James Mcdowell Email and Phone Number

Senior Lecturer working on a fractional basis on the Teaching Observation Scheme within the Centre for Collaborative Learning at UCLan, while continuing in both posts at Lancaster University.

Leading strategic development initiatives within the Graduate College at Lancaster University, and representing the interests of the postgraduate community across the wider institutional context.

Leading and managing a team with responsibility for enhancing all aspects of the student experience in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of a Triple Top Ten UK University.

Director of a limited company providing technology-enhanced learning consultancy and e-learning development services.

As Director of Teaching and Learning, I provided strategic leadership in the coordination of all teaching and learning activities across the five subject areas offering taught courses within the School of Computing and Engineering. An internationally recognised award-winning researcher-practitioner in the field of technology-enhanced learning, I was responsible for the implementation and evaluation of the University’s Teaching and Learning Strategy, while also leading on the integration of both pedagogic and technological innovation in teaching and learning within the School, and on the promotion and dissemination of pedagogical research.

On winning promotion to the post of University Teaching Fellow (Associate Professor) my role expanded to encompass university-wide mentoring of colleagues engaged in teaching and learning activities, leadership of the Applied Learning Technologies Research Group, and postgraduate research supervision in fields including technology-enhanced learning, games-based learning, spatial orientation, and inclusivity. I developed the award-winning VELOCITy Strategy (Video-Enhanced Learning Opportunities in Computing and Information Technology), and was the Project Lead for a range of learning and teaching projects, including the UoHTube, VERiFy, and Vineyard projects, which explored a range of uses of video in learning and teaching. Building on the success of this work, I led the institution-wide ReVERiFy Project, which aimed to effect institutional change through the formation of a community of practice on video-enhanced learning, assessment and feedback, and then ran the C-Ment Project which mentored technical and academic-related colleagues in achieving professional accreditation. I also worked directly with the Pro Vice Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) to develop and deliver the University’s Inspire PGCHE programme, which aimed for all academic staff to achieve the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (Teaching), and mentored colleagues seeking professional recognition as Fellow/Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.