I was a research fellow working on the university's SocialLearn project, developing a social media platform that is tuned for learning. You can visit my blog on analytics for teaching and learning http://diving-4-pearls.blogspot.com/

The SocialLearn team is working to align current thinking on good pedagogy with the use of Web 2.0 technologies. We aim to support and encourage users to clarify their intention, ground their learning and engage in focused conversations.

My other research interests also relate to people learning together online.

I have worked since 2007 on the Schome project, an ongoing research initiative which is working to develop a 'fit for purpose' education system for society today. This has included working on an island in Teen SecondLife. Details of Schome publications are available at http://www.schome.ac.uk/publications/ and details of OU Second Life publications are available here http://www.open.ac.uk/virtualworlds/p5.shtml

Together with colleagues in the university's Institute of Educational Technology, I am carrying out a longitudinal investigation of research blogging. The pilot study was published in 2007, and details of the full four-year study are due for publication late in 2010.

As part of the university's Children and Young People (CYP) research programme I am investigating children's use of social media and technologies to support informal collaborative learning.

I am also an active member of a special interest group which focuses on the ethics of researching higher education in Web 2.0 environments http://heethicsweb2zero.ning.com/

Keys: online learning, social media, social learning, asynchronous dialogue, asynchronous communication, blogging, virtual worlds, Second Life, virtual heritage, learning analytics, teaching analytics