Paul Denny

Dr. Paul Denny is an associate professor in Computer Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

His research interests include developing and evaluating technologies for supporting collaborative learning, particularly involving student-generated resources, and exploring ways to motivate students to engage within online learning environments. One of his developments, PeerWise, is an award-winning, freely available web-based tool that instructors can use to support collaborative student learning across a wide range of disciplines.

The tools that he has developed have had a wide impact, being used by more than half a million students in 80 countries and helping to form a global community of educational researchers, more than 80 of whom have published their research as a result.  To support this community, he has delivered more than 60 invited talks and workshops, focusing on both the practical use of technology in the classroom and approaches for evaluation.  He has been recognized for contributions to teaching both nationally and internationally, receiving New Zealand’s National Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award (2009), the Australasian Association for Engineering Education Award for Innovation in Curricula, Learning and Teaching (2009) and the Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia Teaching Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching (2010).  He has strong connections with Canada, having visited Toronto in late 2017 as an Association of Commonwealth Universities Titular Fellow (the 2017 Jacky McAleer Memorial Fellowship).