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Dr. Jon DronAssociate Professor - School of Computing and Information Systems
Email:
jond@athabascau.ca
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Education
BA (Hons), Sussex, (Philosophy) 1982
MSc, Brighton, (Information Systems) 1992
Postgraduate Certificate, Brighton, (Teaching and Learning in Higher Education) 1998
PhD, Brighton, (Achieving self-organisation in network-based learning environments) 2002
[top]Teaching Responsibilities
Coordinator: COMP 266
Tutor: COMP 466, COMP 374, COMP 210
[top]Academic Experience
2007 - Associate Professor, School of Computing and Information Systems, Athabasca University
2006 - 2007 Principal Lecturer (Head of Learning Environments), School of Computing, Mathematical and Information Sciences University of Brighton, UK
2001 ? 2006 Senior Lecturer, School of Computing, Mathematical and Information Sciences University of Brighton, UK
1999 - 2001 Senior Lecturer, School of Information Management, University of Brighton, UK
1997 - 1999 Lecturer, School of Information Management, University of Brighton, UK
1995 - 1997 Academic Support Manager, Faculty of IT, University of Brighton, UK
[top]Industry Experience
1992 - 1995 Principal Technician (Software), Department of Computing, University of Brighton
1989 - 1991 Computer/Marketing Manager, Soops Ltd, Hove
1983 - 1989 Self employed, musician and entertainer
[top]Professional Memberships
IEEE, AACE
[top]Awards and Achievements
Teaching Excellence Award, University of Brighton, 2005 National Teaching Fellowship, UK, 2005
Miscellaneous presentations (un-refereed, invited) ?The World is Not Flat: Folksonomies Part 2? invited talk at the Workshop on Adaptation and the Social Web 2008, at AH2008, Hannover, Germany, August 2008 ?Crowd-teaching?, Keynote speech to be presented at IADIS E-Learning 2008, Amsterdam, Netherlands, July 2008 ?Beyond tags: towards a richer folksonomic ecology?, keynote speech at NDAP 2008, Taipei, Taiwan, March 2008 ?Letting Learners Choose?, invited talk presented at NCU, Taiwan, March 2008 ?Control and Constraint in E-Learning?, invited talk presented at University of Southampton, UK, E-Learning Symposium, January 2008 ?Designing the Undesignable?, keynote speech at Edtech 2007, Dublin, Ireland , May 2007 ?Pedagogy 2.0,? Keynote speech presented at NETTIES 2006, Timisoara, Romania, September 2006 ?A talk in the key of C: why teaching programming is like teaching music,? invited paper presented at the HEA-ICS Conference on the Teaching of Programming, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK, June 2005 ?Approaches to implementing and integrating Internet-based e-learning? invited paper presented at Cacak Technological University, Cacak, Serbia, September 2003 ?Towards a self-organising learning environment, ? invited paper presented at Indira Gandhi National Open University, Delhi, India, March 2001 ?The Death and Life of Great E-Learning Websites? invited paper presented at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, November 2003 ?Networking: a study in planning and developing cross-cultural collaboration? paper presented at ALT-C, Manchester, 2000 ?Distance learning - education and computers? invited paper presented at the 35th Conference of Polish Physicists, Bialystok, Poland, September 1999 Symposium on Teaching Object Technology, Santa Barbara USA, August 1998, ?Collaborating to build a web-based resource for teaching object technology?
[top]Research Profiles and Interests
Social software design, learning technology, education, learning technology and culture
The big questions I want to answer include:
how can the crowd teach itself more effectively?
- how does design influence behaviour in social learning environments?
- what is learning technology and how should we build it?
- what is the nature of social software for learning: what are its weaknesses and affordances and how can we make best use of what it provides?
A few current interests include ways to adopt different personas and adapt learning environments to different and changing contexts and roles, automation of trust, customisation and control, structure and dialogue.
[top]Publications
Book Dron, J. (2007). Control and Constraint in E-Learning: Choosing When to Choose. Hershey, PA, Idea Group International. Book chapters Dron, J. (2008). Self-organization in Social Software for Learning. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology (2nd ed.). Hershey PA: IGI. (forthcoming) Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2008). How the Crowd Can Teach: Groups, Networks and Collectives in Social Software for E-Learning. In S. Warburton & S. Hatzipanagos (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Social Software. Hershey PA: IGI. (forthcoming) Dron, J. 2006. Evolving Learning Ecologies. In J.-P. Rennard (Ed.), Handbook of Nature Inspired Computing for Economy and Management Hershey, PA: Idea Group International. Dron, J. 2004. Self-Organized Networked Learning Environments. In Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Vol. I-V ed. Khosrow-Pour, M., 2459-2463. Hershey PA: Idea Group Reference. Dron, J., Seidel, C. & Litten, G. 2004, ?Getting the right blend: a blended-learning approach to Foundation Degree delivery?, in Making Foundation Degrees Work, ed. Brennan, L. and Gosling, D., SEEC, London Dron, J., Rajapillai, V. & Singh, S. 2003, 'Planning and Developing Cross-Cultural Collaboration in Web-based ICT Education', in Navigating Innovations: Indo-European Cross-cultural Experiences, vol. II, ed. Brandt, D., India Research Press, Delhi, pp. 101-121. Mansingh, A., Sekhon, H. S., Dron, J. & Rajapillai, V. 2003, 'Innovations in IT Education in India', in Navigation Innovations: Indo-European Cross-cultural Experiences, vol. II, ed. Brandt, D., India Research Press, Delhi, pp. 77-99. Dron, J., Mitchell, R. & Boyne, C. W. 2003, 'Evolving Learning in the Stuff Swamp', in Adaptive Evolutionary Information Systems, ed. Patel, N., Idea Group, Hershey, PA, pp.211-228. Journal papers Dron, J. 2007. The Safety of Crowds. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 18, 31-36. Andone, D., Dron, J., Pemberton, L. & Boyne, C. W. 2007. E-Learning Environments for Digitally-Minded Students. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 18, 41-53. Dron, J. (2006). The Teacher, the Learner and the Collective Mind. AI & Society, 21(1-2), 200-216. Dron, J. 2005. E-learning and the building habits of termites. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 14(4), 321-342. Dron, J. 2005. The Way of the Termite: a Theoretically Grounded Approach to the Design of E-learning Environments. International Journal of Web Based Communities 2(1). Dron, J. 2005. Epimethean Information Systems: harnessing the power of The Collective in e-learning. International Journal of Information Technology and Management, 4(4), 392-404. Dron, J., C. W. Boyne and R. Mitchell. 2004. The Evaluation of Forms of Assessment Using n-Dimensional Filtering. International Journal on E-Learning, 3 (4): 21-28. Dron, J., Seidel, C. & Litten, G. 2004, ?Transactional distance in a blended learning environment?, ALT-J, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 163-174 Dron, J. & Masthoff, J. 2004, ?We are, of course, bored with course boards: an online alternative to formal course meetings?, Italics e-journal, vol. 3, no. 2, available [http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/pub/italics/vol3iss2.htm] Conference papers Andone, D., Dron, J., & Pemberton, L. (2007). Evaluation of the Digital Students and DIMPLE. Paper presented at the CELDA 2007, Algarve, Portugal. (best paper award) Dron, J., & Anderson, T. (2007). Collectives, Networks and Groups in Social Software for E-Learning. Paper presented at the E-Learn 2007, Quebec City, Canada. (outstanding paper award) Dron, J., & Bhattacharya, M. (2007). A Dialogue on E-Learning and Diversity: the Learning Management System vs the Personal Learning Environment. Paper presented at the E-Learn 2007, Quebec City, Canada. Anderson, T., & Dron, J. (2007). Groups, Networks and Collectives in Social Software for e-Learning. Paper presented at the 6th European Conference on e-Learning, Copenhagen. Hartnett, M., Bhattacharya, M., & Dron, J. (2007). Diversity in Online Learners: Searching for Differences that May Matter. Paper presented at the The 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, Niigata, Japan. Dron, J., & Bhattacharya, M. (2007). Lost in the Web 2.0 Jungle. Paper presented at the The 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, Niigata, Japan. Bhattacharya, M., & Dron, J. (2007). In Search of Quality Learning Technologies for Online Distributed Classrooms. Paper presented at the The 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, NIigata, Japan. Bhattacharya, M., & Dron, J. (2007). Cultivating the Web 2.0 Jungle. Paper presented at the The 7th IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, Niigata, Japan. Andone, D., Dron, J., Pemberton, L., & Boyne, C. (2007). Digital Students and Social Software Paper presented at the Ed-Media 2007, Vancouver, Canada. Dron, J. (2006). Any color you like, as long as it?s Blackboard. Paper presented at the E-Learn 2006, Hawaii. Dron, J. (2006). The Pleasures and Perils of Social Software. Paper presented at the 7th Annual Conference of the ICS HE Academy, Dublin, Ireland. Dron, J. (2006). Social Software and the Emergence of Control Paper presented at the ICALT 2006, Kerkrade, Netherlands. (best paper award) Dron, J. (2006). Controlling Learning. Paper presented at the The Sixth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, Kerkrade, Netherlands. Andone, D., J. Dron, C. Boyne and L. Pemberton. 2006. Digital Students Across Europe. In ED-MEDIA 2006, Florida, USA: AACE. Dron, J. 2006, ?On the stupidity of mobs?, In WBC 2006, San Sebastian: IADIS. Dron, J. 2005, 'Discovering the complex effects of navigation cues in an e-learning environment', E-Learn 2005, AACE, Vancouver. Dron, J. 2005, 'A Succession of Eyes: Building an E-learning City', E-Learn 2005, AACE, Vancouver. Dron, J. 2005, 'Control, Termites and E-learning', Web Based Communities 2005, Carvoiero, Portugal. Andone, D., Boyne, C.W., Dron, J. & Pemberton, L. 2005, 'Digital students and their use of eLearning environments', IADIS International Conference WWW/Internet 2005, IADIS, Lisbon, Portugal. Andone, D., Boyne, C.W., Dron, J. & Pemberton, L. 2005, 'What is it to be a digital student in a British university?' ICALT 2005, IEEE, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Dron, J. 2004, ?A loophole in Moore's law of transactional distance?, ICALT 2004. Joensuu, Finland, IEEE. Dron, J. 2004, ?Termites in the Schoolhouse: Stigmergy and Transactional Distance in an E-learning Environment?, Ed-Media 2004. Lugano, Switzerland, AACE. Dron, J. 2003, 'The Blog and the Borg: a Collective Approach to E-Learning', in E-Learn 2003, AACE, Phoenix, Arizona. Dron, J. 2003, 'Sidewalks on the Information Superhighway', in E-Learn 2003, AACE, Phoenix, Arizona. Dron, J. & Masthoff, J. 2003, 'Online Formal Course Meetings', in 4th Annual LTSN-ICS Conference, Galway. Miscellaneous presentations (refereed) ?Giving Learners Control Through Interaction Design? paper presented at CNIE 2008, Banff, Canada, 2008
[top]Research Supervision
In progress PhD supervision: two students, investigating adaptive and adaptable e-learning spaces for millennial students (Brighton), and issues of culture and diversity in e-learning (New Zealand) PhD external reviewer, personal recommender systems for learners in learning networks, Successfully Completed EdD supervision: one student, investigating learner preparedness for online learning (Brighton). PhD mentoring: one student, PhD by publication, pedagogy of computing (Brighton).
[top]Recently Completed Projects
2003-2006 ESRC/EPSRC PACCIT programme, Community Network Analysis and ICTS: Building and Bridging Community Ties project
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