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Dr Joe Allen - Belfast Telegraph Job Finder

Profile for Belfast Telegraph Jobfinder

What does your job involve? I have been a Teaching Fellow at Queen’s School of Education since September 2004. The School offers over 40 part-time courses across a range of areas from Management and Human Resources, to Community Development and Counselling. Part-time learning is ideal for anyone who wants to widen their skills base, but doesn’t have the time or resources to invest in full-time education. As a Teaching Fellow in Work-Based Learning I work with mainly mature, professional students who are keen to update and enhance their academic qualifications with a Masters degree which has been developed mainly through their workplace. I teach mainly on post-graduate courses and carry out research on e-learning in higher education and the application of internet and other advanced technologies to teaching and learning.

Why did you go into part-time education? When I left school I started work in the family landscape gardening business along with my father. When he retired I decided to embark on a career that I could build just for myself, rather than something I had inherited. Having been out of formal education for almost a decade, I signed-up for a part-time degree in General Studies at Queen’s. This gave me the flexibility to ease back into education, studying a broad range of subjects, whilst continuing to work and earn a living. I enjoyed the part-time degree so much that I applied to do a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education. It had been my lifelong ambition to become a teacher, so I embarked on a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education at Queen’s. A long way from landscape gardening, I spent six years teaching electronic engineering, mathematics, telecommunications and computer programming in schools and colleges. Prior to my teaching career, I had a ten year stint at Nortel Networks, where I had the opportunity to live and work in the USA, I was also able to complete a part time Doctorate in  Microelectronics during my time at Nortel. I eventually returned to Queen’s – but now I’m the teacher rather than the student.

What is the most rewarding/exciting aspect of what you do? I teach people from all walks of life who, like me, have returned to education to help themselves on the way to a career change, a promotion or to fulfil a personal goal. My students are in the same position as I found myself in all those years ago. It’s incredibly rewarding to be part their learning journey, and I hope that part-time study at Queen’s proves as invaluable and life-changing to them as it did to me.

What are the biggest challenges? The biggest challenges for me as an educationalist are the ways in which the Internet and communications technologies are changing how people access information. Computers, mobile phones and other digital devices can receive large amounts of digital information in multimedia form, using wireless technologies. The information age has arrived. It has revolutionised the way we live and has challenged educationalists like me to look at the material we deliver and make sure the content is relevant and presented in a form students will find engaging, stimulating and informative.

Does your diverse experience give you a greater appreciation for what part-time students want from their course? My own personal commitment to part-time education and huge benefits it offered have given me an in-depth understanding of part-time learners and the challenges they need to overcome to successfully complete their course. Part-time students often want different things from their studies. Some view their course as a leisure or social activity, whilst others see it as a means to career progression or, as I did, a complete career change. It is important to be aware of what each person wants to achieve, and support them towards their own goals.

Having been through the process myself, I understand the challenges that students face, particularly when trying to balance their studies with the demands of work, home and family life. For that reason, we allow our students to work at a pace that suits them, so they can get a university qualification while continuing with their busy personal and professional lives. That’s the real attraction of part-time learning. The biggest barrier of that students face is often lack of self-belief.  When I hear someone say ‘but I can’t do that’, I tell them about my own experiences and the unique personal and professional rewards that education offers.Having spent ten years in the telecommunications industry, I am able to bring a little bit of the workplace into the lecture theatre and share my experiences of working in this rapidly changing industry.

What does the future hold for the sector you work in? The latest technological developments have the potential to fundamentally change the way we all teach and learn in higher education. The technological landscape is changing rapidly and we must change with it by acquiring new skills and knowledge. What better way to do this than through education?

Has the current economic climate changed the way people view part-time education? Part-time learning can open the door to new opportunities, improve your career prospects and increase your earning potential. What better way to meet the challenge of these difficult economic times than to grasp the initiative and upgrade your skills base? It is cost-effective and flexible and can accommodate the busiest lifestyles.

The Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empy, recently appealed to local businesses to continue investing in the skills of their employees. Organisations who invest in the development of their people during economic downturn will be in a stronger position to gain competitive advantage in recovery. Rather than slashing staff development budgets, we should encourage employers to invest in employee education and training. Queen’s offers a range of part-time courses in business, management, personnel, finance and marketing, which are suitable for those who want to get ahead in the private, public or voluntary sectors.

Have you seen more people show interest in part-time education? Last year we saw a phenomenal increase in the number of applications for part-time courses. Applications for under-graduate courses increased by 140 per cent, while post-graduate applications rose by 16 per cent. There is clearly a demand for this economical and flexible approach to education, and I am certain that demand will continue to rise.

What are your interests outside of work? I enjoy gardening and playing football or building Lego with my five year old son Luke. Sometimes when we are building a Lego set together or he is trying some new task for homework he will say ‘But Daddy I can’t do that’, to which I always say, ‘You can’t do that yet!’