Our Team
My Learning Space has a dedicated team of staff and trusted partners to ensure we exceed our clients’ expectations. Find below some further information on our key staff.
Chad Outten (BEd, MTM, MACE) is our Director. He is a qualified educator and technologist with more than fifteen years experience in the Australian education and ICT sector. He has worked closely with a number of high profile clients including eBay, Shell, Rip Curl and Queensland Health among a diverse range of clients to make learning and training accessible and effective for their organisations.
He has previously worked in various capacities for The Scots College, NSW Board of Studies, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and Australian Bureau of Statistics. Chad is registered with the Queensland College of Teachers, is a member of the e-Learning Guild, TED Community, Australian College of Educators and the Queensland Society for Information Technology in Education.
Chad is a Moodle certified teacher and has acted as a mentor and assessor for the internationally recognised Moodle Teacher Certification program. He is a proud member of the esteemed ‘Particularly Helpful Moodlers’ and ‘Quality Assurance Testers’ groups at moodle.org. In 2008, Chad organised the National Moodle Conference held in Brisbane. He is passionate about e-learning, admires educators and understands the value of a good learning management system to address the challenges of 21st century education.
Shalona Anuj (BSc, BSc (Honours), PhD) is our Client Services Manager. Shalona has more than ten years experience in the science, technology and education sectors. She has been a part of the company since 2007 and helped organise the 2008 Australian National Moodle Conference. Shalona is known for her expert scientific work at Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services. She has previously worked as an analyst at QPharm Pty Ltd, in administration at Sydney Ports Corporation and as a tutor and research officer at the University of Sydney.
Shalona’s unique blend of work backgrounds and experiences in the private, government and corporate sectors allow her to understand and appreciate the different learning and training needs of these types of organisations. She brings her passion for people and effective written and oral communication into her role. As a life-long learner, Shalona is a strong advocate of quality and socially engaging learning.
Olumuyiwa ‘Muyi’ Taiwo (BSc (Honours) Electrical Engineering) is our Solutions Architect. With an information technology career spanning over two decades across Africa, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the USA, some of his learning related roles include Research Fellow on an RMIT University (Melbourne) Learning and Teaching project, Visiting Scholar at Binghamton University’s Center for Advanced Sensors and Environmental Research in New York, Academic Staff Member at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic in New Zealand, eMentor at the Open Source Learning Laboratory of the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Information Technology Training Consultant on the United Kingdom’s Department For International Development’s Economic Capacity Building Project for Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, and Technical Lead on corporate Moodle customisation and other eLearning projects for several Australian companies including Reece Plumbing, Coates Hire, Fairfax Media and The Audit Office of New South Wales, among others.
A senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the IEEE Computer Society’s Technical Committee on Learning Technologies, Muyi is a former Shell-BP scholar and the recipient of national awards in science and engineering. He holds an honours degree in Electrical Engineering and has taken doctoral level courses in Information Technology.
Muyi is passionate about open source software and open standards and their application to business and learning transformation. His experience and expertise as an educator, learner and technologist puts him in a unique position to approach a wide range of problems with an informed view of feasible solutions, with a deep level of empathy and understanding of issues as seen from the perspectives of different stakeholders.
Katie Browne (BIT/BEd) is our Interface Designer. Katie has worked in the Education and Technology sectors for six years, providing teaching and training in multimedia and interactive technologies to high school students, teachers and corporate clients. She has previously been employed at Brisbane Girls Grammar School as a Technology Studies teacher, and as a Product Specialist for Teamboard Australia. Katie has also completed her Certificate IV in Graphic Design and Web Design.
Katie’s skillset gives her a unique understanding and appreciation of client needs, with a creative design edge that can develop custom themes for learning management systems. She brings her passion for quality design, lifelong learning and range of people skills to her role as Interface Designer.
Siamak ‘Mike’ Alavi (MIT, MIS) is our Support Champion. He has been involved with learning management systems including Moodle since 2008. He has a background in the administration and management of Linux and Windows servers. He has more than 5 years experience in SharePoint server administration including the development of a LMS for the Young Mathematician Association. Mike has integrated Moodle with Mahara e-portfolio system, Google Apps and LDAP.
Mike has attained the Microsoft certification 70-480 exam: Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3. He has also translated the book “Multimedia: Making It Work” by Tay Vaughan from English to Persian and designed a multimedia DVD to complement the book.
Mike enjoys helping clients and aims to ensure each client makes the most effective use of their learning management system software.