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Professional biography
I joined the Open University in Wales as a tutor in the mid-1980s, shortly after completing my PhD on the poetry of John Clare at the University of Wales, Cardiff. Since then, I’ve taught modules in a range of subjects with the OU, including European Studies and the MA in Education, as well as my current specialisms of English Literature and Creative Writing. I also worked for periods during that time as a part-time lecturer at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, and the University of Wales Lampeter.
Teaching interests
During my time at Lampeter, I devised and delivered university-wide courses in Study Skills and English for Academic Purposes. I have retained an interest in the teaching of academic literacy since then, which has acquired a new focus on students’ skills for learning in online environments. I received an OU Teaching Award in 2008 for my work in introducing synchronous online tuition into a module that recruited a significant proportion of students from outside the UK. I obtained a postgraduate Diploma in Post-Compulsory Education from the OU in the 1990s, in which my final project focused on what was then the under-developed field of teaching Creative Writing. I'm now a member of the module production team for the revised version of A215 Creative Writing.
Online Rooms
Thomas, Rhodri and Spencer, Clare
In : All‐Wales AL Staff Development Event (16-17 Jun 2017, Cardiff)