Stuart Nicol

Head of Educational Design and Engagement

  • Educational Design and Engagement
  • Learning, Teaching and Web Services
  • Information Services Group

Contact details

Address

Street

Argyle House, H East
3 Lady Lawson Street

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH3 9DR

Availability

  • 9am-5pm

Biography

Background

Stuart leads the Educational Design and Engagement section in Information Services Group (ISG), responsible for delivering a number of key strategic services to the University, including: advice, consultancy, and training for learning technologies; learning design; support for online course production, including MOOCs; and support for open education resources. Stuart has worked as a learning technologist for over 20 years and joined the University of Edinburgh in 2007, initially in the School of History, Classics, and Archaeology, moving to ISG in 2011. He has a master’s degree in Digital Education from the University of Edinburgh and is currently studying for a professional doctorate in education.

Qualifications

  • MSc Digital Education (distinction) (University of Edinburgh)
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Multimedia Technology (Napier University)
  • Undergraduate MA(hons) in Psychology (University of Edinburgh)
  • Certified Member of Association for Learning Technology (CMALT)

Responsibilities & affiliations

  • Chair of the Learning Technology Advisory Group
  • Member of Support for Curriculum Development Group
  • Member of the MOOC strategy group

Invited speaker

OER Closing Penerary: Open Scotland (2023), featured speaker at OER Conference in Inverness, 6th April. https://altc.alt.ac.uk/oer23/featured-speakers/

Nicol, S. (2020), Creating your blend: What's working in on-campus and online learning and teaching? Presentation and panalist at the QAA / Heriot-Watt online event, Views from the kitchen table: sharing practice in supporting students, 21st October.

Nicol, S. (2017), Marketing the How to Read a Novel MOOC. Paper presented to the FutureLearn Partner's Forum in London, 10-11 October.

Papers delivered

Nicol, S., Campbell, L., Cross, A., Douglas, K. & McAndrew, E. (2023), Open for Good - Transforming the Curriculum with OER at the University of Edinburgh. Paper delivered at OER Conference in Inverness, 6th April.

Nicol, S. & Highton, M. (2022), Fables, fairy tales and the complex worlds of learning technology ethics. Paper presented to the ALT Annual Conference in Manchester, 7th September.

Nicol, S. & Highton, M. (2022), Fables, fairy tales and the complex worlds of learning technology ethics. Paper presented to the Learning and Teaching Conference in Edinburgh, 14-15th June.

Nicol, S., Madden, T. & Crolla, M. (2021), Being a learning technologist: designing an open primer course. Paper presented to the ALT Annual Conference (online), 6th September.

Nicol, S., McCormick, N., Lewis, M., & Jones, C. (2020), Moving beyond emergency provision at University of Edinburgh. Paper presented to the ALT Winter Conference, 16th December, https://altc.alt.ac.uk/online2020/sessions/moving-beyond-emergency-provision-at-university-of-edinburgh/.

Nicol, S., Gallagher, M., & MacNeill, S. (2019), Walking the online creative teaching walk: developing curriculum and staff creativity in online programme design and teaching. Workshop delivered at the ALT Annual Conference in Edinburgh, 3-5 Sept., https://altc.alt.ac.uk/2019/sessions/a-121/.

Nicol, S., Scott, A., & Campbell, L. (2019), Positioning the values and practices of open education at the core of University business. Workshop delivered at OER Conference in Galway, 10-11 April, https://oer19.oerconf.org/sessions/positioning-the-values-and-practices-of-open-education-at-the-core-of-university-business-o-088/.

Nicol, S. & Sheail, P. (2018), ‘HELP PLZ’: Navigating Minecraft as a digital education space with postgraduate students. Paper presented to the Learning and Teaching Conference in Edinburgh, 20th June, http://www.docs.hss.ed.ac.uk/iad/Learning_teaching/Academic_teaching/Events/LT_Conference/2018/s3/3E_NicolSheail_LTConf2018.pdf.

Nicol, S. (2016), Developing literacies of ‘open’ across an institution, and beyond. Paper presented to the ALT Annual Conference in Warwick, 6-8 September, https://altc.alt.ac.uk/2016/sessions/developing-literacies-of-open-across-an-institution-and-beyond-1424.

Nicol, S. (2016), Doing OER: a sociomaterial approach to understanding the complexities of OER policy and practice. Paper presented to the OER Conference in Edinburgh, 19-20 April, https://oer16.oerconf.org/sessions/doing-oer-a-sociomaterial-approach-to-understanding-the-complexities-of- oer-policy-and-practice-1142.

Nicol, S., Highton, M., & Sekhar, D. (2015), Student-led, OpenEd, and wiping away the open wash. Paper presented to the OER Conference in Cardiff, 14-15 April, https://oer15.oerconf.org/sessions/student-led-opened-and-wiping-away-the-open-wash-683.

Published papers

Gallagher, M., Nicol, S. & Breines, M. (2022) Ghost Hunting in the Broken Archives: Re-Historicizing Digital Education in an Institutional Context. Postdigital Science and Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-022-00330-3

Fawns, T., Bayne, S., Ross, J., Nicol, S., Quayle, E., Macleod, H., Howie, K. (2015), Socially reconstructing history: the Social History Timestream application, Continuum, 29(4), 522-533.

Rodger, R., Fleet, C., Nicol, S. (2010), Visualising urban geographies, e-Perimetron, 5(3), 118-131. http://www.e-perimetron.org/Vol_5_3/Vol5_3.htm.

Selected blog posts

Learning by doing: practical tips from 10 years of making Moocs. Time Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed., 13th September 2023.

Learn Ultra Base Navigation: The changing face of our virtual learning environment. Teaching Matters, 2nd May 2022.

Spotlight on Learn Foundations: Enhancing our use of the Learn VLE in different teaching settings (with Dr Paul Norris). Teaching Matters, 8th February 2021.

Building a community for learning technologists. EDE team blog, 23rd November 2020.

Spotlight on Learn Foundations: Building the foundations for a better student experience online. Teaching Matters, 11th September 2019.

Relaunch of EDE team blog. EDE team blog, 22nd May 2019.

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