Biography
Dr Alan Arnold is currently the Manager, Curriculum, Innovation and Quality in the Teaching & Learning Centre at the University of Canberra.
In previous roles he was Program Manager and then Director, Learning Environments at the University of Canberra (2008-13), Manager, Educational Technology Services and a Director of Information and Education Services at the University of Melbourne (2006-7), Leader of the Teaching and Learning Environments program in the Division of Information at the Australian National University (2002-7), and Director, Flexible Learning at the Australian Defence Force Academy campus of the University of New South Wales (1998-2002).
He has represented the Universities of Canberra and Melbourne, the ANU and UNSW@ADFA on the Australasian Council for Open, Distance and E-Learning (ACODE), is a member of Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE), the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (ODLAA), and has been a member of the Product Advisory Board of WebCT Inc. He is a Fellow of Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and has represented the Institute on the Board of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS).
Alan obtained his BSc from Melbourne University in 1975 and his PhD from the University of Tasmania in 1983. After working as Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta, Canada he returned to the University of Tasmania in Hobart as lecturer in the Department of Chemistry in 1984 and subsequently to the Chemistry Department at the University College, Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in Canberra in 1987. In 1993 he was awarded a University College award for Teaching Excellence and in 1998 was appointed Director, Flexible & Distance Education. He has published 40 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals and many conference presentations. In 1998 he formed the Nanostructures and Molecular Design group at ADFA with Drs Anthony Day and Rodney Blanch. The group holds 5 international patents for its work on the family of molecular "containers" called cucurbiturils. In 2002 he left ADFA to join the Scholarly Technology Services group at the ANU.
He has a long-standing interest in science teaching and was lecturer for the Australian Chemistry Olympiad scheme between 1987 and 2004 and AChO Deputy Director, 2003-4. He was Chair of the Scientific Jury for the 30th International Chemistry Olympiad in Melbourne, 1998 and team-leader for the Australian teams at the International Chemistry Olympiads in Lodz (1991), Oslo (1993) and Montreal (1997), and scientific observer in Athens (2003).
