Certificate in Early Years Practice, I am looking forward to gaining the Foundation Degree. Looking forward to the workshop, see you all there.

Hi Everyone, I'm **Patrick Keleher** and I will be a visitor from CQUniversity, Queensland, Australia, to the Open University at the PBPL CETL for 3 months; July through to September. I arrive Thursday morning and on Friday walk into this extremely interesting workshop. I am a member of the management team of the Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Health. My major work/research focus includes management/leadership and also Physical Asset/Maintenance Management. I have been in the university sector for the past 10 years full time and for the previous 12 years I was a secondary school teacher (physics, chemistry, mathematics, legal studies) working my up to middle-management as a science subject master.

Hi, I'm **[|Bev Trayner]** who will be working with the group to do some social reporting. I'm an independent consultant who does most of my work online from home. Home is mostly in Grass Valley, California - but I also have a base in Setúbal, Portugal. Learning and social learning systems are my research and practice, with social media being an integral part of my personal and professional life. Cross-country cycling is what I like doing when I have time.

Hello - I"m **Steve Hutchinson** and I work for the Open University in the practice-based professional learning centre that's hosting this workshop. Before I started working for the University in 1998, I was a music teacher in secondary schools in the West Midlands and after that I was Director of the OU"s qualification in initial teacher education, the PGCE. I"m really looking forward to the workshop and to meeting you all.

Hello, I'm **Sue Martin**. I also work for the Practice-based Professional Learning Centre. Prior to this, I worked in the Faculty of Education of Language Studies at the Open University and was involved in developing resources designed for undergraduate psychology students, DClinPsyc trainess and researchers. I'm looking forward to meeting you on Friday and to being involved in the workshop.

Hi, I'm **Wendy DeVille** and I am the PBPL CETL Centre Administrator. I've been helping to organise the workshop and hope that everything goes to plan! I've been working at the Open University for just 5 months and am really enjoying what I've been involved with so far. Looking forward to a great couple of days at the workshop.

Hi, I am **Katherine Perry** and I have worked as Centre Secretary for the four CETL Teams PBPL, COLMSCT, piCETL and PILS for the past 3 years. Before the CETLS I worked within The Open University with the Science Short Course Team and before that The Centre for Widening Participation. When I am not at work I enjoy a variety of art and craft related hobbies such as paper crafting, Photography and Cross stitch. I look forward to meeting you all at the conference this week.

Hello I'm **Lisa Way**. I work as a Childminder in Surrey. I am currently studying with the Open University and half way through a Foundation Degree in Early Years. I am really enjoying the course and looking forward to meeting you all at the weekend!!

I am **Mark Fenton-O'Creevy**. I am one of the four principals of the PBPL centre. I am very interested, in my research, in professional practice. I have a particular interest in how management practices translate across national boundaries and in the learning that goes on across such boundaries. I have also spent time studying the practices of professional financial traders and have developed a particular interest in the role of emotion in traders decision-making. Prior to becoming an academic I have worked variously as a gardener, chef, therapist and government scientist, so draw on a fairly diverse range of practices in my own learning history.

Hi, I'm **Liz Hartnett**. I'm a full-time [|research student], at the OUBS researching the use of external consultants in public sector information technology projects. I used to work in IT, and before that was a school teacher. As well as my research, I tutor a couple of OU computing courses. Despite having various career strands, the OU has been the consistency in my life since 1977.

Hi, I'm **John Wilkinson**. I've been an OUBS AL in R08 since 1995. Before that I worked as an environmentally green chemical engineer. When OUBS announced its part-time MBA in 1989, I jumped at the opportunity and graduated with cohort 1. Subsequently I switched to management consulting and became an OUBS tutor. I'm in my second year of a PhD in Technology Enhanced Learning at Lancaster University.

Hi, I am **Sue McKeogh**. I joined the OU as an AL in 2002. I have tutored a range of courses within the Foundation Degree in Early Years (FDEY) over the years, but currently have a temporary contract in the central Early Years team in addition to being an AL. I have worked in childcare all my working life in a range of settings from children's homes to childminding and other PVI provision. To keep my hand in, my hobby (if you can call it that!) is running a Guide unit. I am researching childminders who are undertaking the OU FDEY for my EdD, which I am finding very interesting. Like others I am looking forward to the forthcoming workshop.

Hello - I'm **[|Etienne Wenger]**, a social learning theorist interested in learning, meaning and identity. I'm better known for my work on communities of practice. My interest in teaching and learning has its roots in being a (French) teacher with aspirations to teaching Computer Science (as something more tangible for students). At OU we have been thinking about the landscape of practices for a while now - and I'm really looking forward to finding out where this workshop takes us.

Hello, I am **Sylvia Jones**, and I am currently working for the OU on several research projects concerned with various aspects of literacy, including an investigation into Digital Literacy in Higher Education, see http://digital-literacies.open.ac.uk/home.cfm. Prior to this current research, I have worked on projects investigating the interface between writing, learning and computers. In another life, I worked as a teacher and a teacher-educator and at the moment, I am tutoring E303, an O.U. English course. Looking forward to meeting you all.

Hello, I am **Karen Rex**, and I have been an AL with the OU for a while now. I mostly work on courses that encourage professional development, such as the Certificate in Academic Practice. I have also been a student with the OU for a while and have just finished a creative writing course. On a personal note, I am about to move house after nearly twenty years in the same place, so am frantically notifying as many people as I can think of !

Hello, I am **Samantha Parker**, I am a pharmaceutical professional working in the area of orphan drugs for rare diseases. My interests include managing scientists and developing disease networks. I completed my Masters in Business Administration Life Sciences with the OUBS in 2008.

Hi – I’m **Barbara Roberts** and I have been an Associate Lecturer in the Institute of Educational Technology at the OU for many years. Previously I taught Media and Communications at an art college and home educated my son who has dyslexia. I’m looking forward to exploring the landscapes of practice with all of you.

Hi. I'm **Paul Mylrea**. I tutor on B830 for the OUBS (Making a Difference - the last MBA course), where I have been an Associate Lecturer since 2005. I completed my own MBA there in 2003. I am also involved in a small piece of practitioner research with the Personal and Integrated Learner Support centre into what leads to career resilience in students. That's the fun stuff! My day job is Director of Communications for the [|Department for International Development]. When I'm not doing that, I'm on various boards - including international advisory boards at the OU and OUBS. All a long way from where I started - as a foreign correspondent for Reuters - which means I bring lots of perspectives (and makes my landscape of practice hopelessly complicated!). Looking forward to learning with you.

G'day! I'm **Stephen Loftus** from the Eduation For Practice Institute of Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia. I'm particularly interested in professional reasoning and decision making. My background is in medical education.

Hello, I am **Annette Denton** and I am a mature student with the OU for a PGCE in Modern Foreign Languages. I just finished my level 3 placement at Windsor Boys School and I am hoping to finish the course later this summer. I chose the flexible PGCE because it made it possible for me to train while looking after my children. In a prior career I worked as a civil servant in the German and European administration.

hello everyone, I'm **Gill Scobie** and I am a tutor on the OU Flexible PGCE course since 2005. Before that I was the ITT coordinator in a large secondary school and saw the course from the school and the trainee perspective. I have always enjoyed my own teaching and find training fascinating - I find I am always learning from trainees and mentors alike. I am looking forward to meeting new people at the conference and sharing ideas.

Hello everyone. I'm Wendy Bowles from Charles Sturt University. I am fascinated by learning and teaching in professional practice with social workers and social work students, and practice-based education in general. I am really lookinf forward to this workshop, and learning with OU people and everyone else about learning in landscapes of practice.

Hi I am Gráinne Conole, I am based in IET at the OU and have a broad research interest in the use of technologies in education - the impact on indiviudals (students and teachers) and organisations. Current research work is particularly focusing on new approaches to the design of learning experiences. My blog will give you a better understanding of some of my interests ([|www.e4innovation.com])

Hi I am Canan Blake, I am based in IET, I mainly do research in the area of CSCL, and focus on mobile technologies and online argumentation. I am also involved in a project related to Open Learning Network, OLnet, and I am interested in learning more about professional communities, so that I willbe able to take some practical information to my project colleagues on improving and sustaining our network.

Hi, my name is Lindsay Brigham and I have been involved with the Open University in different ways for a very long time. I studied for my first degree with the OU which I completed in 1985. I then took on a tutor counsellor/tutor role in 1990, followed by a Staff Tutor type role in the mid 90s. I am still a Staff Tutor in Health and Social Care but have additional responsibilities as Associate Dean Nations and Regions now. I am working on a number of CETL projects with my colleague Ann Smith exploring the concept of emotional resilience in practice learning settings.