Danny McDougall

Danny
McDougall

Biography

Danny McDougall joined the TQ(FE) team this year as a tutor on a part-time secondment from his role as Staff Development Manager at Anniesland College in Glasgow. Previously he had worked as an Associate Member of staff and College Coordinator on the programme since 2005. He also has extensive experience of initial teacher training (ITT) gained through involvement with the delivery of PDA ITT at his college and in his role since 2003 as Teacher Fellow on the University of Stirling's TQ(FE) programme. His role at Dundee gives him an opportunity to continue an interest in supporting teachers through the process of enhancing their ability to deliver a high quality learning experience for FE students.

As is fairly common in FE, Danny gained his academic qualifications quite late in his career. After working for many years in industry, he completed a BA (Hons) Social Sciences with Major in Psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University in 1995 then immediately embarked on a MSc IT course at the University of Paisley, which he successfully completed in 1997. Research interest in both Degree and Masters dissertations centred on the use of computer games to facilitate and enhance the learning and teaching process. Whilst completing his Masters dissertation for the latter course, Danny secured a part-time lecturing position, teaching Multimedia Design and Production, at Anniesland College. This was quickly consolidated into a full-time permanent position. In 2004 he was appointed Staff Development Manager for the college. He gained a TQ(FE) from the University of Stirling in 2002 and a Masters in Education at the same institution in 2010. Research interest for his MEd dissertation was the use of video-recording in Microteaching to enhance the ability of students on initial teacher training courses for FE to reflect on their practice.

Research

Danny has been involved in a range of ESF-funded projects supporting learning, teaching and assessment practice in the sector since 1998. Most of this work has involved the development of strategies and structures to support the delivery of online learning and teaching. His current interest is in a collaborative Grundtvig-funded project with six international partners that aims to identify best practice in the use of multimedia platforms and technologies to enhance teachers' competence in delivering learning and teaching.

Danny is one of three practitioner representatives from the FE sector on the Professional Learning and Development Forum for Scotland and also serves on the Steering Group of Scotland's Colleges Professional Development Community of Practice.