Stephen's ICT career (he is credited with being the person who put the C into ICT), began with the UK government's Microelectronics Education programme (MEP) in the early 80s, after he had been teaching for some years. Stephen founded and ran Ultralab for a quarter of a century, building it into one of the most respected research centres in e-learning in the world.

Stephen pioneered, and was the guiding "father" of, early social networking. He was a founder board member for Teachers.TV - a UK public service TV and broadband channel for professional development of teachers. He sits on the board of the UK 's Skillset - guiding professional development and training in the Creative Industries; he sits on BAFTA's Council having formerly chaired its Technical Innovation Jury and sat on its Film Committee.

Stephen holds the chair on New Media Environments at the Centre for Excellence for Media Practice at Bournemouth University, where all his PhD students are currently based. He is at the heart of a global revolution in learning space design, with a string of major new building projects worldwide including a 0-21+ academy in the UK and a complete makeover of a national education system in the Caribbean. Recent awards include the Royal Television Society's Judges Award for Lifelong Services to Educational Broadcasting. In 2008 he received the BETT for Outstanding Achievement in ICT Education. Stephen is retained by a number of organisations and governments to help with future policy and direction, including the BBC, is an Associate of KPMG, and is retained by the UK government Horizon Scanning work to advise of future directions for educational policy.