The staff at the IT elementary school share a love of IT. The team work together to enhance your eLearning experience. Please take a minute to say hello.
Here is the IT elementary school virtual staff room and a little background on all the team members who are here to help with your education and learning needs. They all have different interests, skills, strengths, and limitations – like any team really – but with collaboration and team work magic can happen!
You are welcome, come in, have a cup or tea and a jammy dodger!
(Ed. other biscuits are available)
The IT Chemist
The IT Chemist is the brains behind the Periodic table of IT elements (see home page image). He comes from a science and engineering background (of course!) What he lacks in creativity and the social aspects of IT, he more than makes up for with a thorough understanding of the raw material needed to make technology projects and business change initiatives successful. You can ask him technical questions and he’ll be happy to help, or find someone who can Ask the IT Chemist.
In his spare time the IT Chemist likes to catalogue his bus ticket collection and repair his Sinclair C5. We don’t know his first name.
Captain BA

The ‘Captain’ likes to think that he’s in charge, and the rest of the team are happy to let him think so! His hobby is sailing and he likes to use nautical phrases like steering the ship, and keeping a firm hand on the rudder, but the IT elementary school is a team, committed to bringing you learning materials and insights into the world of IT and computing. He has a wide and diverse experience in IT projects, consultancy and commerce to share.
Captain BA is an accomplished toastmaster and compiles cryptic crosswords under the pseudonym Haddock(7).
Annie List
Annie loves her gadgets and tech and wants to bring the joys of IT to a bigger audience, especially if they (you?) think they don’t like computers! She enjoys mentoring and facilitating learning. She has a very logical and analytical mind, and can see patterns and themes throughout the diverse work of IT.
In her free time Annie likes nothing more than Geocaching or BookCrossing; what better ways to combine tech with reading real books, exploring, and meeting people.
Ed.
The Editorial ‘droid or Ed. for short likes keeps the rest of the team on the straight and narrow. He brings an attention to detail, balance and objectively to the rest of the school, including popping up with asides and corrections; he can be pedantic and annoying.
Ed. hasn’t got any hobbies or interests – he’s a robot(!) – but at night he likes to read Science Fiction and dream of electric sheep.
Dr. Ada Rupal
Ada is the eLearning expert on the team. She is passionate about life-long learning and maximising everyone’s potential, whatever their preferred learning style, background or prior knowledge. Although Ada wears traditional India dress she is a member of the Rationalist Society and has a very structured and scientific mindset.
Ada likes to cook South Indian food and scuba dive.
Hoshi Ruby
Hoshi is our newest permanent member of stuff – biopic to follow.
Peter
Peter is a supply teacher, sometimes he asks stupid questions … no that’s not right, all questions are valid, only the answers might be stupid/incorrect!
And finally, the author, founder and Director
Although I have been working in IT for a lot of years, pre-dating the web and mobile connected world, I have had a mixed online presence so far. In 2015 2015 I started a tech blog, in 2016 I completed some post-graduate research into eLearning and the provision and effectiveness of online learning materials. I founded IT elementary school to develop education materials, a learning environment, and a community for good.
A bit about me:
- I have over 30 years experience in IT, most recently as a freelance Business Analyst and Product Owner
- I am trying to be an entrepreneur, advocate & employer, to inspire others to learn more about my favourite stuff, to increase Digital Literacy and Inclusion, and improve life & career choices
- I am passionate about the learning process, specifically IT and computing and its place in business and our daily lives
- I completed my MSc in Computing in early 2015 including research into eLearning tools and pedagogies
- I am a bit of a geek and a nerd (you guessed?!)
- I am a booklover, you might find me in the Social Media world as BookGroupMan
- I am married with 2 grown-up children
- I live in the lovely city of Chester
- In normal times (remember pre-COVID!) I enjoy reading, writing, walking, travelling and drinking whisky, although not all at the same time …
Thank you for visiting IT elementary school. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Tony
@ITelementary
(c) 2021 IT elementary school
Hi Tony,
You blog looks great! You seem to have loads of experience in Business Analysis and the fact you are so interested and invested with IT makes you perfect for job we are currently recruiting for in Ireland. Let me know when it’s convenient for you to discuss it in more details (email: albena@zartis.com)
Best wishes for a great 2015,
Albena
Thank you for commmenting on my blog. Please see off-line reply.
Regards, Tony
Had to google the words “nominative determinism” – but still did not guess Annie List’s name correctly. Found it on your blog! Clever!
Now am gpiong to take a second look at your table of IT elements . . .
Clever, I’m not sure, just a bit of fun 😉 Over in the IT Elementary School I (the IT Chemist!) has so far written 13 of the 40 IT elements…let me know if you want to know more about any topics in particular. Enjoy exploring.
You’ve got a great set of personas happening here Tony – a great start for developing some awesome online interactive training modules…
Ah thanks, i’m really enjoying developing the whole back story and school/lab themes…lots more to come…although Ed. and Dr. Rupal will be the last staff team members for the time being 🙂