Geraint Lang's Profile

Online facilitation and project management, e-Learning & online CPD, Physical Education, sport & Outdoor Education, environmental issues, education management, Special Educational Needs, online collaboration, re-engaging local communities in e-democracy, digital media, use of the online environment to promote the development of Celtic languages (Scottish Gaelic and Welsh).

I am particularly interested in the potential that participation in outdoor activities has in the overall and continued development of the individual. Originally as a teacher of pupils with special educational needs, and as a past associate lecturer in further education, I often observed the positive steps individual pupils and students took towards developing their self-confidence when successfully overcoming some of the challenges they encountered in the outdoor environment. To this end, I have extensively used digital video to record student progress in this way.

The advent of the web-log, more often referred to as the ‘blog’ has afforded a hitherto previously unavailable opportunity for local communities to engage online without the inconvenience of having to regularly meet face to face. In an age when community spirit is seen to be lacking in some areas, where often individuals don’t have the time to meet face to face as often, the blog offers a means of re-engaging in the dialogue. Better that than no engagement at all!

How did I come to be at the lab?
Having taught pupils with special educational needs for twenty years, I first became involved in working directly with Ultralab in 1998 via the Tesco SchoolNet 2000 project-a unique, ground-breaking undertaking to record online the observations of children and young people from all parts of the United Kingdom, concerning their lives, local environments, schools, families, and their visions for the future.

At the conclusion of that fantastic project in December 1999, Ultralab offered the opportunity for some of the Tesco SchoolNet 2000 advisory team to establish and develop an online community for a pilot group of newly appointed headteachers in England. This project was called Talking Heads. My senior management background in teaching had been an essential qualification for the Tesco project, and was a similar prerequisite for the Talking Heads project, providing me with the necessary understanding of the school systems of both England and Wales.

Along with my fellow facilitation team members, we were able to develop a successful online community of senior practitioners from the field of state school education, whilst simultaneously researching the practice of online facilitation and sustaining engagement in such virtual environments.

The invaluable knowledge gained through the Talking Heads project enabled me to later work for two years developing a similar project in Wales, working with the Welsh Assembly Government. That project, called ‘Pen-i-Ben’ (Welsh for headteacher to headteacher) involved the introduction of a new dimension to this type of work, namely providing online facilitation through the medium of Welsh.

‘Roedd gofyn am gyfrwng Gymraeg ym meddalwedd Pen-i-Ben lle ‘roedd modd i benaethiaid Cymraeg eu hiaith ymdrafod materion unigryw iddyn’ nhw’.

(Translation: There was a need within the Pen-i-Ben online environment for Welsh-speaking headteachers to discuss matters unique to them.)

Both the Talking Heads and Pen-i-Ben projects afforded me further research opportunities into the value of collaborative working between educationalists separated not only geographically but also by time differences. Head teachers in both Scotland and Wales quickly saw the potential offered by the online environment in providing unique opportunities for them to engage in online dialogue concerning teaching through both the media of Welsh and Scottish Gaelic.To this end, a couple of us from Ultralab facilitated a short-term online conference space where Welsh-speaking headteachers engaged collaboratively with their Gaelic-speaking colleagues.

In a similar undertaking to the Gaelic-Welsh experience, educationalists from five different countries (from three continents no less) derived similar benefits in terms of knowledge gained from contributing to the online dialogue with a global expert on Inclusion. At the conclusion of these projects, I joined the learning facilitation team responsible for working with the third cohort of researchers enrolled with Ultralab’s ULTRAVERSITY project.

I have also contributed to other Ultralab research projects, including the Summer School Wales project, and the BBC Blast Project .(In both projects I led the delivery of specific events through the medium of Welsh in the use of digital video and animation).

Formally I have a B Ed (Hons) in Physical Education and Special Education and a Cert Ed in Education (Biology, Physics & Outdoor Education)
I also posses a Master of Science degree in Education Management.

Ultralab continues to provide me with opportunities to ‘research, apply and disseminate the benefits of new technologies’ (from Ultralab’s mission statement).