The Open University’s new Vice-Chancellor is to be Martin Bean, who will take up his appointment on 1 October 2009, following Professor Brenda Gourley's retirement in September.
Martin Bean is currently General Manager responsible for product management, marketing and business development for the Worldwide Education Products Group at Microsoft.
Pro-Chancellor Lord Haskins of Skidby, who chaired the appointments committee that unanimously chose Martin Bean, said: “We live in extraordinary times. At this critical point in the development of higher education in the web-driven knowledge economy, The Open University needs an extraordinary person to lead it. Martin Bean is that extraordinary person.”
Martin Bean said: “It is an honour to have been selected as the next Vice-Chancellor of The Open University to lead a community which has already achieved so much.
“I look forward to combining my passion for education and technology to lead The Open University over the coming years, as we continue to provide innovative and high quality distance education solutions to meet the needs of the 21st century.”
Professor Gourley welcomed the appointment: “I am delighted that Martin has been chosen and know that his tremendous record of success in technology enabled education is going to be of inestimable benefit to the future of this University. He is a leader of great intellect and charisma and I hope you will join me in welcoming him to our community.”
Martin Bean has held senior executive positions in North America, Asia Pacific and Europe, and brings to the role more than 20 years experience in global business training and education. He has held executive management roles in leading organisations, including Novell Inc., Sylvan Learning, Thomson Learning, and New Horizons Computer Learning Centres, Inc.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Adult Education from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, and lives in Bellevue, Washington, with his wife and three daughters.
links
Printer-friendly version
Comments (3)
Submitted by dramaqueen on Friday 28 November 2008 - 12:42.
Here's some recent views expressed by Martin Bean:
Martin Bean, the vice-chancellor designate for the Open University, has publicly expressed his passion for technology and education working in partnership.
He believes there are five key areas where technology has the greatest opportunity to improve the educational experience for everybody.
• broadening access to education for all
• enabling student-centered learning
• enhancing learning with powerful software tools
• creating powerful learning communities at all levels
• improving the efficiency of education systems
Broadening access means extending the reach of the best tutors and learning materials to anywhere they're needed, including rural and undeveloped areas, effectively breaking down the barriers of time, distance, and cost.
“There really isn't any other vehicle in the world like technology with its ability to do that. You can look at vehicles like Wikipedia and YouTube that are proof points to show what technology can do to revolutionise the way content gets distributed and used by people,” he said.
Tools and resources that allow for greater individualisation of learning and insight-driven software tools that enable teachers to guide students along their own learning paths are critical.
“Think of it as almost dashboard-like. Imagine if you are an educator and, in a dashboard environment, you can monitor individualized profiles of how your students are doing and whether you need to speed them up, slow them down, remediate them, know the best content to provide them to help them be successful, “ he adds.
Martin Bean believes in supporting the acquisition of 21st Century skills to help students become lifelong learners with critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration skills.
“Think of it as social networking meets education. Again, we've really only scratched the surface here.”
Equally important, he says, is connecting students, their supporters and administrators to share information and track student progress; and connecting classrooms with published content and subject experts from around the world.
He admits that administration efficiencies may not catch the headlines but says: “ Imagine if we could dramatically improve the efficiency and even return two, five, or 10 percent of the time back to tutors and students to be focused on learning and outcomes rather than getting tied up in bureaucracy, reporting, or measurements. You can look at multiple places where technology has streamlined processes and all of that time can be returned to teaching and learning.”
Submitted by benwiggy on Friday 12 December 2008 - 08:37.
An Ex-Microsoft man as Vice-Chancellor.
The OU does not use open standards for its documents and only supports the Windows OS.
No connection between the two, I suppose?
Staggering that a body like the "Open" University, designed to bring education to All, restricts its students to using non-standard expensive Microsoft software, when there are industry-standard, open alternatives.
Submitted by jjc_uk on Friday 12 December 2008 - 15:26.
benwiggy My thoughts exactly, I was very concerned after reading the recent sesame article reference open standards.
However it seems to be a well known fact that the teaching prefession are loathe to change.
The open documents standard should be forced upon establishments to preserve future compatability and prevent vendor tie in
follow this link for a jaw dropping srory on some teachers understanding of the matter
http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/linux-stop-holding-our-kids-back.html