Damien's E-learning and Digital Cultures Blog

Hi there.

I’ve been working in e-learning and education for over a decade. Like many in our industry, my road into the world of e-learning was accidental. I began work at the National Museum of Ireland as a tour guide and became and Education Assisstant a year later. In addition to interpreting the museum’s collections for visitors, I also got to author a range of educational materials for schools and run workshops for visiting teachers and educational professionals. From there I ended up building an exhibition called ‘The Future is History’ with NCAD (National College of Art and Design) which invited teenagers to donate objects to the museum that they thought would be important in 200 years. It was the best job I ever had – and the worst paid. So, seeking some extra cash I took at job at an e-learning company called EMG, which promptly went bust about two months later. A short, sharp learning curve.

Now, many years and many companies later, my goals are simple: to create learning solutions which allow learners to learn from each other in a safe, fun environment (digital or otherwise) with a sharp swerve away from ‘top-down’, 1950’s hierarchical models of learning design and ( I hope) to finish my MsC. in e-learning at the University of Edinburgh.

My day-to-day activities involve overseeing a team of Instructional Designers tasked with delivering digital learning solutions to the 43 Police services of England and Wales. I also create, moderate and run various social networking platforms and have a keen interest in the application of game-based learning for policing and security scenarios – these areas of interest stemming from my areas of chosen study in my MsC. in E-learning at the University of Edinburgh.

My current projects involve curriculum design for a 12 week course training Police trainers in usage of e-learning and social media, consultancy around Rapid e-learning authoring tools and research in game design for learning.

(The photo above is from a recent photo from a holiday in India. It was the only one I could find where I didn’t look like an escaped criminal…)