About us
Web development & Learning Technologist - Brett Lucas
Current responsibilities
As the subject centre's learning technologist Brett was responsible for interpreting and disseminating the developments in learning technologies for the benefit of the English Subject community, liaising with the community about the kinds of support they need in this area and designing web-based resources to assist them.
The second part of his role wasresponsibility for the overall design, development and management of the English Subject Centre's main website , series of microsites (e.g. Why Study English?, After English), databases, a Moodle instance (VLE) and 2 web servers. This role also involves training Subject Centre staff in the use of various software tools and web forms for site administration commissioning and managing external programming work and monitoring web statistics and technological enhancements.
Biography
Brett completed his first degree in Agricultural Science at Massey University in New Zealand majoring in international marketing. He then worked for four years in intermediate systems marketing for IBM (AS400/PS2's) in Australasia before embarking on a world backpacking trip.
During his travels he began working as an English teacher in Japan and subsequently gained his formal qualifications in London. He went on to specialise in the teaching of Business English and Cambridge Exams before studying for his Diploma in TEFL at King's College in London. This was followed by four years as Director of Studies then school manager at a large private school in the beach suburbs of Athens, Greece.
Growing interest in the use of computers in the teaching of EFL, and with his first website for the school behind him, Brett came back to the UK to study for his MSc in Computer based learning and training (CBLT) at the University of Southampton. His studies involved research revolving around the theme of 'notions of interactivity', 'web navigation', and 'streaming video', culminating in an innovative piece of research for his dissertation on 'Small-group videoconferencing - Can we achieve our intended learning outcomes?' for which he achieved a distinction.
Publications (articles)
Lucas, B. (2011) Diving into the Pool: Open Educational Resources for English. Wordplay Issue 5.
Lucas, B. (2009) HumBox - sharing made simple. WordPlay Issue 2.
Lucas, B. (2008) Taking a Departmental Approach to E-learning Support. English Subject Centre Newsletter Issue 15.
IT Works (2004 - 2011) A regular column in the Subject Centre Newsletter & Magazine (WordPlay) profiling new e-learning tools, digital resources, hardware and publications of interest to lecturers in English studies.
Guest editor of Working With English, Volume 5, Winter 2009. ‘Crossing the Divides: Multi-disciplinary Approaches to Teaching and Researching English Studies.’ With Jonathan Gibson, Matthew Green and Nicole King.
Publications (work in progress)
Lucas, B. & Knights, B. (2011) Influencing a community of practice: The 'e-advocates' experience. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education . [Forthcoming]
Refereed and published conference proceedings
Lucas, B. (2008) E-learning Advocacy: Exploring departmental approaches to the embedding of E-learning. Paper at the Higher Education Academy Annual Conference: Transforming the Student Experience, Harrogate, UK 2008 available at:
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/events/conference/Ann_conf_2008_Brett_Lucas
Lucas, B., Masterman, L., Lee, S., Gulc, E (2006) Sharing and Reuse of Learning Designs for English Studies: – A UK Higher Education Perspective. Refereed paper at the 1st International LAMS conference, Sydney 2006 available at: http://www.lamsfoundation.org/lams2006/pdfs/Lucas_Masterman_etal_LAMS06.pdf
Lucas, B. (2006) Bringing E-learning Home - an experiment in Embedding e-learning using departmental e-learning advocates. - Proceedings of the 23rd annual ASCILITE conference: Who's learning? Whose technology?, Sydney 2006 available at: http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney06/proceeding/pdf_papers/p101.pdf
Lucas, B. & Riddy, P. (2002) Videoconferencing Pedagogy for EFL - Conference Proceedings from 2nd Annual conference of Educational Conferencing - Banff, Canada, May 2002. Available at: http://cde.athabascau.ca/ISEC2002/
Invited conference / seminar and workshop contributions
Lucas, B. (2010) Effective Online Teaching. Presentation at Teaching English Literature and Creative Writing: A Workshop for Early Career Lecturers, London, November 2010.
Lucas, B., Borthwick, K., Lavender, L. (2010) What are the differences between community and institutional approaches to OER? Does one offer advantages over the other? bWorkshop/discussion at OER in the Disciplines, London, October 2010.
Lucas, B. , Hamburg, L. , Morrison, D. (2010) How can technology enhance student learning experiences in the higher education sector? Presentation at Learning and Technology World Forum, London, January 2010.
Lucas, B. , Edwards, A. , Machin, T., Stephens, C. (2007) Second Life: potentially exciting for the arts and humanities or just hype and 'interested frustration'? Session at DRHA, Dartington, 2007
Lucas, B. (2006) E-learning and e-resources. Presentation at Networking Day for humanities librarians, London, May 2006.
Lucas, B., Knights, B., Gibson, J. (2006) Supporting new academic staff: Subject Centre perspectives. Presentation and discussion at Higher Education Academy Subject Centre Annual Conference, Glasgow, March 2006.
Lucas, B., Hardy, S., Poulter, M. (2006) Using blogs and wikis to support communities of practice. Presentation and discussion at Higher Education Academy Subject Centre Annual Conference, Glasgow, March 2006.
Lucas, B. (2005) What elearning is teaching us: Scoping the use and effectiveness of Learning Technologies in the Teaching of Literature - Conference presentation: MLA, Washington DC, December 2005
Lucas, B. (2005) Online learning. Presentation to New lecturers conference, Birmingham, December 2005.
Lucas, B. (2005) Departmental websites – the good, the bad and the indifferent. Presentation to Networking day for Departmental Administrators , London, November 2005.
Lucas, B., Pearce, L., Gulc, E., Grove, M., and Whistlecroft, L. (2005). Different subjects/subject difference. Symposium 549. ALT-C 2005 Conference, September 6-8, 2005, Manchester, England, UK.
Lucas, B., Vetch, P. (2005) CSS Rules! Presentation at Higher Education Academy Subject Centre conference, Nottingham, March 2005.
Lucas, B. (2004) Learning Environments and English Studies. Presentation to New lecturers conference, Birmingham, December 2004.
Lucas, B. (2004) Your Departmental Website – Thinking outside the box. Presentation to Networking day for Departmental Administrators , London, September 2004.
Lucas, B. (2004) Designing a Visually Rich Online Learning Resource to teach Chaucer - Conference presentation at 2004 Medieval Congress - Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2004.
Lucas, B. (2003) IP Videoconferencing - The True Enhancement? Presentation at Enhancing Online Discussion event, Glasgow, December 2003.
Lucas, B. (2002) 'Being Here, While Being there' - Small group LAN based ELT videoconferencing - Can we achieve our intended learning outcomes? - STEM Research Presentation - University of Southampton, March 2002.
Professional Achievements
MSc Computer Based Learning (Distinction) - University of Southampton -
2002
DipTEFL - King's College London - 1997
BAgrSc - Massey University, New Zealand - 1985
