Professor Allison Littlejohn

I am Director of the Caledonian Academy, a centre for research in Technology Enhanced Professional Learning at Glasgow Caledonian University, UK and Chair in Learning Technology. I've worked throughout my career in the area of learning innovation, technology, knowledge creation and academic-business partnerships.

I work with a number of multinational companies, including Shell, BP International and Conoco-Philips. I was Senior Researcher for Royal Dutch Shell in 2008-2010 when I led a university-industry partnership in technology enhanced learning.

My vision is to bring together ideas from higher education and industry, encouraging cross-sector thinking and working across traditional boundaries between sectors and disciplines to drive blue skies research that can transform the ways professionals learn. To achieve this vision my research has been focused around four areas:

Professional learning, exploring how expertise development can be supported and enhanced by information and communication technologies, including social media.  A unique aspect of this research is exploration of learning at the intersection of the individual and the collective.

Organisational learning, examining how group learning can be translated into organisational effectiveness.  Recent work with Shell and BP has examined how individuals, teams and organisations can learn from incidents to improve health and safety in highly hazardous environments.

Learner literacies, investigating how learners can be better prepared as lifelong learners.  This research links literacies to knowledge curation and questioned current thinking around what constitutes ‘literacies’ and how these might be integrated  within the curriculum to ensure learners are better prepared for work.

Sustainable  learning, analysing  tensions between cost-efficiency, effective pedagogy, and continuous innovative practice.  This research identified underlying problems and assumptions around reusable resources, including Open Educational Resources.

My research has generated new knowledge through 25 projects funded by a range of research councils (for example ESRC, NSF), funding councils (for example EU, HEFCE, SFC), higher education organisations (for example JISC, HEA, QAA) and industry partners (for example Shell, Energy Institute, BP).  Ideas have been disseminated through writing over 100 academic publications.  I am founding series editor for the Routledge book series, ‘Connecting with eLearning’ and have Fellowships from the Higher Education Academy (UK), ASCILITE (Australasia) and the Churchill Trust (UK).

Blog: littlebylittlejohn.com 

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Current Projects

View a complete list of research projects

• 2012-13, Engaging with Learning from Incidents (LFI) Shell International and the Energy Institute, £65k
• 2009-2012, Learning from Incidents Shell International and the Energy Institute,£85k
• 2011-12, BP Learning and Safety Culture BP-LSC British Petroleum (BP International) £15k
• 2009-12, JISC Open Educational Resources Joint Information Systems Committees (JISC) & Higher Education Academy (HEA), £150k
• 2002-2012, Technology Enhanced Professional Learning Special Interest Group (TEPL) Higher Education Academy (HEA), £50k

Books

• LITTLEJOHN, A.H. and Pegler, C. (2007) Planning for blended learning, Routledge, London ISBN 978-0-415-40361-0
• LITTLEJOHN, A.H. (Ed) (2003) Reusing Online Resources: A Sustainable Approach to eLearning, Routledge, London, ISBN 0749439505

Selected articles

View a complete list of publications

• LITTLEJOHN, A., Beetham, H., & McGill, L. (2012) Learning at the digital frontier: a review of digital literacies in theory and practice, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL) [impact factor 1.065]
• LITTLEJOHN, A., Milligan, C., & Margaryan, A. (2012). Charting collective knowledge: Supporting self-regulated learning in the workplace. Journal of Workplace Learning, 24(3). [impact factor expected 2012]
• Margaryan, A., LITTLEJOHN, A. & Milligan, C.(2012). International Journal of Training and Development, Self-regulated learning in the workplace: Learning goal attainment strategies and factors (in press
• Margaryan, A., Milligan, C., & LITTLEJOHN, A. (2012). Managers as workplace learning facilitators, International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management (in press)
• Stepanyan, K., LITTLEJOHN, A & Margaryan, A. (2012). Sustainable eLearning: towards a coherent body of knowledge, Educational Technology and Society [impact factor = 1.066] (in press) 
• Lukic, D., LITTLEJOHN, A., & Margaryan, A., & (2012). A framework for learning from incidents in the workplace, Safety Science, Volume 50, Issue 4, pp. 950-957 [impact factor = 1.7]
• Margaryan, A., LITTLEJOHN, A., & Vojt. G. (2011). Are digital natives a myth or reality? University students’ use of digital technologies. Computers and Education, 56(2), 429-440. [impact factor 2.059] http://tinyurl.com/6x92brf
• Margaryan, A., Milligan, C. & LITTLEJOHN, A. (2011).Validation of Davenport’s Classification Structure of Knowledge-intensive Processes, Journal of Knowledge Management, 15(4) http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1939680&ini=aob
• Lukic, D., Margaryan, A., & LITTLEJOHN, A. (2010). How organisations learn from safety incidents: A multifaceted problem. Journal of Workplace Learning, 22(7), 428-450. [impact factor expected 2012]  http://tinyurl.com/67tkz3j
• LITTLEJOHN, A, Margaryan, A and Vojt,G. (2009) “Exploring Students’ use of ICT and Expectations of Learning Methods” Electronic Journal of e-Learning (EJeL), Volume 8 Issue 1, 13 – 20 
• LITTLEJOHN, A., I. Falconer & L. McGill (2008) Characterising effective eLearning resources, Computers and Education 50, 757–771 [impact factor 2.059] http://tinyurl.com/63okour
• Margaryan, A., & LITTLEJOHN A. (2008). Repositories and communities at cross-purposes: Issues in sharing and reuse of digital learning resources. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL), 24(4), 333-347 [impact factor 1.065]
• Normand, C., LITTLEJOHN, A. & Falconer, I. (2008) 'A model for effective implementation of flexible programme delivery', Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 45:1,25 — 36 [Impact factor  0.250] dx.doi.org/10.1080/14703290701757351
• LITTLEJOHN, A. and Margaryan, A. (2006). Cultural issues in the sharing and reuse of resources for learning. Research and Practice in Technology-Enhanced Learning, 1(3), 269-284.
• McGill, L., Nicol, D.J,  LITTLEJOHN, A. and Greirson, H. (2005). "Creating an information-rich learning environment to enhance design student learning: challenges and approaches." British Journal of Educational Technology 36(4): 629-642 [impact factor 0.35]
• LITTLEJOHN, A.H., (2002) New lessons from past experiences: recommendations for improving continuing professional development in the use of ICT, Journal of Computer Aided Learning, 18.2, 166-174   [impact factor 1.065]
• LITTLEJOHN, A.H., Suckling, C.J., Campbell, L.M. and McNicol, D., (2002) The Amazingly Patient Tutor: Students' Interactions with an Online Carbohydrate Chemistry Course, British Journal of Educational Technology (BJET) 33.3, 313-322 [impact factor 0.35]
• Creanor, L. and LITTLEJOHN, A.H., (2000) Preparing for Online Learning and Teaching: A Cross-Institutional Approach to Staff Development in Internet Communication, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Vol. 16, No. 3 ISSN 0266-4909 [impact factor 1.065]
• Stefani L.A.J., Clarke, J. and LITTLEJOHN A.H., (2000) Developing A Student Centred Approach to Reflecting on Learning Innovations, Innovations in Education and Training International, 37(2), pp163-171  ISSN 1355-8005 [impact factor  0.250]