I am a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Educational Technology and currently have responsibility for the Institute's Quality Enhancement and Innovations (QEI) Portfolio as Associate Director (QE). This comprises four areas of work: pan-university pedagogic insights, innovative analytics and methodologies, educational technology evaluation, and ongoing QE process support. A team of academic and academic-related staff contribute to the programme and projects are developed working closely with university faculties and units.
My research interests presently include:
(1) Digital Badge for Learning - how badges and micro-achievements can perform an essential formative role in online learning and how the implementation and awarding of badges can operate in diverse contexts. I currently lead a GCRF funded project in India working with TISS (Mumbai) exploring digital badges for teacher education and professional development.
(2) Student Experience of Assessment, Revision and Feedback - I am academic lead for a strategic project reviewing distance student experience of online assessment. A recent survey sent to a sample of over 6,000 learners is intended to explore themes such quality and satisfaction, dialogic feedback and learner agency, process transparency, strategic learning, social reach and assessment networks, and confidence in assessment literacy and academic writing. The project aims to understand differences between groups (subject, BAME, level, study intensity) and identify practice challenges and opportunities.
(3) 360-degree video for Teacher Education - I have led fieldwork in India exploring the potential of 360-degree recording and viewing on mobile VR headsets for teacher professional learning and educational research.
Biography
Dr Simon Cross is a lecturer at The Open University (UK). His current research interests include embedding open and online learning, the contextualised experience of MOOCs, VR, student experience and perceptions of learning gain and assessment, learning design, and mobile learning. He is an academic author on the university’s MA in Online and Distance Learning and has led projects aligned to strategic learning and teaching programmes. Simon has worked on nine externally funded projects since joining the university and has presented at many international conferences.