by Derek Morrison, 23 May 2012
Over my ever increasing years working in (or for) various organsations very few people have impressed me so quickly. Jane Plenderleith, however, who died peacefully yesterday at the conclusion of a rapidly progressive illness was one such person. Jane was part of the dynamic duo otherwise known as Glenaffric.com that have, over many years, made a significant contribution in UK Higher Education to the development and evaluation of the thing we had come to know as e-learning. I worked with Jane and her partner Veronica since 2005 first in the national UK Benchmarking of E-Learning in Higher Education Project, followed by the Pathfinder Project and, more recently, the Welsh HE “Gwella” (Enhancement) Programme. It is fair to say that it was Jane’s very rare balance of detached analysis, quiet assertiveness, communication abilities but, yet, innate empathy which made her a such a terrific force to be reckoned with. Jane only found out how ill she was relatively recently but yet marshalled resources of courage and willingness to face her death that should be an inspiration to us all. We should not be surprised that she wished to share her experiences in the digital domain via her blog at www.bluejade.org. To the end Jane lived her life how she wanted to and I salute her final act which was to donate her body to medical science. Goodbye Jane, we will miss you.
