Overview
Role responsibilities
- I am a Learning Designer and School Partner for the School of Engineering. My role is to support and provide guidance on learning & teaching practices, micro-credential course development, pedagogy and learning tools to academic and professional staff. Further, I am involved in designing and delivering CPD courses to enhance the digital capabilities of academic and professional staff.
Key work/specialisms
- Make recommendations on learning designs and technology enhancements.
- Encourage digital engagement of the staff to provide a blended learning experience.
- Promote the development of accessible content to support learning and teaching.
Research
Hooley, F., Somaratne, P., Davies, A. and Davies. A. (2022, September). Co-creating a clinical data science curriculum to transform practice. In [2022-Lyon] Association for Health Professions Education.
Somaratne, P (2021, November). Identify reasons for passive behaviour of Asian students during collaborative work. In: International Research Symposium (IRS) 2021, Faculty of Education, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Somaratne, P., & Ortega, M. G. (2019, August). Exploring the Effectiveness of a Virtual Collaborative Learning Activity. In: [2019-MADRID] Congreso Internacional de Tecnología, Ciencia y Sociedad.
Somaratne, P and Weerasinghe, T (2016), Exploring Student Interactions Through Classroom and Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, In: L. G. Chova, A. L. Martínez, I. C. Torres (Eds.) Proceedings of EDULEARN16 Conference, 4th-6th July 2016, Barcelona, Spain. (pp. 2194–2200). ISBN: 978-84-608-8860-4
Somaratne, R. M. P. N. (2015), Exploring the user experiences of collaborative online learning. In: IEEE Fifteenth International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer), 268-268. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICTER.2015.7377701
Biography
I have been an academic for nearly ten years, contributing to undergraduate and postgraduate course delivery. After my PhD in technology-enhanced learning, I changed my career and entered digital education development.
In 2018, as an E-learning Developer at the University of Buckingham, I contributed to the design of an online BSc in Operation Excellence course for Boston Scientific. Then at the University of Manchester, I was the Learning Technologist for a project that designed a PGCert course for the NHS. In 2022, I joined the Cardiff Learning and Teaching Academy as a Learning Designer.
Professional memberships
Member of Association for Learning Technology
Supervisions
My research interests are:
- Digital Education
- Using Virtual Spaces for Active Learning
- Research Methods in Education
- Influence of Culture on Active Learning