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Dr. Nicholas Breakwell

Dr. Nicholas Breakwell

DEPARTMENT:
Chief Executive Officer
Appointment:
Chief Executive Officer
CURRENT POSITION:
CEO
EMAIL:
Nbreakwell@Smsi.ie
Phone:
+353 (0)1 2300080 ext 21

Biography

Dr. Breakwell is a deeply experienced education leader and entrepreneur having been the CEO/COO in 4 successful digital education companies. As a founding partner and Executive Dean at Hibernia College Ireland, he created the company’s e-learning development and delivery strategy, winning numerous e-learning and digital awards in the U.K. and Ireland. He successfully led the company to secure teaching council accreditation for a new national blended learning programme which is now the largest provider of newly qualified teachers in Ireland.

Dr. Breakwell also established Hibernia College UK, a blended learning initial teacher education provider in England which partnered with 5 leading UK Universities to solve the recruitment challenge in STEM teacher recruitment. Having developed a highly successfull national online maths and science professional development programme, Dr. Breakwell led the sale of HCUK to TESGlobal. The company continues to flourish as the TES Institute.

As part of his work, Dr. Breakwell has secured accreditations and validations from the NCTL (UK), QQI, OFSTED, CIMA and numerous globa  l Universities including Unviersity of the Western Cape, Peking Univeristy, Sechenov Moscow First State Medical, University of Vienna, University of Stellenbosch, Plymouth University, University of East London, Canterbury Christ Church University, Birmingham City University and others.

Previously, Dr. Breakwell worked as Research Scientist and University Lecturer in Neuroscience and Psychology at Trinity College Dublin and Dublin Business School. He also established a successful anatomy and physiology online toolkit for Schools of Nursing in England and Ireland. More recently he established the investor backed Graduate Teaching Scheme – an online platform to recruit graduates in to the teaching profession.

Dr. Breakwell has built and delivered successful multi-stakeholder national partnerships, has worked with big Pharma including Pfizer and Novartis and spoken at the Worlds’ leading Unviersities including, MIT, Harvard, TCD. He has secured angel, ventrue capital,and private equity funding, EU FP5 and FP7 funding, UK DfES government funding, corporate sponsorship and charity donations, led due diligence processes and completed earnouts.

At the forefront of academic digital programme development in Ireland, he has managed the development and delivery of 5000+ hours of accredited learning, developed Ireland’s first MOOC, spoken at numerous conferences and published elearning research.

Now, as the CEO of St. Nicholas Montessori, Dr. Breakwell is leading the development of the organisation into a leading teacher training provider, early years, primary and post-primary education provider and the expansion of the organisation into allied disciplines where the benefits of Montessori methodologies are also badly needed.

Research

Dr. Breakwell was formally a research scientist exploring the biological basis of learning and memory. More recently he has explored the effectiveness of online and blended learning and is now focussed on the value and effectiveness of Montessori philosophy as a tool to leverage better life outcomes across the continuum of education.

Peer Reviewed Publications

  • Bailey, J., Cassidy, D. and Breakwell, N. (2014)
    Keeping Them Clicking: Promoting Student Engagement In MOOC Design.
    The All Ireland Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education . Summer2014, Vol. 6 Issue 2, p1972-1972. 1p.
    (available online at http://icep.ie/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/CassidyBreakwellBailey.pdf).
  • Kirwin, S., Swan, J. and Breakwell, N., 2009. Comparing online learning with blended learning in a teacher training program. Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, 5(2), pp.67-74.
  • Camodeca N, Breakwell NA, Rowan MJ, Anwyl R.
    Induction of LTD by activation of group I mGluR in the dentate gyrus in vitro.
    Neuropharmacology. 1999 Oct;38(10):1597-606.
  • Anwyl, R., Breakwell, N., Hoelscher, C., Huang, L., Rowan, M.J. and Wang, Y., 1998. Involvement of metabotropic glutamate receptors in the induction of long-term potentiation and long-term depression. In PORTLAND PRESS PROCEEDINGS (Vol. 12, pp. 161-170). PORTLAND PRESS.
  • Breakwell NA, Rowan MJ, Anwyl R.
    (+)-MCPG blocks induction of LTP in CA1 of rat hippocampus via agonist action at an mGluR group II receptor.
    J Neurophysiol. 1998 Mar;79(3):1270-6.
  • Huang L, Breakwell NA, Rowan MJ, Anwyl R.
    PCCG-IV inhibits the induction of long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus in vitro.
    Eur J Pharmacol. 1997 Aug 6;332(2):161-5.
  • Breakwell NA, Publicover SJ.
    Characterisation of the role of calcium in AlF4-induced long-term potentiation in area CA1 of rat hippocampus.
    Biosci Rep. 1997 Apr;17(2):209-18.
  • Breakwell NA, Huang L, Rowan MJ, Anwyl R.
    DCG-IV inhibits synaptic transmission by activation of NMDA receptors in area CA1 of rat hippocampus.
    Eur J Pharmacol. 1997 Mar 19;322(2-3):173-8.
  • Breakwell NA, Rowan MJ, Anwyl R.
    Metabotropic glutamate receptor dependent EPSP and EPSP-spike potentiation in area CA1 of the submerged rat hippocampal slice.
    J Neurophysiol. 1996 Nov;76(5):3126-35.
  • BREAKWELL, N., ROWAN, M. and ANWYL, R., 1995, November. THE METABOTROPIC GLUTAMATE-RECEPTOR AGONIST 1S, 3R ACPD INDUCES BOTH SYNAPTIC AND EPSP-SPIKE POTENTIATION. In JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-LONDON (Vol. 489, pp. P15-P16). 40 WEST 20TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10011-4211: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS.
  • Breakwell NA, Behnisch T, Publicover SJ, Reymann KG.
    Attenuation of high-voltage-activated Ca2+ current run-down in rat hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells by NaF.
    Exp Brain Res. 1995;106(3):505-8.

Breakwell NA, Publicover SJ.
Prolonged enhancement of synaptic transmission in area CA1 of rat hippocampal slices induced by NaF/AlCl3 does not require NMDA receptor activation but is suppressed by inhibitors of phosphoinositide-mediated signalling pathways.
Brain Res. 1994 Jan 7;633(1-2):72-6.

 

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

  • Breakwell, N.A.
    A Master Class.
    European Pharmaceutical Contractor, Spring 2008: 24-27.

BLENDED LEARNING PRESENTATIONS

  • Surviving the Avalanche: Improving Retention in MOOCs
    Nicholas Breakwell and Dara Cassidy (2013) MIT Linc https://linc.mit.edu/linc2013/proceedings/Session3/Session3Breakwell.pdf
  • Fit for purpose web 2.0 technologies.
    Dr. Nicholas Breakwell, Chief Knowledge Officer of Hibernia College
    Sloan-C VIRTUAL Symposium, Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning May 7-9, 2008
  • E-learning: the way forward
    Dr. Nicholas Breakwell, Chief Knowledge Officer of Hibernia College
    Higher Education in 2020: The Impact of IT on Academia
    Dublin, 25th September 2007
    Trinity College Dublin
  • Shifting Paradigms in Initial Teacher Education
    Dr. Nicholas Breakwell, Chief Knowledge Officer of Hibernia College
    Irish National Teachers Organisation Education Conference
    18th November 2006, Ennis, Co.Clare, Ireland
    InTouch Magazine, p23 December 2006
  • An eLearning Success Story – Hibernia College
    Dr. Nicholas Breakwell, Chief Knowledge Officer of Hibernia College
    Centre of Excellence Seminars
    Government eAwards Wednesday 20th September 2006, Alexander Hotel, Dublin
    http://www.irishegovernmentawards.ie/sept06.htm
  • Can Teachers Be Trained Online?
    Nicholas Breakwell, U. Quigley, and A. McManus, Hibernia College, Ireland
    EDEN Fifth Open Classroom Conference
    5-7 OCTOBER, 2005
    Poitiers-CNED, France
    http://www.eden-online.org/eden.php?menuId=270

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