Dr Coral Dando

National Teaching Fellow 2012 Dr Coral Dando is a Cognitive Psychologist, with a special interest in theoretical approaches to improving eyewitness memory in goal-directed face-to-face interview settings. Coral left school at 17 to serve as a London police officer, but returned to education in her mid 30s to complete a BSc in Psychology, immediately followed by a PhD in Cognitive Forensic Psychology (awarded 2008). During her PhD Coral was offered a teaching placement, which signaled the beginning of an ongoing love affair with teaching. Over the past four years Coral's teaching practice has evolved experientially, shaped by her own learning experiences as a police officer and a mature student, her involvement with the HEA Psychology Network, and research interests. She now teaches Cognitive and Forensic Psychology worldwide, to undergraduates and postgraduates (UK; USA; Malaysia; Europe; Japan), professionals of all ranks and positions, and criminal justice systems worldwide (eg UK, Europe, US Department of Homeland Security). Coral's overarching priority is to empower and enable learners, whatever the environment and whatever their situation. In doing so she has actively sought to widen participation in a manner that reaches far beyond the traditional higher education agenda to include: providing access to diverse learning opportunities, be they in the community, the workplace, or more traditional learning environments; facilitating contact with teachers who are able to maximise the efficacy of learning opportunities and promote individual learning excellence (eg inviting practitioner academics to contribute to teaching); and the provision of conditions that support a synthesis of opportunity, audience appropriate teaching and enthusiastic learners. Coral's three-stage animating theory approach to teaching lends itself to both small and large group teaching, and can be adjusted to meet the needs of individual student groups and the time available. This method has been fundamental to her teaching success. It has assisted students to accept and value the intellectual challenges associated with understanding theory and the associated literature, while at the same time engaging their interest and enthusiasm, and demonstrating to them what they will gain as a result of their studies.