roger frost: his never-used CV

It was only when someone asked ‘can you send me your CV?’ did I realise how long I worked without one. It was proof that it was once possible to work for twenty years without as much as an interview: in fact the small jobs needed a interview. Now I have retired, this cv is a vain souvenir but it’s been fun trying to remember what happened. This is how it goes:

“Communicating was Roger Frost’s passion and it was his day job from 1988 – 2008. He wrote copy for publishers in education. These included textbook publishers, newspapers, magazines and businesses, PR firms and government agencies. He also judged numerous awards, such as BIMA and BAFTA and BETT Awards. He went to so many bow-tie dinners and only bought the proper suit for that on the last gig.  

Nearby are samples from books, brochures, product catalogues, software manuals, teaching materials, case studies, web sites and advertisements.  Roger Frost wobbled admirably through lots of radio interviews and after-dinner talks about science, education and computers. Later, as a community radio volunteer, he created a series of interviews with scientists and published them as podcasts (see this page).

Short clip from BBC Radio 5 The Formula (1998). The interviewer Quentin Cooper has just asked “Have you found any good software for children’s education?”

Media making

• RF interviewed in ‘The Times’ “a downside to having technology in the home”
• RF is interviewed on BBC Radio 4 Learning Curve – where interviewer Libby Purves asked “What do you think of the GCSE revision websites?” (2000 – clip above)
• Radio interviews – working with Dorling Kindersley as an education expert on Radio Lancashire, Belfast and numerous local radio shows (1997). That day we did 15 remote interviews from a studio in Clerkenwell, London
• Radio – The Science Show – Cambridge 105 – regular show and iTunes podcast from 2011- 2014
• TV – Teacher’s TV – Primary Science Resources (30 mins). As a panellist discussing teacher’s resources. 
• TV – Teacher’s TV – Secondary Science Resources (30 mins)
• Software – RF was the instructional design leader on the chemistry animation in a Malaysia MoE project based in Kuala Lumpur (2003-4)
• Software – RF was the author and instructional designer on the chemistry teaching tools that comprise Roger Frost’s Organic Chemistry (2005 – )
• Software – RF had a lead role in creating Nelson Publishing’s e-science interactive content CD-ROM (2004-2006)
• Software – RF edited the interactive content for Hodder Education science CD-ROM (2006)

work for Microsoft Education from 1997 to 2003

RF worked for the Microsoft marketing dept writing case studies, brochures and advertisements from 1997-2003.  For example, one brief was to create a Microsoft web site to help schools prepare for the Year 2000 or ‘Y2K’.  RF wrote many case studies about Microsoft Training (Authorised Academic Training Partnerships) from 2001 through to 2003. For example, he wrote Microsoft brochures which would be handed out at trade shows (eg Further education technology showcase / Higher education technology showcase / Schools technology showcase).

employed at BBC Education to set up GCSE Bitesize from 1997-1998.

RF created and edited the chemistry and biology materials for the GCSE revision website BBC Bitesize. He worked at the BBC from the planning phase in October 1997 to first publication in March 1998.

newsletters, features, manuals and marketing material

• RF wrote the newsletters and marketing copy for the ASE Science Consortium where he worked for four years.
• RF wrote manuals for Cambridge-based software company Logotron
• RF wrote the Teaching guide for Datalogging Insight
• RF wrote the manuals for a software product called New Media Science School
• RF wrote classroom activities for a software product for learning science made by Sunflower Learning
• RF wrote hundreds of articles for The Times Educational Supplement – the weekly teacher’s newspaper.
• RF wrote regularly for The Guardian, a daily newspaper with an education supplement.
• RF wrote several features about revision for The Sunday Times – ‘Culture’ Magazine
• RF wrote for the weekly science newsletter, Planet Science (2005)
• RF wrote a monthly column for TV Technology & Production for about three years

Lecturing, courses, workshops, instructional media …

All in all writing took up a third of my time – the rest of my time was spent in and around schools – see this link to other experience I might have put on a CV.