In the 1980s I worked as a computer operator for a company that designed and made vending machines. As a placement student, my role was supporting the designers as they developed the circuitry for inside the machines. There I learnt a lot about leadership styles and team work as well as the technical requirements of the job. After a further year I moved to a software house in Cambridge that developed the solid modeller, Romulus, which was cutting edge and became the core code within many solid modelling applications. As the system manager looking after a mainframe VAX I spent many evenings dragging Ethernet cable through ceiling spaces. It was the beginning of the change from mainframe to workstation and I oversaw the introduction of networked computing. The company was taken over by MacDonnell Douglas and the ensuing challenges taught me a lot about how to manage and lead change. The American way of doing things was very different from the way the Cambridge Academics had managed the business and I became involved in the Human Resources side developing and introducing a management structure and a range of policies to make the two businesses more compatible. After a career break to bring up my family I took a change of direction and retrained as a primary school teacher with IT as a specialism which led to a role in the University as an IT lecturer. As a person who is interested in helping the students become the best they can be, when the opportunity came to study Coaching and Mentoring as a Post Graduate Certificate I jumped at the chance and have found that the skills this introduced me to have enhanced my teaching and leadership as well as giving me opportunities to engage in coaching both within and outside of the University. I have moved into line management as I lead different teams in my role as interim Associate Dean covering for temporarily absent colleagues.
With a greater focus on line management I have moved away from teaching but can still deliver modules around business information systems, programming, coaching, and study skills at all levels. This includes dissertation supervision.
- Researching into creating a framework to enable support for people who suffer from Computer Anxiety – which has been presented both at the Psychology of Programming Interest Group Conference (2013) and HEASTEM conference (2016) working towards a PhD.
As a Senior Fellow for the HEA I enjoy mentoring and assessing colleagues as they apply for the range of Fellowships within the HEA.
I use my coaching skills to work with volunteers and others as a skills or life coach.
