Chris Valentine
Project Officer
Joining the OU in the Spring of 1992, my initial projects were related to the transcription of course material for print-disabled students. I was a founding member of KMi when it was launched in 1995. I am now a web applications developer using PHP and mySQL, writing custom code or extensions for open source CMS like Drupal or Wordpress.
I am particularly interested in the application of mobile technology to teaching and learning in remote locations. Projects have included a photo and audio blog for L204, a second level Spanish language course which made custom use of Google Maps for location data. I was also part of the award-winning team for ERA - the use of wireless networking technology to make geology field trips accessible to disabled and/or remote students.
I worked on the website that hosts the Open University's immensely popular podcast service http://podcast.open.ac.uk and the OU's webcast hosting system STADIUM. I have been involved in four EU-funded projects related to language teaching and inter-cultural competence.
Outreach projects include collaboration with the Halle Orchestra and the Field Studies Council. I worked on Making The News (a web-based news system being used in schools nation-wide http://mtn.e2bn.net), ROSTRA, CLUTCH, CABER, VDC, MK Schools OnLine and the citischool project (teaching for kids who dropped out of mainstream education in the Milton Keynes area).
I have also created web applications for the OU's Research School including PhDSkills (to track the progress of all PhD students at the OU) and the Research Diary. I both judge and run the online part of the annual research students' poster competition where new PhD students show off their projects (https://researchposters.open.ac.uk)
In 2008 I was a recipient of two OU Teaching Awards, for my role in T189 'Digital photography: creating and sharing better images' (https://www.open.ac.uk/courses/short-courses/tg089) and as part of the ERA team. I received a third Teaching Award in 2014 for my part in webcasting the Student Connections conference. I have since contributed to the OU's new photography course 'Creating a Professional Portfolio' including a Raspberry Pi-powered remote SLR and hosted on FutureLearn.
I now work mostly on Citizen Science projects including iSpot (https://ispotnature.org)
Keywords
PHP, SQL, CSS, JavaScript, Ajax, photography, audio, recording, webcasting, API, social networks, renewable energy, citizen science, mobile learning
