Staff profile

Mark is a Senior Learning Designer at the Durham Centre for Academic Development and has worked at the University since 2020. His particular areas of expertise are pedagogic design for online and blended learning and learners’ collaboration in online environments. 

Mark holds a BSc from the University of Birmingham, an MScEcon from Cardiff University, an MA in Consultancy from the University of Wolverhampton, a PhD in Education from the University of Warwick and an MA from the Open University. He is a Senior Fellow of the HEA and in 2021 was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship for his research and teaching using virtual reality and videoconferencing.

Mark is also the co-host of Pedagodzilla, a podcast about learning and teaching explained through the lens of pop culture examples. His latest book, based on the podcast, explores basic learning and teaching principles, and is available at this link. 

• Learner Experience
• Learner Identities
• Online collaboration
• Presence and Embodiment
• Virtual Reality

• 2000:

  Visiting Fellow Edge Hill University

  : Visiting Fellow Edge Hill University

Chapter in book

• Childs, M., & Childs, A. (2020). “Chapter 17: Relating and Acting: Learning, Embodiment and Performance in Virtual Worlds”. In L. Campbell (Ed.), Leap into Action: Critical Performance Pedagogies in Art and Design Education (247-258). Peter Lang

Conference Paper

• Ferguson, R., Childs, M., Okada, A., Sheehy, K., Tatlow-Golden, M., & Childs, A. (2020, December). Creating a Framework of fun and Learning: Using Balloons to Build Consensus. Presented at 14th European Conference on Games Based Learning - ECGBL 2020 , 23-25 Sep 2020, Brighton

Journal Article

• Brown, A., Childs, M., & Youdale, J. (online). Theatre in the round: a study of the effectiveness of 360-degree video and VR to address critical questions in the teaching and learning of drama. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2024.2434760
• Cormier, D., Jandrić, P., Childs, M., Hall, R., White, D., Phipps, L., Truelove, I., Hayes, S., & Fawns, T. (2019). Ten Years of the Postdigital in the 52group: Reflections and Developments 2009–2019. Postdigital Science and Education, 1(2), https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-019-00049-8
• Walton, G., Childs, M., & Jugo, G. (2019). The creation of digital artefacts as a mechanism to engage students in studying literature. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(3), https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12785