I'm a Cambridge-based teacher and Director of Simulation. I am also an award-winning materials writer, teacher trainer, graphic designer and illustrator.

I'm a creative sort and love to push against the boundaries of what can be done to improve learning. My research interests span across many fields, exploring the roles of technology, media, game design, play, and embodied cognition in the process of learning. Since 2015 I have been exploring the affordances of immersive, interactive 360-degree learning objects across multiple educational contexts. In order to pursue this I have built a growing collection of educational virtual reality experiences for:

• developing reflective skills in my trainee teachers

• building pedagogical content knowledge

• training nurses in practical skills

• building empathy

• improving observation skills in social work trainees

• researching techniques to improve mental health

• teaching languages

• reducing anxiety in cancer therapy patients before treatment

  I am also intensely interested in the role of spatial architecture in the design of learning environments (both real and simulated). For four consecutive years, I was nominated for ELTon (English Language Teaching Innovation Awards) in the category of Digital Innovation, for projects that bring these ideas together and apply them to the practice of language teaching. In 2018 I received the national Learning Technologist of the Year award for the Association for Learning Technology.

I'm a regular speaker at national and international education, technology and innovation events. I am the co-author of Language Learning with Digital Video, with Ben Goldstein and Scott Thornbury (series editor) for the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers series, and also write language, games, media and edtech-related articles for the Cambridge English Teacher website and academic journals such as the International Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Teaching.

Here are a few examples of my design and illustration work. I don't get a lot of time for personal artwork these days, but hopefully I'll be able to add some sketches and ink drawings of Cambridge in the near future. As you can see, my interest in architecture extends to the aesthetic as well as the theoretical.

When I'm not busy with any of the above, I love to do Tog Chöd (a Tibetan sword art). Most people have never heard of it, but it's a great way to relax and keep fit at the same time.