Chris has been involved in Veterinary Education for the last 17 years, initially as a student and then from the other side of the fence for the last 12.
Chris came into education with a drive to improve the student experience through the appropriate use of technology. As a student he experienced unexpected leaps of competence, and is determined to use his veterinary degree, passion for helping others, experience in teaching and understanding of technology to make these leaps more like comfortable steps.
He did this first at the Royal Veterinary College, where for five years he worked with the eMedia Unit to develop technological solutions to curricular challenges, as well as taking a leading role in the global WikiVet initiative. From there he joined the new vet school at the University of Surrey where he took on the challenge of enhancing the pedagogical use of technology throughout the curriculum. Chris spends a lot of his time working with academics and other staff to deliver new interventions, then evaluating the impact of these, as well as training staff in how to use particular technologies and raising awareness of best practice.
Chris has taught professional skills at Surrey for the last six years, which has given him first-hand experience of incorporating audience participation systems alongside lecture capture, flipped classrooms, team-based learning and heutagogical principles of reflection. He has also worked with students and championed their needs as the Chair of the Student Staff Liaison Committee, leading to modular and programme enhancements as well as greater flexibility in the use of space within the school for student use.
As the curriculum has progressed Chris has switched his focus towards the Vet school’s innovative disseminated final year. He has been involved in the design of a commended innovative portfolio assessment structure, including workplace based assessment. This has been made possible by his leading in the acquisition, implementation and refinement of the Liftupp suite of educational tools. Within the wider university he has worked to enhance the digital offering at Surrey, such as the rollout of lecture capture, digitised assessment and a digital strategy.