Dr David Robinson

National Teaching Fellow 2014 Dr David Robinson is a zoologist and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environment, Earth and Ecosystems and has been committed to open and distance learning all his professional life. Having been inspired by the pioneers of natural history broadcasting when he was young, he now uses multiple media to excite learners about the natural world. Sounds and images can be very powerful in stimulating learning and he has been developing innovative ways of using media throughout his career. Providing learning materials that are rich in different types of media has become more practical as technology advances and he has grasped the opportunities offered by computers, tablets and phones to enhance open and distance learning. Science is a practical subject and David has tackled the problems of delivering practical work in an online and global environment, by developing a module that involves students from across the world working in groups on experiments. The experiments are carried out at home but the students need to agree designs and share data, so they are linked by conferencing. This module has been influential in the development of online practical work in open and distance learning at The Open University. David uses broadcasting to both draw the audience into engagement with the subject and then provide opportunities for further learning. The draw of natural history on television is well known and audiences are large. Offering something at the end of a programme which encourages interested viewers to do something actively to take their interest further can, and does, stimulate people into embarking on study. Careful crafting of the route from TV to study has been a crucial part of Davids work. He has worked with the BBC on a number of co-produced TV and radio series and the associated learning pathways. A former BBC producer commented: "Many thousands of OU students and millions of television viewers have benefited enormously from David's work." In university teaching, research, broadcasting and outreach David continues to explore and reveal the complexity and beauty of the natural world.