Anthony Russell B.A.,Dip Ed., DASE., M.Ed., M.Sc., (Geog) M.Sc., (Ed. Man.) is a senior researcher with Ultralab, a globally respected educational research and development laboratory based at Anglia Ruskin in Chelmsford, Essex.
Anthony has worked in secondary education, further education, and higher education and is presently involved in the development and facilitation of ‘Ultraversity’, a radical new online, undergraduate degree. Ultraversity has broken new methodological ground and specifically, within a school context, is contributing to remodeling the workforce. Anthony is also involved in Ultralab's masters' programme.
Anthony was seconded to Tesco in 1999 as part of a two man team dedicated to organize Northern Ireland’s contribution to the UK’s Award winning Internet Project, Tesco Schoolnet 2000. He Joined APU (Anglia Ruskin) and Ultralab in 2000 as a senior researcher working to create Talking Heads and the other Virtual Communities that now represent the online arm of the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). He later worked in the development and facilitation of ‘Leading from the Middle’, a groundbreaking leadership programme for middle managers in English secondary schools. Talking Heads, beyond seeking collegiality among school leaders, had the immediate impact of linking policy makers and practitioners, giving a voice to school heads independent of geography and sector. As a member of the Ultralab team Anthony was a contributor to Chapman
C, Ramondt L,(Eds), 2003, Online Communities - Final Report:
Developments in the Communities of Practice and the Programme
Communities - September 2002 to 31st October 2003 NCSL.
In 2004 Anthony evaluated, for DfES, Africa Bookcase’s Gemini Project that used innovative software to link schools in England with schools in the developing world. He has presented papers on online communities at the ITTE Conference 2002 (Trinity) http://www.ultralab.ac.uk/papers/ and the CAL Conference 2003 (QUB). Challenges Now
For six years Anthony has been a guest lecturer on the Masters in Education Programme at St. Mary’s University College, Belfast. For Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) and Ulster University he has written the, “Shaping Borderlands” module for the BA in Humanities in Borderland Studies. This module is a blend of face to face learning and online dialogue. He is also involved in developing and delivering the research methods module for Borderlands. At present Anthony is working with 5 other universities from a variety of countries in the creation and delivery of the Collier project, funded by the European Commission. The aim is to provide a novel, blended learning experience for school leaders associated with the participating institutions. Collier also involves collective research on the different countries’ development of school leadership. Anthony is also a co-researcher pan-European project mG-BL (mobile Games-Based Learning), which is funded by the EU under 6th Framework, Priority 2, IST (see www.mg-bl.com )
Within Northern Ireland, in the summer of 2003, Anthony, along with his colleague, Martin Doherty, instigated and led Ultralab's first Northern Ireland cross community digital video workshop. It was the first time youth community groups around the Ormeau Road had come together. As a result of these links, in 2005, the Ballysillan and Mornington community groups went on an X-Plore visit to South Africa.
For Newry and Mourne District Council, Anthony has chaired cross community commemorations of the Great Famine and the 1798 Rebellion. He also led the Newry and Mourne Millennium Company and remains involved in cross community work.
