Simon is the Associate Dean Education at UNSW Sydney | Art & Design, a member of the UNSW Scientia Education Academy, and a TEQSA Expert. He is a multi-award winning educator, passionate about improving the effectiveness, quality and relevance of the student learning experience, and about pedagogically driven use of technology to innovate learning and teaching practices. He is committed to continuing to improve and innovate the learning experience of students in art and design disciplines.

Simon has led the design and management of several innovative professional development and educational programs; working with teams of dedicated academics and collaborators. He leads internationally successful open education initiatives such as widely used open education resources, the multi-award winning Learning to Teach Online Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), the Transmedia Storytelling: Narrative worlds, emerging technologies, and global audiences MOOC, and the Designing the Future of Work MOOC in partnership with AMP.

Simon’s commitment to helping students and educators globally develop essential digital literacies is at the heart of his teaching philosophy. He considers these capabilities enable them to actively engage in global, cross-disciplinary collaborative online networks where learning is enhanced by sharing knowledge, experience and curiosity with a diverse cohort of peers. Through such initiatives Simon continues to innovate his own teaching, and to develop his leadership in the field of online education. He is committed to inspiring students, and his work has helped thousands of educators improve their teaching practices in a range of disciplines – locally, nationally and internationally.