Faculty profile

Will wikis replace books in the classroom? Maybe, says Dr. Alex Bruton, who is working in collaboration with other instructors at MRU to integrate Web2.0 technologies in to their classes. "You've got a convergence of students with new ways of thinking relative to five years ago, 10 years ago; students who've grown up using the Internet as their main research method." Dr. Bruton is adding wikis to his teaching, with other instructors implementing a variety of platforms from social networking sites to Google-docs.

Innovation, along with the educational sciences, is Dr. Bruton's other major research stream. As a manager, and inventor, in the private sector his experiences lead him to pursue a theoretical examination of innovation, its definitions and uses. Pulling theory together and testing it against cases studies Dr. Bruton is hoping to help strategists in new companies understand the innovations that are taking place, and make the best decisions regarding their use.