Helen Whitehead

Helen is an e-learning consultant, writer and researcher, specialising in web 2.0 and online community.

She has worked with schools, colleges and universities, the National College for School Leadership, creative industries, arts & literature, and business and media training.

She has created websites and online learning materials, and developed and taught training courses in online facilitation, content development and writing for digital media.

She is a member of the Beyond Distance Research Alliance at the University of Leicester.

She is a partner in Reach Further Ltd., a consultancy in e-learning and online community.

Her blog, Periodic Fable, has a lot of stuff on e-learning including wikis...

She is convenor of the ELKS community of practice for sharing best practice and research in e-learning across the developed and developing world. Visit the network at www.elks-community.org and join us by emailing helen.whitehead@le.ac.uk!

It's the 10th anniversary this year of Helen's user-contributory website for young writers, Kids on the Net.  And these people who invented Web 2.0 think they were the first to think up user-generated content?

My favourite tool of the moment (gadget time...)

I have just acquired a HTC TyTN II PDA/smartphone, and I love the idea of having all in one neat package a phone directory and phone, camera, calendar (synchronised with my laptop) and the ability to take notes electronically. For learning such devices have even more possibilities.

In Japan the mobile internet is used on students' phones together with 2D bar codes for the lecturers to keep in touch with students and get some feedback.

Mobile phones with cameras have been used to enable students on work placements to photograph their work, relay it back to the class web pages and allow their tutors to be more informed to support them much more closely than was possible with an occasional visit.

Back to

Ask the Experts: Wikis