Introducing: Denise Sweeney

Who are you?

Hi, my name is Denise. I work at the University of Nottingham in the School of Education on our postgraduate certificate in higher education (PGCHE). I have a background in teaching to speakers of other languages and educational design using a range of media. I support university teachers new to teaching with curriculum design and assessment and how to incorporate technologies to promote learning.

Your ELESIG journey

I joined ELESIG in 2015. It has been a real world authentic professional development journey for me. I held the role of secretary for a few years and am now an honorary member on the organising committee. It has always been a juggling act being an active ELESIG member as well as fulfilling my professional role at the University of Nottingham. However, I have found that juggling act has been worthwhile as my learning outweighs the extra work involved.

Some highlights have been supporting the 2017 – 2018 Webinar series where we had a range of speakers that spanned the globe. Practitioners from South Africa, Australia, and the UK shared their diverse work around evaluation and students using technology for learning. These webinars were popular with members and we have had healthy number of views after the event.

I also enjoyed editing some of the #LERMOOC resources which was a learner experience methodologies online course that we aim to use in other future projects. A real team effort was achieved in a short turn around time to develop this resource.

Benefits of being a member

I have been able to establish and nurture professional relationships as a result of my involvement in ELESIG. As someone who moved to the UK in 2010, ELESIG has been a great welcoming environment to meet new people and learn new skills. I have also expanded my knowledge about learner experience research methodologies which I have been able to implement into my everyday professional practice.