CMALT ePortfolio

This ePortfolio covers the requirements from the Guidelines for CMALT candidates and assessors and should be compiled in 6 months once registered as a candidate. If you are not an individual member of ALT, you will need to join prior to submitting your portfolio.

Contact and Employment Details


 Name:  Sarah Horrigan
 Contact Details:
 Nottingham
 Blog: http://kindalearning.blogspot.com
 Photography: http://flickr.com/horrigans
 Job Title:
 Team Leader: e-Learning and Digital Media
 Department: 
 Learning & Teaching Services
 Institution:
 The University of Sheffield

Also work for the Open University in the Maths, Computing and Technology Faculty as an Associate Lecturer / Online Moderator
 Background:
Have worked within learning technology since 2001 as an Associate Lecturer / online Moderator / Consultant for The Open University and as a Senior eLearning Developer for Nottingham Trent University (2008 - 2011).  Prior to that worked within the private sector (financial services and the oil and gas sector) in ICT training and support.
 Qualifications:
 Masters in Education (Open), 2009
 MA in Online and Distance Education (Open), 2008
 Post Graduate Certificate in Professional Studies in Education (Open), 2008
 Post Graduate Certificate in Online and Distance Education (Open), 2007
 BSc, majoring in Technology and Education (Open), 2007
 BA (Hons) Economics, majoring in Natural Resources Management (Ports), 1995

Contextual Statement


In order to set your portfolio and evidence in the context of your own role, please give a brief overview (around half a page and not exceeding one page) of:
  1. your background, skills and experience, including current or recent activities or roles relevant to this application for CMALT;
  2. why you are wishing to complete the CMALT accreditation and how
  3. this relates to your future career aspirations.
An experienced eLearning Professional, I have been interested in this field since I began studying with the Open University in 2000 when I took the innovative online course, T171 – You, Your Computer and the Net.  For the past 9 years I have developed this interest through my work as an Associate Lecturer, Moderator and eLearning Developer both at the Open University (since 2001) and at Nottingham Trent University (from 2008).  I have taken every opportunity to develop my knowledge of this field by completing a BSc (Open), majoring in Technology and eLearning and a Postgraduate Certificate in Online and Distance Education in 2007; a Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Studies in Education and a Master of Arts in Online Distance Education (Open) in 2008 and a Master of Education (Open) which I completed in August 2009.  I have successfully gained a place on the part-time e-Research and Technology Enhanced Learning PhD at Lancaster University and will be starting that in February 2011.

I wish to complete the CMALT accreditation to professionalize my role and to align my academic qualifications with the hands-on experience I have gained since my first eLearning role in 2001.

I would like to continue developing the twin aspects of my career - practical and academic - during the next four years as I embark on a PhD and feel that CMALT will help to give me a solid professional platform for my career.


Core Areas


Legal Declaration

I declare that, to the best of my knowledge, the statements and evidence included in this submission accurately describe my practice and are drawn from my own work, with the input and support of others duly and clearly recognised.


 Signed:  Sarah Horrigan
  Date:  11th July 2010


** CMALT successfully achieved - August 2010 **


(Note that forms submitted electronically will be treated as if they were signed so long as the candidate’s name and date of completion are typed above.)