Dr Lindsay Marshall

Dr. Lindsay Marshall joined the Computing Science Department of Newcastle University in 1981 where he developed the Newcastle Connection, one of the first systems supporting distributed computing under UNIX. More recently he designed and built a learning support system which is now used across Newcastle University. Involved in teaching at Newcastle for more than thirty-five years his impact on the student learning experience was recognised by a Vice Chancellors' Distinguished Teacher Award in 2014. He has experienced many changes in teaching approaches and attitudes over time - particularly apparent in his fast evolving discipline where it is essential to stay current, both in subject knowledge and pedagogic technique. As an early adopter of the World Wide Web, he built his first website in 1993. He created the first Internet Cemetery 'the Virtual Memorial Garden' and maintains one of the longest running blogs: 'Bifurcated Rivets'. Much of his work revolves around using web and mobile technologies to enhance the student experience of learning and teaching, as well as providing specialist technical support to other researchers. Impact of work A key member of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Active Learning in Computing, he helped investigate running and assessing team projects involving industry-style, cross-site working. The only CETL funded in Computer Science, this brought significant improvements to team projects and helped establish pedagogical research in his school. His work as a mentor for the University's Certificate in Advanced Studies for Academic Practice programme enables him to pass on his extensive experience to new staff, whilst learning from talking to them and seeing them teach. He is focused on supporting students in the transition into higher education and then developing their skills for employability, as well as increasing their awareness of diversity issues in the industry. Plans for the future Currently he is developing FeedBook, a mobile centred system aimed at making students feel more involved in the feedback process. With colleagues, he is investigating new and better ways of engaging students with essential, but non-technical aspects of Computer Science.