Dr Jane Davidson
Dr Jane Davidson returned to Aotearoa New Zealand from the United States in 2004, where she served as Associate Director of the internationally recognised Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University. There, she launched and directed the world’s first fully interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Evaluation, spanning WMU's Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Education, Engineering & Applied Sciences and Health & Human Services.
Jane is author of Evaluation Methodology Basics: The Nuts and Bolts of Sound Evaluation (2004, Sage Publications), which is used internationally as a graduate text and practitioners’ guidebook. She hosts a popular blog with Professor Patricia Rogers (RMIT) and is co-editor (with Drs. Michael Scriven and Chris Coryn) of the free-access online Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation.
Jane is Director of Real Evaluation Ltd., an Auckland-based evaluation consulting firm. Current and recent projects include facilitated self-evaluation and capacity building, evaluation training and development, independent evaluation, formative and summative meta-evaluation (advice, support and critical reviews of evaluations).
Jane received her PhD from Claremont Graduate University (California) in organisational psychology with substantial emphasis on evaluation, her MA in psychology from Victoria University of Wellington, undergraduate degrees in psychology and chemistry from Massey and Canterbury universities respectively, and a Diploma of Teaching from the Christchurch College of Education.
Dr Peter Coolbear
Dr Peter Coolbear is the foundation Director of Ako Aotearoa, the National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence. He took up this role in July 2007, having previously been Deputy Chief Executive at Manukau Institute of Technology since 2002.
Originally he was a teacher and researcher in plant physiology, first in the UK and then at Massey University. At Massey he worked for several years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade funded Seed Technology Centre, gaining extensive experience in teaching international students.
From the mid-90’s he has held a series of management positions in the NZ polytechnic sector and in the Tertiary Resources Division of the Ministry of Education. He is a member of Te Rōpū Whāiti Whakangungu Pakeke (the ACE Professional Development Steering Group) and is on the Boards of NZCER, ITPQ and Otago Polytechnic.
Peter has special interests in access to success in tertiary education, quality assurance in tertiary education and the interface between research and teaching.
Professor Sid Nair
Sid Nair is Professor of Higher Education Development at the Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL), University of Western Australia. His current role looks at the quality of teaching and learning at UWA.
Prior to this he was Interim Director and Quality Advisor (Evaluations and Research) at the Centre for Higher Education Quality (CHEQ) at Monash University, Australia. In this role he headed the evaluation unit at Monash University where he restructured the evaluation framework at the university. The approach to evaluation at Monash has been noted in the first round of AUQA audits and is part of the good practice database.
Dr Nair is a Chemical Engineer by training but his interest in helping students succeed in the applied sciences in higher education led him to further specialise in Science and Technology education. This led him to his many works in improving student life in the higher education system.
His research work lies in the areas of quality in the higher education system, classroom and school environments, and the implementation of improvements from stakeholder feedback. Dr Nair has published a number of books, research reports, journal articles, papers in conference proceedings, book chapters and other technical articles. Recent book publications include Leadership and Management of Quality in Higher Education and Student Feedback: The Cornerstone to an Effective Quality Assurance System in Higher Education.
Currently, he is Associate Editor for the International Journal of Quality Assurance in Engineering and Technology Education and is co-chair for the inaugural International Engineering and Technology Education Conference.
Dr Nair has extensive lecturing experience in the applied sciences in Canada, Singapore and Australia. He is also an international consultant in quality and evaluations in higher education.