About

I am an academic, writer, visual artist and higher education leader. My interests across both my professional and creative practice have always focused around narratives for change and our ability to create myths of meaning through telling vibrant layered stories.

I am currently Director Cloud Learning Futures at Deakin University, in Melbourne Australia, where I lead strategic university innovation projects and curriculum renewal. My team in Deakin Learning Futures leads work on CloudFirst approaches to teaching and learning which puts the online experience at the heart of learning design. This includes the world first Degrees at FutureLearn Project which saw Deakin become the first university to launch a suite of degrees on a MOOC platform. I have held several roles since joining Deakin in 2016 including Director Digital learning and Pro Vice-Chancellor Teaching and Learning. Prior to this I was Head, Digital Pedagogies in the Learning Teaching and Curriculum Unit, University of Wollongong and was one of the academic leads on the UOW Curriculum Transformation Project (CTP) an ambitious five-year project to review and transform the curriculum of all UOW degrees. CTP focused on delivering exciting, authentic learning experiences, in an integrated whole-of-course framework and equipping all students as adaptable professionals, confident citizens and agile, lifelong learners for our increasingly complex world. I began my academic career as a lecturer in journalism and then convenor of the journalism program at UOW.

I was editor of Sydney Star Observer, Australia’s oldest and largest circulation gay and lesbian weekly newspaper from 1999 until early 2006. Prior to that I worked primarily in magazines doing a range of arts journalism. In the early nineties I was Melbourne editor of Monument – one of Australia’s leading architecture and design magazines and movies editor of SBS television’s subscriber magazine, Ariel.

I’ve written widely about art and architecture, gay/lesbian issues, religion, music, film and journalism.

In 2012 I completed a PhD at the University of Technology Sydney, where I previously taught part-time in the journalism program.

My full academic resume

My main research interests are:

      • multidisciplinary approaches to narrative and storytelling
      • student wellness, resilience and contemplative education
      • learning design and narratives of teaching and learning for a digital world
      • literary journalism and creative non-fiction
      • mythical narratives in journalism and film

Marcus O’Donnell January 2020