James Oldfield

I became a part of the Academy in 2016 and I have been blown away by diverse talents and generosity of spirit of its members.

I spent 14 years teaching in the Business Faculty of Unitec Institute of Technology across a number of subjects, most of which related to information systems. I’m fascinated by the different teaching approaches employed by my peers and turned my attention towards education as a discipline. 

Nowadays I combine my technical background with my passion for education to explore the benefits that digital technologies can have on learning. I moved from the Business Faculty to join our academic support unit in 2015 and now occupy the position of eLearning Leader, overseeing eLearning for the Institution. This has been an exciting change for me as I am able to bring an academic voice to important institutional decision making processes. My team and I are responsible for the redesign of our now leading edge collaborative teaching spaces in addition to supporting teaching staff with all our digital learning platforms. Meanwhile, I still get to teach on our Graduate Diploma of Higher Education.

I tend to have a positive outlook and look to create opportunities out of challenges. I believe I have the experience and a unique skill set that could help the Academy to move forward and continue to have a real impact in the ever-changing educational landscape we find ourselves in.