About Ben & This Site

About This Website

This site is my personal digital library and teaching assistant. I use it to collect articles, papers, and resources for my classes and my own reference. If you are one of my students, you’ll find tailored content to support your coursework here. If you are an educator, student, or health and fitness professional...welcome! I hope you find these resources useful, too.

Depending on the topic, you will find either a brief summary or a list of direct links to external websites and journals. Wherever possible, the academic resources curated here are open-access and free to view.

If you have stumbled on this website, and you find it useful, please let me know.

Have you used BenJaneFitness.com with your students? Maybe it was useful in your own work?

If so, I would love to hear how you have used it. Let me know what you think about this website by completing this very short form.

Or just email me at bjane@marjon.ac.uk. Thanks.

Examples of how I use this website in my work

A page of curated resources based on a topic - Physical Activity Guidelines, Intervention Mapping

- - there's a lot on some of these pages but they've often been developed over years and start out as much shorter lists of papers I make myself when first teaching or researching any given topic.
Learning Resources for my students to help with their understanding - Hypertrophy
- - this page is designed to work on 3 levels; skim the sub-titles and sections for the basic ideas, read the simple text for more depth and then eventually students should start working through some of the research papers. Because of this levelling, this page works across most levels of UG/PG courses.
Practical Resources for my students to use - Exercise Programming
- - This page contains a series of forms that a colleague and I developed and have re-used many times since.
A page showing a chronological list of key milestones in an area that I'm researching - Groups Research Timeline
- - Yet again, if you can't find a resource on the internet then other people might find it as useful as you might
A resource to share with your students based on an academic skill they need to develop - Writing Lab Reports
- - Share it before when teaching a topic but also embed it in your Quickmarks so that it's once again given out with your ongoing feedback
Share recommended research methods resources - Qualitative Research Methods
- - Over several years, I engaged with twitter threads where many people have added their own recommended reading. By listing resources that I think I might find useful on this webpage I can also share with my own students and peers.
Record my own work notes as a reminder to myself, but also as a record of my own practise and for sharing with others - Blended Learning Toolbox
- - I use this to find nuggets that I want to store somewhere but many others have found it useful as well.
Post my own conference presentations and background to published articles - ParkLives project

About Ben

I’m a Senior Lecturer at Plymouth Marjon University, where I teach across a range of health-related disciplines and serve as Programme Leader for the MPH Public Health postgraduate course. My core expertise lies in Health Promotion and the use of exercise for managing chronic health conditions, blending academic work with ongoing professional practice.

With almost 25 years in adult education (7 in FE, 16 in HE), I’ve developed extensive experience in digital pedagogy, including innovative uses of Canvas VLE/LMS and leadership in generative AI integration across teaching and assessment. My approach emphasises practical skill development for both colleagues and students, through communities of practice, resource-sharing, and curriculum design.

Teaching & Research

I teach health behaviour change, public health, clinical exercise, and strength & conditioning, while maintaining active involvement in exercise referral schemes for conditions like cancer, chronic pain, and diabetes. My research is currently focused on the skills, attributes and training of group exercise referral instructors, but has also included large-scale research projects like the e-coachER RCT (focused on behaviour change in exercise referral) and investigations into corporate sponsorship of physical activity initiatives.

As a Senior Fellow of Advance HE, I’m committed to bridging theory and practice, whether through intervention design, Pragmatic Evaluation methodologies, or mentoring future public health or teaching professionals.

Digital Innovation & AI in Education

I’ve led institution-wide initiatives to build digital literacies, from staff training programs to student-facing modules integrating research methods and study skills. Recently, I spearheaded Marjon’s response to generative AI, leading a project to develop policy guidance, designing AI literacy frameworks, and co-authoring a chapter (Redefining Assessments in the Age of AI) in the Routledge book Teaching and Learning in the Age of Generative AI. I have also been at the forefront of work to develop new ways of building asynchronous and blended teaching and learning resources; work that has been shared at national conferences and on this website Canvas Page Templates Project.

This work extends beyond academia. Among other work, I’ve delivered workshops for public health professionals and educators on AI’s role in research and teaching.

Professional Background

Before joining Marjon in 2009, I managed Fitness Industry Qualifications at Plymouth YMCA and worked across sectors—from gym management and occupational health to elite youth conditioning. I hold an MSc (Exeter), PGCE (Plymouth), and REPs Level 4 certifications, and have been a practising fitness instructor since 1992.

Latest Academic Work

Conference Presentation June 2026: 7th International Conference on Social Identity & Health at The University of Exeter, 23-26 June, Developing Blended Learning: Using Generative AI to Co-Develop a Social Identity-Based Training Programme for Exercise Referral Instructors [ICSIH7 GroupFIRST Development]

Conference Presentation May 2025: University of Liverpool's Theme Park of Innovation 2025, Harnessing AI for enhanced Teaching and Learning [presentation and resources]

Cotton, D.R.E., Wyness, L., Jane, B. and Cotton, P.A. (2025). Redefining assessments in the age of AI. In R. Corbeil and M.E. Corbeil (Eds), Teaching and Learning in the Age of Generative AI: Evidence-Based Approaches to Pedagogy, Ethics, and Beyond. Routledge. [Routledge]

Jane, B., & Downey, J. (2024). Exercise referral schemes in the UK: mapping provision and aims. Journal of Public Health, fdae057. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdae057

McCormick, A., Pedmanson, P., Jane, B., & Watson, P. (2024). How do new runners maintain their running, and what leads to others stopping? A qualitative, longitudinal study. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 70, 102515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2023.102515

Morris, A., Bright, C., Cocks, M., Gibson, N., Goff, L., Greaves, C., Griffin, S., Jane, B., Kinnafick, Robb, P., Roberts, M. Salman, D., Saxton, J. Taylor, A., West, D., Yates, T., Andrews, R.C. & Gill, J. (2023) Recommendations from Diabetes UK’s 2022 diabetes and physical activity workshop. Diabetic Medicine https://doi.org/10.1111/dme.15169