The Early Years

One profile of....

Martin Doherty B.Ed., Dip.A.S.Ed., M.A.
Current Position: Principal Facilitator, Learning Technology Research, Anglia Ruskin University
Email: Martin@ultralab.net
Mobile: 0044 7968 251939

Who's Martin?
An obvious question, but for a person a little reluctant to talk personally, one that I find very difficult to answer. I suppose, I'm just a child of the fifties who experienced the heady days of Beatlemania, The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan during the sixties and coupled that with the beginnings of the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland. I think trying to find my feet as a teenager would have been difficult enough without the mix of Rock and Roll twanged with the sound of folk guitars and traditional Irish fiddle airs - played badly or sweetly depending on the virtuosity of the performers.

On reflection....I think that mix is what led me to believe that I could be a performer for a living! Cruel life proved me wrong, without removing the hankering for public performance, and after a stint in the yard - Harland and Wolff that is -the famous Belfast shipyard - I found myself tied to a career in the classroom! Hey , it seemed a logical progression to me at the time! What other homes are there for failed folk singers looking for a captive audience?

After spending four great years at Hopwood Hall , De La Salle College, in Manchester, cruel fate thought that the parish of Ardmore, just outside Derry, hadn't suffered enough in the ever more violent NI troubles and decided that it would be an ideal place for a young city-bred teacher -desperately afraid of animals -to discover the delights of teaching in a country school. I liked it so much I found myself still there after twenty-five years but the distrust of four legged creatures has proved too deep-seated and is still there.

Along the way I managed to spend some time as the school's Vice-Principal and seem to have co-ordinated just about every subject for the school at one time or another! Early on I co-founded the Educational Trails Project at the Derry Teachers' Centre. The project arose from a chance remark made at a course for teachers and, what was supposed to be a nice day out of the classroom, turned into a multi-faceted education project combining Environmental Studies with Education for Mutual Understanding. Well I suppose I should have learned then to keep quiet but I never have!

The project was among the first to boast it's very own seconded teacher, before such things became accepted practice, and managed to have some little influence on education. The materials and techniques developed sparkled a little in Derry but shone as far away as Belfast and Dublin. What started as a one-year pilot was still running after six full seasons until I laid it gently to rest for a while. I really must go back some day to see if it is still where I left it!

Along the way I picked up a Diploma in Advanced Studies in Education and a Master of Arts from The New University of Ulster. Well, they were just lying around so they were as good to me as anybody else! I also discovered computers courtesy of Clive Sinclair. Now he didn't visit me in person... I think he probably was just trying to make a fortune when he created the Sinclair Spectrum but that machine excited my interest! I tried to master the little beast for many a long hour. Using the little beauty with a class of ten year olds was amazing. My elementary programs kept crashing- "Nothing's changed there, Martin." I hear you say -but still fascinated and enchanted even the pupils! Thinking back, I wonder how I fitted such sessions into the curriculum with what seemed like ease -an ease that the modern young teacher, I fear, is dreadfully unfortunate not to know.

In 1998 I found myself in Tesco involved as an Advisory Teacher for Schoolnet 2000 which is strange since I only popped in for some beer but...there ye are! Schoolnet 2000 - a marvellous Ultralab-inspired, Intuitive Media-designed and supermarket-funded children's internet project that demonstrated the huge potential that computers have for allowing children to investigate, discuss and record their world. I really relished cooperating with a forty strong UK wide team in a project that was and, still is, a fantastic success story.

And now I work for Ultralab as a Principal Facilitator. I've just spent four happy years on Talking Heads which is central to the Online part of the National College of School Leadership. It was fascinating, challenging, exciting work and very stimulating! I've dabbled in Ultralab Summerschool with digital summerschools from community groups in Belfast and Derry. I've experienced Ultraversity at first hand with a cohort of researchers there. And now I'm project director of a fascinating Oracle sponsored project involving business schools from Europe and USA. I manage the Executive Learning Workgroup for Oracle (www.execlearning.net ) which is researching the impact of technology on pedagogy in executive education.

So, of all the people I've met since the sixties who, I hear you ask, has influenced me the most? The answer to that is simple. Four people have changed my life completely. Anne, my wife, along with Aisling, Ronan and Niall - the three best children in the world.