I am an Edinburgh-born educational technologist and author, who retired in 2023 as Head of Programme Development at University College London (UCL). Over a varied career, I held roles as a consultant, developer and manager at Imperial College London, Glasgow Caledonian University, the University of St Andrews and UMIST (now part of the University of Manchester). I also taught for a decade as an Associate Lecturer with The Open University on the Masters in Online and Distance Education, and directed numerous UK- and Europe-wide educational projects. My main interests have been digital methods, distance learning, accessibility and design for learning. I am co-creator of the widely adopted ABC Learning Design method, and co-editor of ABC: Active, Blended, Connected and Beyond (2026, UCL Press).

I graduated as a botanist from the University of St Andrews, gained a PhD researching seaweed on the Isle of Man, and worked for the NHS in Glasgow before realising I was an educator at heart.

Alongside my academic career, I have maintained a longstanding interest in the Scots language I grew up speaking as a bairn in East Central Scotland. In 1996 I created one of the first Scots-language websites, coining the term wabsteid, and I continue to curate an extensive archive of Scots in the media. My book Unlocking Scots (Luath Press, 2023; updated 2025) explores the history and sociolinguistics of Scots, and I am currently working on a follow-up examining how the language can be promoted and developed. I was recently appointed Secretary of the Scots Language Centre.

I live in Glasgow with my wife, Deb, and our lurcher, Cooper.

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Side note I have always been fascinated by language, both in terms of how it works but also how it is used by people and groups. I have tried to learn several languages with varying degrees of success. This 2021 webinar for a London schools group is a kind of journey through my own curious language history, attempting to explain why I find languages so intriguing.