Page 250 - BLENDED LEARNING

Contributors

Peter Aborisade lectures in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at the Federal
University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Nigeria. He specialises in English and
Communication, with over 28 years of teaching experience across educational
levels. In 2007 he received the Commonwealth Academic Fellowship and visited the
University of Sussex, UK as Senior Research Fellow, where he took up the challenge
of integrating technology into the language teaching curriculum. His current area of
research and practice is the integration of learning technologies into the curriculum;
he is heading a Blended Learning Group working on using Moodle as a university-
wide VLE platform. FUTA is one of few universities in Nigeria delivering courses via a
VLE. He has presented recently in the area of blended learning, at Durham University,
UK (April, 2007), E-Learning Africa, Dakar, Senegal (2009), Lusaka, Zambia (2010),
Cardiff, UK (April, 2009), University of Toronto, Canada (July, 2009), iPED Coventry,
UK (2010) and SOLSTICE Edge Hill, UK (2012).

Lynda Beagle is currently Deputy Director at RMIT English Worldwide (REW) in
Melbourne. She has worked in the field of English Language Teaching for more than
25 years. Her roles have included English language teacher, CELTA teacher trainer,
Academic Manager and Director of Studies. She has an MA in Applied Linguistics
and a Graduate Certificate in Flexible Learning. She has been using technology in
language teaching since the 1990s and is now interested in how internet-based
technologies can be used to enhance second language acquisition.
Hatice Bilgin graduated from Bogazici University in 2005. She has been teaching
English to Turkish university preparatory programme students since then. She
completed her MA in Bogazici University Foreign Language Education Department
in 2010. She was a Fulbright foreign language teaching assistant at Portland State
University in the 2011–12 academic year. She taught Turkish as a foreign language
there. She is interested in the use of technology in language learning and teaching.
She conducted a research project on the effects of different online programmes
on student achievement and opinions in Istanbul Technical University School of
Foreign Languages in the 2009 –10 academic year.

Xu Bo has an MA degree in French linguistics and has been working as project lead
since July 2010, for ‘Communicative Assessment – Development of Testing Skills’ in
China. She has been actively involved in co-ordination with the British Council’s Global
Product Team, the UK trainers and Chinese partners for content revision and project
management. From an academic perspective, her main contribution to this project is
to build stronger links to the local teaching and testing context.
Graeme Davies has worked in the English Language Teaching field for more than
15 years and was Curriculum Unit Aviation Co-ordinator at RMIT English Worldwide
(REW) until he retired in 2012. Graeme joined REW’s Aviation Curriculum Writing
Team in 2006 when the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) introduced
language proficiency requirements for aviation personnel. He was involved in the
writing of print-based General English teaching materials to meet this new industry
requirement. His subsequent experience in writing computer-delivered aviation

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