Herman calls himself a “has been Geneticist” but his Vice Chancellor calls him “e-Man”! Herman obtained his BSc, BSc(Hons) and MSc(Genetics) degrees in the early 80’s. Videos he made for his students in the subjects Mendelian genetics, Human genetics and Animal breeding introduced technology and the utilisation thereof to him and led to a research project and model for the utilisation of technology in Genetics. This research finally won him over from manipulating genes to manipulating technology to touch and change the lives of students and academia. In 1993 he was awarded the M.Ed (Tertiary Didactics & Media science) cum laude from RAU University and in 2001 he obtained a D.Ed from the University of South Africa (UNISA) for his research on the utilisation and management of technology in a multimode teaching and learning environment.
Herman is currently Director of the Department of Telematic Education at Technikon Pretoria. Prior to this appointment he held various positions at the University of Pretoria for over 19 years: firstly as lecturer in the Department of Genetics and later as part of the management team in the newly established Telematics and Learning Innovation department.
Herman is an international expert on the utilisation and management of technology in education and serves on various national and international workgroups that do research in this field. He has a keen interest in how technology can enhance the teaching and learning experience of both lecturers and students, and has presented and published numerous papers nationally and internationally on this topic. As chairman of the ICT for Flexible Learning Workgroup within the Foundation of Tertiary Institutions of the Northern Metropolis (FOTIM) he organises and presents workshops and conferences to actively promote the equipping and training of staff. Herman also manages an expert centre - the Centre for the Utilisation of Technology in Education (CUTE) - that has a motto stating that for every educational problem or opportunity it has a CUTE solution!