ABOUT ME

Stephen McConnachie

Director

As Director of e-Learning at a large Year 1-13 school, Stephen was responsible for introducing and driving e-learning adoption both within his school and as a Kāhui Ako Across Schools Lead.

His primary role at Think e-Learning is to support schools and tertiary education providers around Aotearoa New Zealand with e-learning best practice, leadership development, and change management.

Stephen is particularly passionate about supporting leaders to lead their own change processes. He works with leaders to build their leadership capacity and to bring their people with them as they engage with complex change.

In 2017, Stephen was awarded the Jim Campbell National Award for Excellence in Teaching by the New Zealand Association of Mathematics Teachers. This award recognised not only his classroom practice, but also “his contribution to mathematics education at a regional and national level,” for his work supporting mathematics teachers’ adoption of new pedagogical approaches.

With experience across Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, Brightspace, Moodle, Canvas, Schoology, Stephen meets educators where they’re at to deliver high-quality professional development in whatever system they use.

Stephen is also an accredited CliftonStrengths coach, an experienced facilitator and presenter, and an award-winning researcher, having received the 2023 University Prize for his research thesis on digital equity during COVID lockdowns.

Qualifications and Accreditations

Accredited Strengths Network Coach (CliftonStrengths®)
Master of Education with Distinction (endorsed in e-Learning and Digital Technologies)
Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Secondary)
Bachelor of Science with Honours, majoring in Mathematics
Level 5 Certificate in Te Reo Māori

Meet The Collaborators

We’re passionate about transforming education through innovative digital learning. Our team combines expertise in instructional design and technology to create engaging, effective training solutions that empower learners and organizations alike.

Katesha Allis

Katesha Allis is a dynamic primary educator with 16 years of experience across primary and secondary settings in New Zealand, Australia, and the Cook Islands. With a background spanning literacy leadership, specialist art teaching, and middle management, she brings valuable expertise in inclusive education, equitable access to learning, and the design of accessible learning environments.

Coming from a background in graphic design, Katesha has a strong foundation in learning design, curriculum development, and user experience, which informs her innovative approach to teaching and professional development. She holds qualifications in learning design and is currently studying towards a Postgraduate Diploma in Education – focusing on Literacy and Inclusive Education, deepening her expertise in evidence-based practices that support diverse learners.

Katesha is passionate about empowering educators to create meaningful, culturally responsive learning environments where all learners have the opportunity to succeed. She has worked extensively in Pasifika education, leading literacy initiatives, and her recent experience in Rarotonga has strengthened her commitment to bridging pedagogy, equity, and indigenous knowledge.

Guided by her CliftonStrengths of Maximiser, Strategic Thinking, Individualisation, Responsibility, and Empathy, Katesha takes a relational, strengths-based approach to education. She excels at identifying potential, fostering growth, and leading meaningful, sustainable change that prioritises equity and inclusion.

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Design (Visual Communications)
Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary)
Post-Graduate Certificate in Learning Design

Cheryl Brown

Professor Cheryl Brown is Head of the School of Social and Cultural Studies in Education and co-Director of Te Puna Rangahau i- Ako, the Digital Education Futures Lab at the University of Canterbury.

Cheryl’s research is centred around digital equity and inclusion and the role digital technologies play in enabling or inhibiting students participation in learning. She has led multiple funded research projects on digital education leadership and exploring digital (in)equality and the critical issues we need to address for digital inclusion.

Cheryl has recently been appointed as a Commonwealth of Learning Research Chair and will be exploring (post)digital (in)equality in Tertiary Education with a particular focus on perspectives and opportunities in the Pacific region.

Rochelle Savage

Rochelle Savage is an enthusiastic learning experience designer and project manager with over twenty-five years of experience. As the Flexible Learning Manager for Victoria University’s marketing department for over ten years she converted the in-person marketing courses into online courses. This involved filming and editing short videos, co-designing the interactivities and courses, and project management. With a background in writing, acting, and directing for television and film she can create a supportive environment for people to feel relaxed and give their best performance in front of a camera or microphone.

She enjoys creating engaging, captivating stories to help others understand, learn, and be entertained. As well as video production she also has over ten years of experience in podcast production: interviewing, recording, and editing.

Thinking about the person or people behind the service or product she is co-designing and how best to engage and support them is important to her. Working at Tātai Aho Rau | CORE Education for over eleven years she continued her interest in incorporating Universal Design for Learning in her work to ensure that learning is supported for all. She worked closely with colleagues in the Māori and Pasifika teams on projects and benefited from their guidance by increasing her knowledge and awareness of cultural responsitivity as an integral aspect of work.