Bob has had extensive experience in schools and colleges as a teacher, lecturer, seniour manager, Principal, Governor. He has worked with Head teachers and senior leaders in developing leadership skills for the National College of School Leadership, was the adviser to DfES on the FE Principals Qualification, was Digital/eLearning adviser for the DfES Standards Unit and was the lead on Digital Futures for the Building Schools for the Future Leadership programme, where he designed and delivered the programme at National level for several local authorities.
Bob is also Chair of Governors at Northern College, Governor at Oldham College and Visiting Professor at the University of Wolverhampton University.
Bob was made an Honorary Life member of CGLI for services to Vocational Education following 12 years as Chief Examiner and followed this as Lead Moderator for BTEC National, Higher and First Awards.
He was Toshiba's Northern European Education Adviser for 16 years and is a writer, presenter and researcher on mobile learning, digital technologies and next generation learning. He is a BERA member and recently presented at BERA 2019 on "Digitisation and Academisation".
He is an active member of the Association for Learning Technology and was the ALT FE Ambassador as well as a member of the conference programme committee.
Bob was a member of the British Computer Society/Royal Academy of Engineering working group which redrafted the ICT National Curriculum to make it more "ambitious and challenging". He also chaired the computing expert group established by the DfE to support teachers and teacher educators in the transition to the new computing curriculum.
He was Chair of the Teaching Schools New Technology Advisory Board, a HE/Industry/Schools/DfE/NCTL group which aimed to ensure that the next generation of teachers have the necessary skills to prepare children for their lives as workers and digital citizens in the 3rd Millenium.
Bob was a leading member of the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group and a member of the Ministerial Education Technology Action Group chaired by Professor Stephen Heppell. He was also a member of the DCMS Cybersecurity Skills and Education Advisory Board.
Bob regularly visits Palo Alto campus of Stanford University to research current developments and is particularly interested in the "education's digital future" at Stanford and is an assessor at the Graduate School of Education for the Masters programme Learning Design with Technology.
He was a Board member of the UfI Trust, a £60m charity supporting innovative developments in the use of technology for teaching, learning and assessment in further vocational and adult education. A Judge for the BETT Awards, TES FE Awards, Reimagine Education Awards, e-Assessment Awards and the EdTechUK Awards.
Bob was a member of the BIS FE and Skills Area based review advisory group helping to reshape the FE landscape towards a more digital future.
Bob was recently shortlisted for the TES FE "Lifetime Achievement Award" for services to Further, Vocational and Adult Education.
He has been a member of HMCTS sitting on Employment Tribunal since 2000 and retires this year.
Join his following on twitter @bobharrisonedu
