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Dr Olinkha Gustafson-Pearce
HP Lecturer - Mechanical Engineering

Summary

Olinkha Gustafson-Pearce is module leader and lecturer in Graphic Communication. She studied Graphic Information Design at Westminster University, and completed her doctoral research work in Information Architecture at Brunel. The focus of her research work is Information Architecture, with an emphasis on structure and navigation in Virtual Learning Environments, primarily virtual worlds. She is project leader of Virtual Brunel, which is the Brunel University London Web 3D site. As such, she has conducted research into how to build effective virtual spaces for both education and public engagement. She is a founding member and fellow at the Human Centred Design Institute. Olinkha presented ‘Will the Virtual World Be Better than the Real One?’ at the prestigious Public Lecture series Exploring Digital Lives, Identities and Environments.

Professional qualifications

  • PhD, Brunel University London.
  • BA(Hons), (Graphic Information Design) Westminster University
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Brunel University London, UK

Responsibility

Peer esteem

  • Member of the Pedagogic team for the Brunel University London VLE upgrade
  • Member of Student Engagement Review Group
  • External member for the Approval Panel for the School of Arts Programme committee
  • DRHA Programme committee member since 2008
  • The Design Journal Referee
  • PhD examiner

Professional affiliations

  • Founding member and Fellow of the HCDI
  • Fellow of the High Education Academy
  • Member of Creative Research Network
  • Member of the IET

Newest selected publications

Gustafson-Pearce, O. (2010) 'Wayfinding and navigation devices in virtual worlds'.Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts. Brunel University. 5 - 8 September. [unpublished]

Conference paper

Gustafson-Pearce, O. and Stephenson, J. (2010) 'Virtual worlds for learning: Introduction to Second Life in higher education'.11th Annual Symposium on Learning and Teaching. Brunel University. [unpublished]

Conference paper

Gustafson-Pearce, O., Billett, E. and Cecelja, F. (2009) 'Testing the effectiveness of a tactile signal to deliver navigation information while the participant's attention is otherwise engaged'. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 27 (2). pp. 147 - 157. ISSN: 0264-6196

Journal article

Gustafson-Pearce, O. (2009) 'The assignment brief'.World Conference on Educational Sciences. Nicosia. Elsevier BV. pp. 2584 - 2588. ISSN: 1877-0428 Open Access Link

Conference paper

Stephenson, J. and Gustafson-Pearce, O. (2009) 'Technology zone: The use of the virtual world Second Life around the real world'.10th Annual Symposium on Learning and Teaching. Brunel University. [unpublished]

Conference paper
More publications(9)