I am the Director of the Academic Division of The University of the
West Indies Open Campus (UWIOC) and UNESCO Chair in Educational
Technologies. UWIOC provides access to tertiary education programs,
using ICT enhanced education modalities, throughout the English
speaking islands in the Caribbean. I moved to the Caribbean in March
2004 from Central Queensland University in Australia, where I was the
foundation Dean and a Professor of the Faculty of Informatics and
Communication. Although originally an electrical engineer with the
Central Electricity Generating Board in the UK, I have worked in higher
education since 1973 in England, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Southern
Africa and the Caribbean. I was the foundation Professor of
Communication at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology,
foundation Professor of Communication Studies in the Faculty of Arts at
Monash University, and foundation Coordinator of Academic Studies and
Professor of Distance Education at the Institute of Distance Education
at the University of Swaziland in Southern Africa.
My
research interests are in the role of communication and information
technologies in distance education, especially in developing countries.
I have published several books, including:
Closing the Digital Divide: Transforming Regional Economies and Communities with Information Technology;
Encyclopedia of Developing Regional Communities with Information and Communication Technology;
Using Community Informatics to Transform Regions;
and over 90 other publications, including book chapters, refereed
articles and conference papers. I am the Chief Editor of the
International Journal of Education and Development using Information
and Communication Technology (IJEDICT) – http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/.