Tharindu Liyanagunawardena

Note: This portfolio was submitted for CMALT recognition in June 2016 and some evidence submitted is withheld due to privacy and business reasons.

Contextual statement

I am an instructional designer, a computer scientist, an educator (facilitator) and a researcher in online currently working for the University College of Estate Management (UCEM – previously known as the College of Estate Management) who is also recognised as a fellow of the HEA (Appendix 1 – Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy) for my outstanding portfolio of both online and blended delivery of educational programmes. I have a PhD in Computer Science specialising in eLearning for distance education from the University of Reading, UK (Appendix 2 – PhD Certificate). Being the software engineer in charge of the call rating system of a billing product, used by the largest mobile service operator in Sri Lanka, at the start of my career has reinforced my programming skills while my 11 years in academia as a teaching assistant, PhD student, research assistant, teaching fellow and a lecturer has helped me become an outstanding teacher. I have a passion for open online learning and I am a well-known researcher in the discipline of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). I have also been a co-creator and the lead facilitator of the University of Reading’s first MOOC “Begin Programming: build your first mobile game” on the FutureLearn platform. This course completed five iterations while I was the lead facilitator from 2013-2015 with over 125,000 registered learners.

Graduated with a first class honours degree in BSc Engineering specialising in Computer Science and Engineering (Appendix 3 – BSc Engineering Certificate, Appendix 4 – BSc Engineering Transcript), I worked as a software engineer for the Millennium Information Technologies (Sri Lanka) now the technology partner for the London Stock Exchange. During my four years with the Millennium Information Technologies I was entrusted to lead the call rating system that processed over 200 million call records a month. Once I joined the academia on invitation, at the University of Moratuwa (Sri Lanka) I pioneer the use of online selection tests for competitive postgraduate courses especially the MBA in IT offered by the Computer Science and Engineering department at the University of Moratuwa. Since joining the University of Reading for my PhD studies as the winner of the University of Reading Overseas Postgraduate studentship, I have been a teaching assistant for various undergraduate programmes at the School of Systems Engineering providing lab support for programming and assessing coursework. On completing my PhD, I was offered the position of a research assistant at the same university in the School of Systems Engineering to continue my research in online learning. I lead the research into a systematic review of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) literature resulting in “MOOCs: A Systematic Study of the Published Literature 2008-2012” publication in the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL) with over 275 citations to date (as of February 12, 2016). I was also instrumental in creating the University of Reading’s first MOOC, “Begin Programming: build your first mobile game” on the FutureLearn platform. I have also been involved with the “Begin Robotics” MOOC offered by the University of Reading that used interactive web pages to simulate robot behaviours to engage participants in difficult to grasp topics. I was then promoted to the position of a Teaching Fellow at the University of Reading. Since then I have moved on to accept a new position as an instructional designer and the chair of Online Learning Research Centre at the University College of Estate Management (UCEM).

I am applying for CMALT recognition because as a relative new comer to the Instructional Design profession, albeit working in similar online learning environments, it is important to associate with likeminded professionals to improve my practise. I believe by associating with the ALT, I would be able to access a huge pool of knowledge and experience in online learning that would otherwise will not be available to me. Also UCEM is keen to obtain professional recognition for their employees in establishing itself as the leading online vocational university.