Dr Widger holds the position of Head of Department (Education) in the Faculty of Education and Lifelong Learning at South East Technological University. As Head of Department of Education, she leads a team in the development and delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for education professionals working across the spectrum of education. The Department offers innovative continuing professional development (CPD) and postgraduate research opportunities for Irish and international educators to enhance their learning, research and career opportunities.
Previously, Dr Widger worked as Assistant Head of Department linking with Principal Investigators, for the Faculty's National and EU funded research projects and collaborating with the advisory groups on the implementation plans, monitoring and operational management of funded research projects. She has acted as academic project manager on several large scale research and education projects, including those funded by the Higher Education Authority, Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and the National Forum for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning.
Laura has worked in Higher Education since 2004 as assistant lecturer, eLearning Coordinator and was previously Head of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) before moving into the role of AHOD (Education). As Head of TEL, Laura was actively involved in providing leadership and instrumental in creating, initiating, implementing and evaluating a range of strategic projects including the successful introduction of the Moodle Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and the development of the WIT Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning (CTEL). She is also co-founder of the WIT TEL Community of Practice (CoP).
Laura holds a Bachelor of Science in Commercial Software Development and a Masters in Science from WIT and Doctorate in Education from University College London Institute of Education. Her doctoral research focused on lectures’ perceptions on the inclusion of Digital Learning Design in professional undergraduate curricula. Laura was deputy president of Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA) for seven years which involved co-chairing an annual national conference and establishing the Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning.
