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Representatives of the Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the awards ceremony. Credit: Photoshy

University of Leicester learning technologies team wins top national award

Accolade for University's e-learning research team

Issued on 10 September 2009

A team of University of Leicester researchers has been judged as ‘one of the UK’s leading learning technology research and development teams.’

The Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University was selected as joint winner of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) Learning Technologist of the Year Team Award.

The award was presented last night (Wednesday 9 September) at the ALT conference in Manchester.

ALT’s Learning Technologist of the Year Award is now in its third year of operation. The Award is open to individual members of ALT, and to individuals and teams based in ALT member organisations. There is a team and an individual award.

The aim of the Award is to celebrate and reward excellent practice and outstanding achievement in the learning technology field.

The Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University of Leicester jointly won the team award for its outstanding research-based contribution to the field of learning technology.

The judges commented: “In the four years since its inception, Beyond Distance has made remarkable progress, and has become established as one of the UK’s leading learning technology research and development teams, with an impressive range of outputs, and a remarkably high degree of team cohesion.

“Beyond Distance has succeeded in supporting and decisively influencing the University of Leicester’s successful and growing use of learning technology in its own core provision. At the same time BDRA has remained outward-looking in its work.

“The panel was particularly impressed at the emphasis Beyond Distance puts on collecting and interpreting learner feedback in its research and development projects, at its focus on ’low cost/high value‘ interventions, and at the team’s commitment to working collaboratively with external partners.”

Professor Gilly Salmon, Director of Beyond Distance said: ‘We are extremely pleased to have been recognised by the ALT-C Award for Learning Technology Team of the Year. The achievements of Beyond Distance are twofold: first, in high-quality research undertaken and successfully disseminated; second, in contributing to the University’s strategic vision and positioning in e-learning and distance learning. The credo of the department is ‘innovation to mainstream, research to practice’ and the research at Beyond Distance is evidence led rather than target driven. Beyond Distance, as a ‘research alliance’, is oriented towards sharing research outputs and best practice internally across both the HE and FE sectors’.

Beyond Distance is unusual in combining researchers, educators and learning technologists in one unit. Its role in the University is to lead through the identification, experimentation and dissemination of knowledge and new practice for learning and teaching online. In doing this, Beyond Distance develops appropriate and learner-centred pedagogy deploying new technologies, especially those of low cost and high value, and in particular formalising the role, training, development and competencies of online teachers.

More information: http://www.le.ac.uk/beyonddistance/

Or www.alt.ac.uk

Ends

For further details please contact Jaideep Mukherjee, Beyond Distance Research Alliance on 0116-252-5173 or jm118@le.ac.uk

Press relations for the Association for Learning Technology:

Catherine Dhanjal, TheAnswer Ltd

Tel: 01883 650434/07941 669925

Catherine.dhanjal@theansweruk.com