Mrs Rhian Pole

The role has a focus on quality at an institutional level and includes leading within the Faculty on the evaluation of annual programme reports and external examiner reports; planning and implementing staff development events that focus on quality related issues; and advising programme teams on the development of new programmes.

I began my career employed as a graduate to undertake the collection of drinking water samples at domestic properties. During my time in the survey industry, responsibilities and workload steadily increased and became more demanding and saw me elevated to the position of Project Manager for all the Mains Refurbishment Sampling undertaken for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water in Wales.

I also managed the data processing and reporting for a variety of survey types and was responsible for the development of data processing automation through macros specially written in Excel and Word.

In 2003 I left full time employment to continue my studies at SIHE, whilst working part-time as a freelance contractor to Trueflow Surveys Ltd processing data obtained during site audits of Wastewater Treatment Works (WwTW) throughout Wales. In this role I was responsible for the production of audit reports where quality assurance and quality control was of the utmost importance.

I have been employed as a lecturer at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (formerly Swansea Metropolitan University, SMU) since 2005, in the School of Applied Computing initially, as the Programme Director of the Undergraduate Business Portfolio within the Swansea Business School (SBS) in the Faculty of Business & Management and recently as Assistant Dean (Quality) in the Faculty of Applied Design and Engineering.

• Professional Member of the British Computer Society (MBCS), the Chartered Institute for IT
• Member of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (MCIEA)

I began lecturing at SIHE in 2005 and since then I have taught a wide range of modules at Higher National (HN), Degree (BSc/BA) and Masters (MBA) levels. Modules I have delivered include:

• Applied Personal and Professional Development
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Project Management
• Entrepreneurship
• e-Commerce
• Information Systems Strategy
• e-Business
• Final year Project.

I have also taught Information and Communications Technology on the Post Graduate Certification of Education and Managing Information for Competitive Advantage on the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Leadership And Management Standards Scheme.

I actively promote the use of e-learning resources in all my teaching and encourage students to communicate and enhance their learning experience using the VLE. 

I am currently undertaking a PhD titled “An Analysis Of The Suitability Of Interactive Web Services, Social Networking Applications And Open Source Software In The Development Of Online Learning Environments” which aims to test the hypothesis that future online learning delivery by educational institutions will be facilitated by online learning environments that are constructed using freely available services on the web, the functionality of social networking applications and open source software.

I completed an MSc in e-Commerce in 2009 and my project was titled ‘Developing a Web-Based Information System to Support the Monitoring Certification (MCERT) of Effluent Flow’. The project was an in-depth investigation of the processes and methodologies involved in developing a database backed WBIS and specifically involved detailed systems analysis and design using the Web Information System Development Method (WISDM). 

This project enabled me to use the experience I gained whilst working in industry to develop an innovative solution to a real-world business problem.

I am also part of the Practical Research in Information Systems and Management (PRISM) Research Group, which is a cross-faculty collaborative initiative for the joint development of research papers. This has been a successful approach and has resulted in a number of significant achievements, including a number of book chapters and peer reviewed conference proceedings that I have presented at national and international conferences.

I am an experienced Programme Director and was until recently responsible for the Undergraduate Business Portfolio until December 2013. The portfolio comprised of ten programmes and approximately 450 students. The co-ordination of this Portfolio was complex as it involved 21 staff on the teaching team.

As the Programme Director I provided leadership to ensure University led directives and strategic plans were implemented. My experience, leadership skills and willingness to take on new challenges prepared me for the post of Assistant Dean (Quality) in the Faculty of Applied Design & Engineering, a post which I took up in January 2014.

I have also acted as an informal mentor to less experienced members of the team, such as new year tutors, part-time members of staff and newly appointed lecturers. This role enables me to provide expertise to help them perform their roles within the programme team effectively.

I am also a pathway champion for information system pathways at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level. In these circumstances I have encouraged the teaching team to incorporate innovative learning and teaching strategies into their modules. 

Book Chapters

Jones K., Pole R., Hole S. and Williams J. (2012), ‘Social Networks for Learning: Breaking through the Walled Garden of the VLE’, In Abraham, A. and Hassanien, A. (Eds.) (2012) Computational Social Networks: Tools, Perspectives and Applications, Springer.  ISBN 978-1-4471-4047-4

Jones K., Griffiths, S., Hole, S., Pole R. and Gibbins C. (2012) ‘Crossing the (Border) Line: Online Pharmacies and Ethical Risk’ in Papadopoulos, Y. and Petratos, P. (Eds.) (2012) Enterprise Management Information Systems, pp. 85-100, ATINER: Greece. ISBN: 978-960-9549-60-8

Pole R., Jones K., Hole S. and Fakher A.  (2012) ‘e-LEAT: a Tool for the Evaluation of Online Learning Environments’ in Papadopoulos, Y. and Petratos, P. (Eds.) (2012) Enterprise Management Information Systems, pp. 85-100, ATINER: Greece. ISBN: 978-960-9549-60-8