He is the author of Control & Constraint in E-Learning: Choosing When to Choose, which explores and describes fundamental principles of design for educational social software. His doctoral thesis was on self-organization in networked learning environments, and he holds a Postgraduate Certificate in teaching and learning in higher education, a Master's Degree in information systems and a BA in philosophy. He is a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK. He has published over 50 refereed articles on the subject of e-learning, and written a number of social applications for education. He was once a professional musician.