Paul takes a holistic view of people, systems and technology, based on intuition and internal investigations of mind. Or, put another way, for him it is the ‘learning of the heart’ (Pali: citta) which really matters. Perhaps paradoxically, this has led to his postgraduate degrees in the intellectual disciplines of mathematics, computer science and religious studies. As a result, the intuitive and analytical are integrated as he conducts inter-disciplinary and integrative approaches to theory and practice.
Paul is aided by a natural facility to deal with diversity, being mixed-race and having dual religious belonging – his father is English and Roman Catholic whilst his late mother was from Thailand and Buddhist. He has formally nurtured the intercultural and interreligious background in interfaith dialogue since the 1980s; he has participated in many voluntary initiatives from local dialogue groups to consultancy for international NGOs; he was Trustee of the International Interfaith Centre in Oxford from 2000 to 2002.
Paul’s research currently concerns ethical approaches around intention and agency with respect to the design and use of advanced technologies. For LearningQuest, he is looking especially at the qualitative aspects of learning, i.e., how to support the development of a learner’s noble qualities in order to make wise decisions, for long-term well-being and benefit to society. His approach is outlined in his short book, Buddhism and Computing: How to Flourish in the Age of Algorithms (Mud Pie Books), as introduced in The Daily Alternative.
The discussion ranges from reflections on the nature of human thought and intelligence to a concise exposition of novel approaches to the design of social networking sites. This theme was introduced especially for the educational context in an Educause blog post and subsequently expanded upon at a conference on Buddhism and science. The book also illustrates how Harvard University’s Thinking Routines from Project Zero can be applied to improve the quality of attention, as described in a blog post. He hopes to bring these to fruition in the Sigala project.
Paul has engaged in e-learning in various technical capacities, notably at Oxford University Computing Services (2000-2008), first in the Humanities Computing Unit under Lou Burnard and then the Learning Technologies Group under Stuart Lee. Working closely with academics, he developed bespoke web applications such as language-learning and teaching resource content management systems (among various forays into the read/write Web). He became heavily involved in the entire lifecycle of WebLearn, the University’s first centrally-hosted Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) – from procurement in 2001/2 (Bodington was selected as the underlying system) through to business as usual; he was responsible for the operational management from 2003 until he moved on in 2008 to return to full-time studies. He later co-authored with Yukari Shirota, an introduction to VLEs, which led on to collaborative research on teaching mathematical concepts.
Parallel to his development and system administration roles, Paul initiated research in mobile and ubiquitous learning, probing technologies for their capabilities and potential. He became Principal Investigator for the JISC-funded RAMBLE project (2004-5) in mobile blogging. This demonstrated how handheld devices (PDAs.) serving as personal reflective diaries could also be connected through service-oriented architectures with institutional e-learning platforms. See Mobile Blogs, Personal Reflections and Learning Environments, which appeared in the Ariadne journal.
Whilst ostensibly a technical project, the most valuable insight to emerge was that the quality of learner reflection deepened through a certain combination of factors: a light and portable device with a nice foldaway keyboard; very simple software and user interface; gentle, non-prescriptive guidance; and, perhaps most important of all, the PDAs used were only connected to the Internet when tethered to laptops or desktop PCs. This combination allowed the student to relax, feel at ease, and immerse themselves in their diaries. Not only was the basic lecture feedback delivered, but unanticipated reflections were offered that addressed wider learning issues.
As RAMBLE drew attention to learner-directed use of handheld technologies, Paul started to explore the wider potential of and requirements for pervasive learning (in three parts). There are similarities to the vision expressed by Alan Kay in A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages, albeit for a smaller device and largely inspired here by John Rose, who set up Daily Info and also established Oxford’s first drop-in computer centre.
After unilaterally composing a mobile strategy document for the University, in 2007/8 Paul set up and co-ordinated the Mobile Special Interest Group (SIG) at Oxford University Computing Services. With representation from every group in the department, it became the vehicle for subsequent initiatives such as Erewhon (for which he was a member of the Advisory Committee) and thence Mobile Oxford. Around the same time, he set up and co-ordinated a regular meditation group at the department, well before the University was offering mindfulness courses to staff.
More recently, he has worked on various digital and IT projects for the History of Science Museum, Oxford (2009-2012, 2014-2020) and the Qatar Museums Authority in Doha (2012-2014). He is presently HSM Honorary Research Fellow, particularly interested in how museums can feature as exemplars of KEPLAIR recommendations, as they bridge formal and informal spaces.
Further links
Academia: https://paultrafford.academia.edu/
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/paultrafford/
