Mayes, Terry Photo

Professor Terry Mayes

Emeritus Professor of Lifelong Learning

Academic Development and Student Learning

terry.mayes@gmail.com

Terry Mayes has enjoyed a long career in teaching and research, and latterly in learning and teaching aspects of HE policy. After a PhD in Human Learning from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Terry’s early work in educational technology was followed by 14 years as a lecturer in psychology at the University of Strathclyde, with a research interest in cognitive aspects of learning.

Since the mid-eighties, his research has centred on the development of technology-enhanced learning in higher education. He was Deputy Director of the Scottish Human-Computer Interaction Centre at Strathclyde University from 1986-1990, and then Director of Research in the Institute for Computer-Based Learning (ICBL) at Heriot-Watt University from the Institute’s formation in 1990. In ICBL the research programme was funded under five different EU programmes, directly by industry (Digital & BT), and through both University Funding Council and Research Council projects.

The main theme of Terry's research and writing has been to apply learning theory to the understanding of pedagogy, with a particular focus on enhancement through technology. During the late 1990s, he led collaborative projects funded through the UK Research Councils (both the Economic and Social Research Council and The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) involving research on the educational potential of vicarious learning. His subsequent research has extended more widely into the study of learning cultures.

Since the early 1990s, Terry has been increasingly involved in learning and teaching policy. He was a member of the MacFarlane Committee which produced a report on the potential for learning technology in higher education, the significance of which was reflected in the subsequent Dearing Report.

He became a member of the learning and teaching committee for the Scottish Funding Council, in which capacity he sat on the JISC (Joint Information Services Committee) main committee.

In 1996 Terry joined GCU where he headed the academic practice area and chaired the University’s learning and teaching committee. He shared the chairing of two of the Scottish Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) sector-wide enhancement themes (flexible learning and the first-year experience) and was a member of the QAA advisory committee on the introduction of ELIR (Enhancement-Led Institution Review).

Subsequently, he has been the formative evaluator/critical friend for the Higher Education Academy (HEA) Benchmarking programme and has coordinated the team of critical friends through the Pathfinder (HEFCE: Higher Education Funding Council for England) and Gwella (HEFCW: Higher Education Funding Council for Wales) programmes. He also acted as e-pedagogy advisor on the Scottish e-learning Transformation Project TESEP (Transforming and Enhancing the Student Experience through Pedagogy), 2006-9. In 2012 he was appointed as adviser to the Scottish enhancement theme: Developing and Supporting the Curriculum.

Internationally, since the late 1980s Terry has acted in numerous capacities in EU Framework and related programmes, both as research participant and reviewer. He has acted as an external advisor at the National Science Foundation in the USA, at NUI Galway, and at the University of Cape Town. During 2019 he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Eswatini. In 2007 Terry was awarded an honorary life membership of ALT (Association for Learning Technology).

A small selection of representative publications: