robert fitzgerald, phd

Areas of Interest:

• Elearning and the application of Web2.0 and social technologies such as blogs, wikis and folksonomies (tagging) to learning and problem solving.
• ICT integration and the application of collaborative technologies to learning and teaching; the development of online communities of practice; and the use of team meeting systems such as Zing.
• Application of ICT for development (ICT4D) with recent successful experience working on a rural information and capacity building project in Cambodia.
• Activity Theory (cf Engestrom); Communities of Practice (cf Lave; Wenger) and Social Psychology (cf Vygotsky, Luria and Leontiev).
• Active builder-user currently working with Drupal, Moodle, Wordpress, Mediawiki, Elgg, OpenAcademic and other systems built on the LAMP platform.

Currently working on:

• Organising the 6th International Conference on Imagination and Education to be held in Canberra from 29-31 January 2008.
• Digital Learning Communities (Carrick Institute for learning and teaching in Higher Education)
• Electronic Marketing Communication Systems in Cambodia (Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research)

Writing:

• Fitzgerald, R.N., Spriggs, J. & Nou Keosothea (In progress). Using short messaging services to promote communication and exchange between maize and soybean producers and traders in western Cambodia. Australian Institute of Sustainable Communities, University of Canberra. September, 2007.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. & Spriggs, J. (2007). Improving the marketing system for maize and soybeans in Cambodia (ASEM2003/012). Technical Report, Australian Institute of Sustainable Communities, University of Canberra, Available from http://www.aisc.org.au/.
• Haralmabous, B., Fitzgerald, R.N. & Nielsen, T.W. (2007). Imagination and Education. Education Review, 17, 6, pg11.
• Fitzgerald, R.N. (2007). A longitudinal study of the use of Integrated Learning Systems (ILS) in the areas of mathematics and reading in selected Australian primary schools.Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2007. Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
• Fitzgerald, R.N., Barass, S.,Bruns, A.,Campbell, J.,Miles, A.,Hinton, S.,Whitelaw, M. & Ryan, Y. (2007). Digital Learning Communities (DLC): Investigating the application of social software to support networked learning. Poster to be presented at ED-MEDIA 2007--World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications, Vancouver, Canada.