Dr Nigel Beacham

Dr Nigel Beacham
Dr Nigel Beacham
Dr Nigel Beacham

BSc. MSc. PhD. CEng. MBCS. CITP. CSci. FHEA

Senior Lecturer

About
Email Address
n.beacham@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 273878
Office Address

Room 220 Department of Computing Science Meston Building King's College Aberdeen AB24 3UE +44 (0) 1224 273 878

School/Department
School of Natural and Computing Sciences

Biography

Dr Beacham is a Senior Lecturer within the School of Natural and Computing Sciences. Previous to this he was a Research Fellow for the Inclusive Practice Project within the School of Education at the University of Aberdeen for 3 years. He has over 20 years experience carrying out research into the design, implementation and evaluation of e-learning systems and user interfaces of educational technologies.

He began his research career working as a Research Assistant for the Teesside Business School researching the development and use of intelligent tutoring systems for educating trainee accountants. He then went on the work for the Geography Department at the University of Leicester developing and research e-learning systems for Geographers. He then worked for nine years for Loughborough University in a number of departments developing and research e-learning systems as part of undergraduate, postgraduate and continue professional development programmes, until moving to his current post at the University  of Aberdeen.

He has particular expertise in Human-Computer Interaction, Assistive Technologies, and Specific Learning Difficulties such as dyslexia and dyscalculia. His research interests include the computer science education, inclusive education, and educational technology. He has a BSc in Computer Science, an MSc in Human Computer Interaction, and has completed a PhD on the subject of Distributed Performance Support Systems. He has published numerous papers about his research within international peer-reviewed journals and at conferences.

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

Current Duties

Director of UG Pathways (DUP)

He is the course coordinator for the following courses:

  • Web Development (CS5077 and CS551S)
  • Data Management (CS2019)
  • Object-Oriented Programming (CS1527)
  • Human Computer Interaction (CS2506 and CS5075)
  • UG Final Year Projects (CS4525, CS4594)

 

Past Duties

Dr Beacham is currently the Director for UG Pathways having been the Postgraduate Director for Teaching and Learning within the School of Natural and Computing Sciences (2017-18) and Director for Postgraduate Teaching within the Department of Computing Science (2012-18). His duties included:

  • chair of the Computing Science Staff-Student Liaison Committee
  • chair of the Computing Science Teaching and Learning Committee
  • chair of the Computing Science internal and external exam board
  • member of Senate
  • member of the Physical Sciences and Engineering Ethics Board
  • member of the NCS School Education Committee (Taught)
  • member of the PGT Engagements and Communications Group
  • member of the School Teaching and Learning Committee

He was the admissions tutor for the advanced MSc programmes, i.e. Artificial Intelligence and for the conversion MSc programme, i.e. Information Technology.

Past admin responsibilities included Web content manager for the Department of Computing Science and course coordinator for the following courses:

  • TS1002: Tools for Science
  • Information Technology (CS1017 and KL107S)
  • Web Application Development (CS1025/CS1026 and CS1525/CS1524)
  • Advanced Web Application Development (CS2509, CS2012 and CS2512)
  • Software Quality Assurance and Control Technology (CS5569: postgraduate)
  • Systems Analysis and Design (CS5037/CS5071)
  • Advanced MSc Project (CS5950)
  • Database Systems and Big Data (CS5097/CS5098)
  • Security (CS4028 and CS4097)
  • Information Security (CS5099 and CS50AH)

 

External Memberships

Dr Beacham is one of the main authors and developers of DyslexSim – A pack of photocopiable materials for raising awareness about dyslexia which includes activities and a simulation of visual difficulties associated with dyslexia on CD ROM. (on sale through iANSYST Ltd. from March 2005).

He is also one of the main authors and developers of Dyscalculium – A screening tool for adults with dyscalculia (https://shop.tribalgroup.co.uk/vmchk/Assessment-screening/DyscalculiUM.html).

He is a referee for the peer-reviewed Journal of Interactive Learning Research (http://www.aace.org/pubs/jilr/default.htm) published by AACE.

Member of the ACM since 2019.

Member of the AdvanceHE since 2008

Member of the BCS and CEI since 2003

Research

Research Overview

Dr Beacham's research interests include:

  • Computer Science Education and Human-Computer Interaction aspects of E-learning
  • E-Pedagogies for Inclusion, Digital Inclusion within Schools, Colleges and Higher Education
  • Specific learning difficulties (such as dyslexia) and assistive technologies
  • Distributed Performance Support Systems and Computer-Based Training

Research Areas

Computing Science

Research Specialisms

  • Computing and Information Technology
  • Human-Computer Interaction

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

Current Research

Dr Beacham is currently investigating the role inclusive education and practices can play in the development of cloud-based security systems. In parallel to this work he is studying e-pedagogies for inclusion. Both streams of work provide ongoing findings for informing future policy and practice in the areas of inclusive education and digital inclusion.

Collaborations

Dr Beacham is currently working with colleagues as part of the Part Time and Short Cycle Higher Education (PT&SCHE) project.

He is a member of the SQA Technology Industry Board and an external examiner for the University of Staffordshire.

 

 

Funding and Grants

Dr Beacham was awarded a grant of the project 'Developing NQTs E-Pedagogies for Inclusion' which is a partnership between the PICTAL research group, Inclusive Practice project and the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre ESCalate.

 

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Dr Beacham is currently teaching on the following courses:

  • Web Development (CS5077)
  • Data Management (CS2019: undergraduate)
  • Database Systems and Big Data (CS5097: postgraduate and CS5098 distance learning)
  • Security (CS4028 and CS4097)
  • Information Security (CS5099: postgraduate and CS50AH distance learning)
  • Human Computer Interaction (CS2506: undergraduate, CS5075: postgraduate)

Dr Beacham also currently supervises student projects:

  • Software Engineering and Professional Issues (CS3028: undergraduate)
  • Single and Joint Honours Computing Projects (CS4526: undergraduate)
  • MSc in Information Technology (CS5942: postgraduate)
  • MSc Projects in Artificial Intelligence (CS5917: postgraduate)
  • Business and Industry Applications of IT (CS3901: undergraduate)

Past responsibilities for teaching included:

  • Tools for Science (TS1002: undergraduate)
  • Information Technology (CS1017: undergraduate)
  • Web Application Development (CS1025 and CS1525: undergraduate and CS1026 and CS1524: distance learning)
  • Advanced Web Application Development (CS2509: undergraduate, CS2012 and CS2512: undergraduate and CS2514 and CS2514: distance learning)
  • Data Management (CS2015 and CS2018: undergraduate)
  • Software Quality Assurance and Control Technology (CS5569: postgraduate)
  • Introduction to Database Systems (CS5035: postgraduate and CS5070 distance learning)
  • Web Technology (CS1518: undergraduate, CS5548: postgraduate and CS5574: distance learning)
  • System Analysis and Design (CS5037: postgraduate and CS5071 distance learning))
  • Human Computer Interaction (CS5541: postgraduate and CS5586 distance learning)
  • Evaluation of AI Systems (CS5063: postgraduate on-campus)
  • Advanced MSc Projects (CS5950: postgraduate)

 

 

Publications

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Books and Reports

Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings

Contributions to Journals