Richard Stals
Future-education leader. Learning technology. Believes wholeheartedly in the transformative power of learning.
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Experience

Influential Education and Technology leader with over 17 years of achievement in leveraging advances in technology to drive innovative and integrated ICT solutions within the Education sector.

Committed to a whole-of-organisation approach in devloping world-class solutions and processes. Act as a change agent and up-front communicator championing transformation at all levels of the organisation through data-driven decisions.

Embodies a culture of excellence, service-first and continuous improvement to provide robust, trusted and flexible solutions for the organisation. Passionate about creating cohesive and collaborative teams that provide high value to the business.

  • 2019 - Present

    Solutions Engineer - Blackboard

    Business development with existing and prospective organizations through one-on-one meetings with C-level decision makers, tradeshow and conference presentations as well as formal submissions to request for response from organizations including whole-of-nation education departments.

    Given the Innovation Award for using engaging Virtual Reality technology in Education in order to engage current and prospective clients. Resulted in achieving television coverage for the company.

  • 2014 - 2019

    Learning Systems - Edith Cowan University

    I drove the implementation of the learning analytics platform which gave us for the first-time ever a consolidated view of online learning activity and outcomes across the university.

    Increased our ability for data-driven decision in rolling out a program of detailed support and engagement statistical tracking and reporting. This increased the ability to plan for capacity growth for further expansion in support services.

    I helped shift the relationships with our external vendors away from simple product suppliers to problem-solving partners through investing time in clearly communicating our needs and strategic vision and upping the expectations for a value-added partnership.

  • 2009 - 2013

    Learning Solutions - Edith Cowan University

    I gave policy advice and development to encourage the growth and capacity of the technology and processes supporting our educational goals.

    I provided guidance to Faculties, Schools and Centres on the adoption of learning systems and the strategies needed to support sound pedagogy.

    I developed and managed the implementation of a resource development initiative that increased the breadth and clarity of communication of the service and product catalog that supportied our teaching and learning.

  • 2009 - 2011

    Sessional Academic - Edith Cowan University

    I taught as a sessional staff academic for 4 years within the University Preparation Course.

    Student evaluation reports were never lower than 92% agreement (three of the four semesters were at 100%)!

  • 2007-2009

    Entrepreneur Business Owner

    Created a software system to record and monitor remote staff health and safety compliance for a Perth-based mining services company. This enabled the company to track compliance real-time for the first time in the company’s history.

    I was a key member of the team that installed and implementated the Information Technology systems upgrade to the University of Western Australia’s Learning Management System infrastructure upgrade.

  • 2005 - 2007

    Learning Management Systems - University of Western Australia

    I drove a complete redesign of the support team processes and technologies to provide staff a single point of contact for requesting and tracking support and training needs.

    I led the project and change management of the major system upgrade resulting in very high satisfaction from academic staff.

    I achieved a 600% reduction in processing time by redesigning the integration of the student management and learning management systems.

  • 2004-2005

    Technology Development Manager - Domain Technology Australia

    I led the technology development of our flagship school information management product.

    I facilitated the technical negotiations for the sale of the start-up.

  • 2001 - 2004

    Computer Support - Kingsway Christian College

    I worked in a small team supporting 320+ computers over two campuses.

    I provided installation, troubleshooting and maintenance as well as small-scale custom software solutions.

Speaking

Invited keynotes, workshops and conference presentations.

Panellist: 18th World Education Summit 2021 Higher Education

Innovation and Entrepreneurship for fostering growth in Higher Education in 2021

Presentation: Blackboard - Teaching and Learning ANZ Conference

VR, AR & MR - How technology is changing learning & teaching

Invited Keynote: Griffith University - Learning Futures

Virtual Reality, Simulations and Serious Games: What is out there and where should we go?

Invited presentations: University of Western Australia - mLearning Month

Virtual Worlds, Simulations and Serious Games: Unity3D, SCORM and Blackboard Learn & Adapting to win: making learning technologies work for you.

Conference Presentations: Blackboard's ANZ Teaching and Learning Conference, Webinar and the Apple University Consortium's CreateWorld

Topics include:
Learning Analytics,
Going Mobile - Anytime, Anywhere Access to learning content, information and expertise,
Learner Support,
Virtual Reality, Simulations and Serious Games

Projects

Some interesting and innovative projects I have created through the years.
Click the image for more information on each one.

Digital Songlines: Mobile location-based learning experiences

Create modern-day songlines for your students that leverage well-documented Aboriginal pedagogies to embed learning techniques that connect with your Aboriginal students.

Mass Casualty Serious Game

Simulation training is a key part of a healthcare professional’s education. Standardised patients and partial task trainers such as intubation heads have been used for decades. Advances in technology have seen a growing number of high-fidelity mannequins, virtual reality and computer-based simulations expand the scenarios that can be simulated.

Paramedics Virtual World Prototype

For the new Paramedics Masters set at a local University, I was asked to develop a prototype scenario to teach the students how to triage in a Mass Casualty Incident.

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