Dr. Jon Mason

Biography

Jon is the Theme Leader of Digital Education Futures research within the School. Prior to joining the School of Education in 2014, Jon was Director of e-Learning for two years at the Centre for School Leadership, Learning and Development, also located within CDU. Before moving to Darwin he worked as a consultant in ICT standards development, digital learning, and knowledge management for five years during which time he also lectured in Digital Leadership at QUT. He has worked extensively in international ICT specifications and standards development since 1998, initially as the founding co-chair of the Dublin Core Education Working Group but more generally within the digital learning domain – including the IMS Global Learning Consortium and the IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee. From 2005-2007 he worked as the Editor of the International e-Framework for Education and Research, a collaborative project involving Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the Netherlands. Since 2000 he has served as the Australian Head of Delegation to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC36 and chaired its mirror committee for Standards Australia. Earlier appointments included a number of senior roles for education.au limited, a ministerial non-profit agency formed in 1997 for the purpose of leading collaborative projects focused on ICT for the Australian Education and Training sector. His first role with this agency was in directing the deployment of the national portal for Education Network Australia (EdNA). Jon has also worked in other educational contexts since the 1980s, initially as a private music teacher at the Bellingen Community Music Education Centre. His first encounter with personal computers fuelled aspirations of composing electronic music for film which led him to Melbourne to undertake postgraduate studies. But it was this move that also resulted in him taking on a series of IT management positions at the University of Melbourne during which time he played a leading role in conceiving and staging Australia’s first international conference on virtual education – the Virtual University Symposium. Jon is the regional editor for the International Journal of Smart Technology and Learning, a member of the editorial boards for Research & Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning and the Journal of Computers in Education, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Asia Pacific Society for Computers in Education.

Research Interest

With a lifelong interest in thinking and learning Jon’s current research is focused upon: Sense-making technologies Frontiers in digital learning Inquiry-based learning Learning communities Open Educational Resources Knowledge systems Wisdom and lineage Wellbeing and mindfulness