A sort of official bio…

Dr. Mike “DoctorMike” Reddy claims to be “an awful academic, far more interested in the playing and the doing of life than the writing and reviewing” and perhaps for that reason has been instrumental in raising debate over 21st century pedagogy and teaching practices in the UK, reprioritising learning and reminding us that education is something you do for/with students, not at them. After a busy period running the EU funded CalDys2 project – currently offline, but watch this space – aimed at creating computer games to aid children with dyslexia learn English as a second language, with 10 EU partners (Lots of travel, lots of work, no time) he enjoyed a quieterperiod, developing Virtual Road World, a VR App to enhance the teaching of road safety, funded by the Road Safety Trust (RST); a free port of the App is available on the Apple Store, ported by Sugar Creative games.

Since then he has worked on various other educational titles, including C.H.O.I.C.E.S., a digital board game to teach cyber security awareness, in conjunction with Tarian, the South Wales Regional Cyber Crime Unit (RCCU). This was based upon, and expanded from, an existing physical board game (details here as the official site http://decisions-disruptions.org/ is now defunct). All these grant-funded projects have involved paying students, as part of Mike’s “Earn to Learn” scheme, valuing their work in his research, beyond the fictional currency of “exposure”.

Dr Reddy is a keen proponent of work simulation in higher education, and runs his classes as small game development companies, with very little traditional teaching. He is also a Story Teller, Writer and Broadcaster, and all round Pedagogist, interested in Games, Plagiarism, Social Effects of Technology, oh and Plagiarism.

A more personal version…

Where to begin? I have a rather cluttered mind – anyone who has seen my office will know that this spills into real life – and was described by one former employer as “something of a butterfly” flying from one obsession to the next. He meant it as an insult, but I reframed it 🙂 as always being very knowledgeable on whatever was currently in focus, and not being afraid of change.

Another colleague described me once as a “an interesting mix of the very old and the very new!” In general terms, I tend to like Celtic and Tudor history and mythology at one end to high-tech stuff at the other (most aptly the Internet!) My most recent projects being the making of a coracle and research into ancient beekeeping practices – I am acknowledged as a world leader in expertise on Tudor and Medieval Beekeeping; there used to be an online FAQ around here somewhere, but it is in dire need of updating (sorry).

I am an (un)acomplished musician, (un)able to play the Bodhran (Irish drum), Tin Whistle, Harmonica, Flute and Harp. I used to own two of the latter: A clarsach (34 nylon string) and a lap harp (22 gut string), but I have upgraded to a small 22 string wire strung lap harp in the medieval style, carved from yew and sadly gathering dust. I tend to slaughter mostly Irish and Folk music, though Medieval and Renaissance pieces are beginning to be tortured even as we speak!

Is this who I am? Well…

Other labels that might stick: Vegan, Pagan (specifically Shaman), Eccentric, Bohemian (The kind without the independent means), Historical Re-enactor, Beekeeper, Writer, Actor, Tai Chi Player, Poet and Storyteller (my favourite pastime!).

Is this who I am? Maybe…

You could look at my CV if you ask nicely.

Is this who I am? No.

The best solution is to look at the collection of my bookmarks as a rough guide (Rather like looking at someone’s bookshelf to see what kind of person they are!) Try clicking on my incredibly unstructured Del.icio.us link (if the site ever gets going again).

Will that give you an idea of who I am?

Who knows? Far better to just drop me a line at doctormikereddy AT gmail DOT com