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Dr Palitha Edirisingha

Lecturer in E-learning

Palitha EdirisinghaContact Details

Direct line: + 44 (0) 116 252 3753
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7905 090 352
palitha.edirisingha@le.ac.uk

Qualifications

  • PhD in Educational Technology, Open University, UK
  • MEd in Education and the Mass Media, The University of Manchester, UK.
  • BSc in Agriculture, The University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Research and supervision interests

The potential of digital devices and emerging web-based technologies to support formal and informal learning; and harnessing technologies to improve lifelong learning and open and distance education in developing countries.

Research projects

IMPALA (podcasting), WoLF (m-learning), MOOSE (3D virtual worlds), GIRAFFE (wikis), and PELICANS (Web 2.0) (www.le.ac.uk/mediazoo).

Teaching and supervision of students

  • Supervising PhD students
  • Teaching on the module ‘Contemporary Issues in Education’ (MA International Education, School of Education)
  • Teaching on a module on BSc Communications, Media and Society (Dept of Media and Communication)

Professional activities

  • Editorial board member of the Interactive Learning Environments
  • Reviewer for International Journal of Lifelong Learning, Learning, Media and Technology, EURODL, and The Journal of Interactive Media in Education.
  • Organising committee member of the Higher Education Academy-sponsored ELE SIG (Evaluation of the Learners’ Experience of e-leaning Special Interest Group)
  • Academic committee member of the Personal Learning Environments Conference July 2010, Barcelona, and July 2011, Southampton; Programme committee member of The 2nd International Workshop “Interactive Environments and Emergent Technologies for eLearning” (IEETeL 2011), Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France, June, 2011.
  • Convenor of the E-Learning and Knowledge Sharing (ELKS) online community (a community of researchers and practitioners interested in pedagogy and technology at all levels of education.  

Selected publications

Books

  1. Salmon, G., and Edirisingha, P. (eds.). (2008). Podcasting for Learning in Universities, London: Open University Press and SRHE.
  2. Salmon, G., Edirisingha, P., Mobbs, M., Mobbs, R., and Denette, C. (2008). How to Create Podcasts for Education, London: Open University Press and SRHE.

Journal papers

  1. Edirisingha, P., Hawkridge, D., and Fothergill, J. (2010). A Renaissance of Audio: Podcasting approaches for learning on campus and beyond, European Journal of Open Distance and E-Learning. (URL http://www.eurodl.org/?article=393)
  2. Salmon, G,. Nie, M., and Edirisingha, P. (2010). Developing a five-stage model of learning in Second Life, Educational Research (Special Issue on Virtual Worlds). Vol. 52, Issue 2, pp. 169 – 182.
  3. Edirisingha, P. (2009). Swimming in the deep-end: an e-mentoring approach to help mature students’ transition to higher education, European Journal of Open Distance and E-Learning, Issue I.
  4. Edirisingha, P., & Fothergill, J. (2009). Balancing e-lectures with podcasts: A case study of an undergraduate engineering module. Engineering Education: Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 14-24.
  5. Edirisingha, P., Nie, M., Pluciennik, M., and Young, R. (2009). Socialisation for learning at a distance in a 3-D multi-user virtual environment, British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(3). pp. 458-479.
  6. Edirisingha, P., & Salmon, G. (2009). iPodology: The new kid on the block. Journal of Lifelong Learning in Europe, Vol. XIV, Issue 3, pp. 153 – 160.
    Heaton Shrestha, C., May, S., Edirisingha, P., Linsey, Tim., and Burke, L. (2009). From face to face to e-Mentoring: Does the ‘e’ Add Any Value for Mentors? International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education., Volume 20, Number 2, 116-124.
  7. Edirisingha, P., Rizzi, C., Nie, M., and Rothwell, L. (2007). Podcasting to provide teaching and learning support for an undergraduate module on English Language and Communication, Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 8(3), pp. 87 – 107.
  8. Heaton-Shrestha,C., Gipps,C., Edirisingha,P., and Linsey,T. (2007). Learning and e-learning in HE: the relationship between student learning style and VLE use, Research Papers in Education, 22(4), pp. 443-464.
  9. Heaton-Shrestha, C., Edirisingha, P., Burke, L., and Linsey, T. (2006). Introducing VLE into campus-based undergraduate teaching: Staff perspectives on its impact on teaching, International Journal of Educational Research, 43(6), pp.370-386.
  10. Preece, J., and Edirisingha, P. (2001). ‘Learning to be an active citizen: a gender perspective’, Sociale Interventie, 10 (4), pp. 37-46.

Chapters in books and proceedings

  1. Kompen, R, and Edirisingha, P. (2011). Personal Learning Environments in Distance Education, In R. Amirault et al., (eds.). Trends and Issues in Distance Education (2nd edn.). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
  2. Fothergill, J., and Edirisingha, P. (2011). Online Teaching and Learning – 21st Century Professional Competencies for both Academics and Students? Proceedings of the IETEC’ 11 Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2011.
  3. Edirisingha, P., Pluciennik, M., and Young, R. (2010). Using a three dimensional multi-user virtual environment to teach spatial theory in archaeology, in A.T. Wilson (ed.). UK Chapter in Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology: Proceedings of the CAA UK Chapter Meeting, University of Liverpool, 6-7 February, 2009, Oxford: Archaeopress.
  4. Cigognini, M., E., Pettenati, M. C., and Edirisingha, P. (2010). Personal Knowledge Management Skills in Web 2.0-based learning. In Lee, M., and C. Mcloughlin (eds.). Web 2.0-Based E-Learning: Applying Social Informatics for Tertiary Teaching, Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
  5. Edirisingha, P., and Nikoi, S (2010). Mobile learning in the workplace: Teaching Assistants’ experience with PDAs in classrooms, in R. Güttler and O. Peters (eds.). Grundlagen der Weiterbildung - Praxishilfen (GdW Ph), Köln: Luchterhand (Wolterskluwer Deutschland GmbH).
  6. Edirisingha, P., and Popova, A. (2010). Podcasting: a learning technology, In S. Mishra (ed.). E-Learning: STRIDE Handbook 08, New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Open University. Chapter 9 (pp. 66-69).
  7. Edirisingha, P. (2009). Podcasting as a Listening Culture: Implications for Learning, in S. Wheeler (ed.). Connected Minds, Emerging Cultures:  Cybercultures in Online Learning, Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
    Edirisingha, P., Hill, M., and Heaton Shrestha, C. (2009). E-mentoring to help mature students’ transition to university, in U. Bernath et al., (eds.). Distance and E-learning in Transition: Learning innovation, technology and social challenges, London: ISTE and Wiley. Pp. 553-565.
  8. Torres Kompen, R., Edirisingha, P., and Mobbs, R. (2009). Putting the pieces together: conceptual frameworks for building PLEs with Web 2.0 tools, in U. Bernath et al., (eds.). Distance and E-learning in Transition: Learning innovation, technology and social challenges, London: ISTE and Wiley. Pp. 783-808.
  9. Edirisingha, P. (2008). Open Basic Education – Organisational structures, costs, and benefits, In W. Bramble & S. Panda (eds.). Economics of Distance and Online Learning: Theory, practice and research, London: Routledge.
  10. Edirisingha, P., Salmon, G., and Nie, M. (2008). Developing pedagogical podcasts, in G. Salmon and P. Edirisingha (eds.). Podcasting for Learning in Universities, London: Open University Press and SRHE.
  11. Salmon, G., Mobbs, R., Edirisingha, P., and Denette, C. (2008). Podcasting technology, in G. Salmon and P. Edirisingha (eds.). Podcasting for Learning in Universities, London: Open University Press and SRHE.
  12. Edirisingha, P., Salmon, G. and Fothergill, J. (2007). Profcasting – a Pilot Study and Guidelines for Integrating Podcasts in a Blended Learning Environment, In U. Bernath and A. Sangrà (eds.). Research on competence development in online distance education and e-learning, Oldenburg: BIS-Verlag. pp. 127 – 137.
  13. Edirisingha, P., Salmon, G. and Fothergill, J. (2007). Integrating emerging learning technologies into online learning – the case of podcasts, A. Sangrà and U. Bernath (eds.). Exemplary research in distance education, e-learning, and on related competence issues, EDEN.
  14. Holford, J., and Edirisingha, P. (2002). ‘Adult Learning, Active Citizenship and Governance in Europe: theoretical, methodological and policy perspectives’ In M. Schweisfurth, L. Davies and C. Harber (eds.). Learning Democracy and Citizenship: International Experiences, Oxford: Symposium Books. pp. 273-289.
  15. Merricks, L., and Edirisingha, P. (2001). ‘Learning to be Active Citizens: Insights from British life histories’ In M. Schemmann and M. Bron Jr (eds.). Adult Education and Democratic Citizenship IV, Krakov: Impuls Publishers. pp. 113-124.
  16. Dodds, T., and Edirisingha, P. (2000). ‘Organisational and Delivery Structures’, in C. Yates and J. Bradley (eds.). Basic Education through Open and Distance Learning: World Review of Distance Education and Open Learning: Vol. 2, London: Routledge & Vancouver: Commonwealth of Learning. pp. 87-109.

Videos on YouTube

A five minute video as an introduction to the paper entitled ‘Balancing e-lectures with podcasts: A case study of an undergraduate engineering module’ published in Engineering Education: Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2_1WkXhbTk. Published in 2010.

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