Dr Paul Brett

National Teaching Fellow 2010 Paul is responsible for the strategic development of the integration of e-learning into the curriculum, which is seen as central to achieving Wolverhampton's mission of a widening participation University. All 22,000 learners have learning richly supplemented by technology, and 21,520 learners actively keep an e-portfolio, the impact of which is characterised by a recent graduate as: "my mates studying at other universities had nothing like what I experienced here. It really is a defining characteristic of Wolverhampton and contributed immeasurably to my success, and something I enjoyed greatly." In the early part of his career Paul taught English as a foreign language for the British Council in Venezuela and Dubai. He said it was his experience in a steamy, Venezuelan, jungle-based classroom in 1984 which kick-started his interest in furthering learning with computers. This experience provided him with the serendipitous realisation that when aligned with face to face learning, computer tasks engaged, extended and inspired many of his learners in ways in which he had not witnessed previously. Paul's innovative approach to meshing new technologies with the latest pedagogic thinking has always characterised his approach. Latterly, he was at the forefront of exploitation of the then new multimedia technology for developing foreign language listening skills development. He designed and wrote the learning materials for a series of CD-ROMs which have had sales of more than 14,000 worldwide. More recently, he has harnessed this approach to the use of text messaging for supporting module-based learning through the Melas project. Paul has had a major influence on the wider e-learning community through his setting up of the community of practice which is the Heads of e-Learning Forum (HeLF), which has a vibrant discussion list, terms of reference, elected steering group and runs regular developmental meetings. It is a key consultation body for HEFCE, JISC and the Higher Education Academy. Paul is currently researching the potentials of student-led and controlled e-learning using free, Web 2.0 applications.