Sam Thomas

I am the development officer for the Centre’s online distance learning programme, and also work on design and content strategy for our website. Most of my efforts are directed toward a proposed new online Masters course in Applied and Professional ethics, for which I’m producing online teaching materials and helping draw up procedures for admissions and assessment.

I’m particularly interested in the ways in which web technology can make online learning more immersive, and can encourage collaboration between students, particularly distance learners. At the moment I’m using the Javascript library jQuery to produce interactive and accessible templates to help develop critical reasoning skills.

I came to the Centre after gaining a Masters degree in Political Philosophy at the University of York; prior to that I completed a BA in Politics and Philosophy, also at York, a year of which I spent studying at the University of California, San Diego. I retain a strong interest in the relation between ethics and literary fiction, and in urban spaces and architecture.

Areas of work

• Using web technology for learning and teaching
• Marketing and planning for the online MA
• Content strategy and design for the our website and blog