Another three years … what’s next? #CMALT

In November 2013 I finally completed my CMALT portfolio and achieved the much lauded CMALT accreditation. Three (and quite a bit) years later I have successfully completed the required three year review to keep my status as CMALT certified valid. So, what’s happened?

Firstly, for those interested, here are some links to previous posts I’ve written about both the process of gaining CMALT accreditation with the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) and what it means to me:

[bctt tweet=”What is a Learning Technologist? Here @hopkinsdavid explains how #CMALT helped him understand the question.” via=”no”]

From my submitted review, here is the 500 word summary that is required (but not part of the assessment). Bear in mind the 500 word limit … you try and condense three and a bit years into an effective and appropriate summary for the portfolio!


My current role is so vastly different to the work I was doing when I gained my CMALT back in November, 2013, that it’s quite difficult to ‘update’. This will be a good exercise in understanding how I have changed, within myself, as well as my work and professional outlook. 

I joined Warwick Business School (WBS) in May, 2014, as a Teaching and Learning Consultant, a world away from the role I held at Leicester. The main differences are in the line management of a team and the level of responsibility for core business school activity. 

Since first obtaining my CMALT I have

  • developed MOOCs for Warwick University and managed the partnership with FutureLearn,
  • taken an increasingly active role in WBS for aspects of teaching and learning on the world’s number 1 distance learning MBA and on internally developed and run SPOCs, and
  • written two further books on the subjects of educational technology. 

For the Warwick MOOCs I have:

These MOOCs have taken me, and my skills, further than I ever could have managed. Not only have I managed the development of these MOOCs (both technically and pedagogically) but I have developed my skills and responsible, across different faculties, for various aspects of the developing online courses, internally for WBS and externally on behalf of Warwick, including:

  • Line managing a team of four excellent videographers who have filmed, edited, rendered, tested and maintained consistently high quality of materials for the Warwick MBA and Warwick MOOCs, including audio manipulation, studio green-screen, on- and off-campus filming duties (author Stephen Fry, on-location filming at John Lewis Partnership and the House of Commons, and the wonderful Sir Ian McKellen).
  • Designing and implementing materials and activities for the Warwick online MBA, to match the course objectives, learning journey, and ensuring the intended outcome and assessment criteria are met.
  • Self- and team-management skills to enable multiple courses to run multiple times each year, as well as planning and maintaining the team’s ability to film and edit materials from multiple sources and for multiple courses.
  • Multi-discipline negotiations on course design and development.
  • Managing facilitator engagement in the run up to new course presentations as well as their engagement and input during each presentation and the differing experiences each cohort of learners bring. 

Internally at WBS I work closely with academic groups, module leaders and tutors to develop new modules, redevelop existing ones (based on changes to the subject area and student feedback), engage with the academic groups to share and collaborate across the MBA disciplines and report on developments to the School’s senior management team.
Word count: 479

As promised I’ve updated my CMALT portfolio with a new page for my (first) 3 year review.

So, what will the next three years bring … ? Exciting stuff, cant’ wait!