Scholarship: Projects
UOW Curriculum Transformation Project
The Curriculum Transformation Project (CTP) was an ambitious four-year plan to build on and enhance University of Wollongong’s national and international reputation for top quality teaching and learning that maximises student success. It builds on the outstanding work done by UOW academics over many years and seeks to enhance our reputation for innovative teaching and learning practices. Each faculty has a strong tradition of good practice unique to the demands of their discipline which will be highlighted as we develop and share resources for implementation of the project. The CTP will also build on previous university-wide initiatives such as the development and embedding of graduate qualities and the many successful projects led by UOW academics.
The UOW Curriculum Model was developed through a consultative process which involved triangulating the experience of UOW academics, sector best practice and the literature on teaching and learning innovation.
Key Paper
O’Donnell, M., Wallace, M., Melano, A., Lawson, R., & Leinonen, E., 2015, Putting transition at the centre of whole-of-curriculum transformation. Student Success, 6(2), 73-79.
ABSTRACT: This paper describes the development of a model for institution-wide curriculum transformation at the University of Wollongong (UOW). Transition – a curriculum-integrated approach that enables a smooth, supported shift into and through higher education and a successful transition from the university to the world of work and lifelong learning – is one of three key principles at the heart of the UOW Curriculum Model. This paper focuses on transition as a whole-of-curriculum design principle and the way this principle informs the other elements of the UOW Curriculum Model. It aims to extend the concept of “transition pedagogy” developed by Kift and colleagues and to show how it has been used to inform our larger project of curriculum renewal.
Design at Future Learn
Design at FutureLearn saw Deakin University become the first university in the world to launch a suite of MOOC based degree programs on the UK-based Future Learn platform. This involved developing a series of internal design models and ways of working as well as a series of integrated free and fee-paying units of study and microcredentials.
Key Papers
O’Donnell, M & Schulz, L 2020, ‘Learning design meets service design for innovation in online learning at scale’, in S McKenzie, M Mundy, F Garivaldis & K Dyer (eds), The Tertiary Online Teaching and Learning (TOTAL) Guide, Springer
ABSTRACT: Carvalho and Goodyear (2018) have recently argued that design work in higher education has fragmented between administrative macro-level planning and the micro level work of learning design. They call for a new approach that connects “macro, meso and micro levels” of design thinking for educational change. This paper describes a series of macro, meso and micro design strategies that have been developed during the formative development of Deakin University’s “Cloud Campus” which delivers 160-degree programs to more than 15,000 students. This process has been informed by insights from design thinking with its specific focus on the user experience and involvement, and iterative, agile practices. This approach has allowed the development of a more in-depth appreciation of the experiences, expectations and “pain points” encountered by students at each stage in their learning journey. This case study will focus on the work to develop a number of specific postgraduate degrees using an open course platform, FutureLearn. The case study explores a four-part framework that integrates learning design, service design, team design, and portfolio design combining institutional, academic and professional approaches to the delivery of premium online learning. Evaluation of this approach has shown an improvement in student retention and is significantly impacting on teaching and learning practices at Deakin more broadly.
Bearman, M, Lambert, S, & O’Donnell, M 2020, ‘How a centralised approach to learning design influences students: a mixed methods study’, Higher Education Research & Development
ABSTRACT: In online education, learning design has a significant role in mediating student experience. Centralised approaches to learning design provide students with a coherent teaching approach across online units but little is known about their impact on the student. Understanding the influence of these overarching learning design features may be a significant piece in improving online coursework at scale. In the context of this study, a central learning design team created learning design patterns within the FutureLearn platform, which teaching teams subsequently used to develop student-facing unit learning materials. A mixed methods investigation sought to understand how the learning design patterns influenced (1) student outcomes and (2) student experiences across units. We collected enrolment and institutional satisfaction data, conducted a qualitative survey (39 respondents) and interviewed 14 students. Quantitative analysis suggested that the approach may have improved retention although satisfaction appeared unchanged. The qualitative data indicated that, in general, learning design elements such as social media style discussion enable and constrain the student learning experience simultaneously. For example, stepwise approaches to learning help orient and guide students but may also be overly atomistic. This suggests both software choice and learning design patterns can have a mixed effect on the student experience. Course teams may wish to consider how teaching materials can maximise the benefits and mitigate against the foreseeable drawbacks of centralised learning designs and software platforms.
Adachi, C. and O'Donnell, M., 2019. Degree Design Thinking: integrated design frameworks for emerging online degrees in higher education. ASCILITE Publications, pp.349-353.
This paper proposes a new conceptual framework for curriculum design that incorporates the principles of both educational and service design. Traditionally efforts in designing high quality online learning have relied on learning design and not on broader principles drawn from other fields of studies such as service design. This paper presents a case study of creating a quality online course on digital learning leadership to argue for the importance of an integrated approach to educational design. This new postgraduate degree in Digital Learning Leadership was aimed at the community of professionals working in the field of digital learning. The case study presents an integrated approach that combines design thinking and a Community of Inquiry framework as a way of cultivating a sense of belonging online for a network of digital learning professionals.
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CloudFirst Learning
From 2018 until 2021 I led Deakin’s CloudFirst redesign project. Cloud First took the learning design model from the FutureLearn project and developed an adaptable model that could be applied to degrees across Deakin University. The COVID-19 pandemic saw the rapid pivot to online learning for all students across the higher education sector. Many believe higher education will be forever transformed as a result, leading to an increased demand for online and blended learning models. CloudFirst put Deakin in a strong position to meet this demand, because of its focus the purposeful design of online learning experiences. The CloudFirst Project began in 2018 as a two-year project with the goal of collaboratively co-designing high quality exemplar units across some of Deakin’s largest degrees, led by a purpose-built multidisciplinary team of experienced staff members with deep expertise and broad knowledge in areas such as educational design, multimedia creation, user experience, project management and IT development. Over those initial two years, the CloudFirst team co-designed over 25 units in the Masters of Business Administration, Bachelor of Law, Masters of Education – Research Pathways, and Masters of Education – TESOL. The co-design processes between the CloudFirst team and faculty academics were iteratively refined and improved over time as the project progressed, resulting in the creation of numerous assets to support the transition of project innovations into normal teaching practice; including a CloudFirst Learning Design framework, unit site templates, self-paced capability building assets and learning design workshops that the wider university could use to begin their own CloudFirst journey.
Resilience, Mindfulness and Mental Health
I am a trained meditation teacher with a long history of personal meditation practice. I have used this experience across a ranage of projects to do with the development of contemplative approaches to curriculum and the building of student resilience. This includes a very successful FutureLearn MOOC Professional Resilience: Building Skills to Thrive which has attracted over 90K enrolments.
Key Papers and Resources
Student Resilience
Lotte Latukefu, Marcus O’Donnell, Shawn Burns, Janys Hayes, Grant Ellmers and Joanna Stirling, 2013, “Fire in the belly: Building resilience in creative practitioners through experiential, practice-led and authentically designed learning environments,” in Holmes, Jonathan (ed) The CALTN Papers Creative Arts Learning and Teaching Network, Australia, 2013. iBooks. https://itun.es/au/MSrzP.l
ABSTRACT This paper presents part of a study carried out in 2011 by researchers in the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong. The purpose of the project was to customise nationally developed Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLO) for the Bachelor of Creative Arts degree in the Faculty of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong (UOW). The participants in the study included both full and part-time faculty staff from the Performance, Graphic Design and Journalism programs at UOW. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were carried out to determine what each participant understood by the terms Standards and Graduate Qualities in relation to discipline and course specific outcomes. A common theme that emerged during interviews and focus group discussions was the need for graduates of the creative and performing arts to be resilient. A return to the literature on resilience showed a strong congruence between the principles of experiential and practice-based learning which, underlie programs in the Faculty of Creative Arts, and parts of the literature on building resilient professionals. This similarity in key elements in the literature on resilience and the literature on experiential, practice based learning would seem to support the argument of this paper that approaches to teaching described in this paper have potential to produce informed and creative students who will become seasoned, flexible resilient practitioners ready to contribute to their communities.
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Tillott, S., O'Donnell, M., Harper, J. & Leinonen, E. (2015). Mindfulness and Transition Pedagogy. STARS 2015 Handbook & Proceedings (pp. 1-5).
Mindfulness practices, which focus on developing concentration and self- awareness skills through a set of meditative techniques derived from Buddhism, have been shown to have a wide variety of positive effects in clinical and educational settings. This article describes a developing project at the University of Wollongong to devise and integrate a variety of approaches to mindfulness into curriculum development and co-curricular activities. It describes a pilot mindfulness-training project for low SES students and a theoretical framework for integrating mindfulness approaches with transition pedagogies.
O’Donnell, M., Summers, W., 2016, Fascinating Attention: Digital literacies in the FACE of digital distractions. STARS 2016 Proceedings
Adjusting to new modes of digital behaviour and a developing digital identity is a critical part of the transition experience in higher education as students move from recreational to professional approaches to digital connection and communication. This paper argues that digital literacies must include socioemotional literacies that enable digital encounters as embodied practices with a full range of cognitive, attentional, affective, and somatic elements. Drawing on the psychology of mindfulness literature we present a model for developing focused attention and embracing the digital as a space of creativity and engagement rather than as a space for passive exploration of information.
LGBTIQ+ Mental Health
Working Therapeutically with LGBTI Clients: A Practice Wisdom Resource
This manual draws from the consulting room experience of a number of psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors who have worked with a broad range of sex, sexuality and gender diverse clients. It is designed to assist a broad group of helping professionals who may want to work with LGBTI clients. It may be useful to psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers, community workers or youth workers.
In 2014 I led the project as editor through a unique consultative process that involved workshops and interviews with some of Australia and New Zealand’s most experienced counsellors, psychologists and therapists working with LGBTI clients. It is currently under revision and a new Guide will be published in 2025
Journalism and Journalism Education
2011 ALTC Research Grant, $120,000, Professor Stephen Tanner, Marcus O’Donnell, Professor Kerry Green & A/Prof Trevor Cullen: Graduate qualities and journalism curriculum renewal: balancing tertiary expectations and industry needs in a changing environment
This project explores the attitudes of universities and media organisations towards journalism curriculum renewal. In part, the project is inspired by an apparent schism that exists between some journalists and editors on the one hand, and journalism academics on the other regarding the role of journalism training and education, specifically, where it should most appropriately be taught – in-house, that is by the media organisation, within a university environment, or elsewhere. This project provides the first comprehensive analysis of the journalism education sector in Australia to consider the question of curriculum renewal and the relationship between universities and industry on a national scale. The timing of this project was fortuitous, given the impact of technological innovation and economic restructures on journalism worldwide and the consequent impact of these changes on the following questions: (1) What is a journalist? (2) What skills are required to become a journalist? (3) How can those skills be acquired or developed? This project addresses these questions and begins the development of a shared language of curriculum renewal in the journalism education sector and between industry and the sector.
UNESCO Journalism Curriculum and Sustainable Development
In 2015 I was part of an international team which developed a UNESCO model curriculum for journalism based on the UN Sustainability Goals. This publication represents UNESCO’s ongoing clarification of how journalism education can remain engaged with wider processes of development and democracy. With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) being renegotiated into what will be called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a long-term pedagogical strategy is to call attention to the seamless correlation between a free, independent and pluralistic media system and the overall process of sustainable development.
UNESCO Internet Study: Privacy and Journalists’ Sources led by WAN-IFRA Research Fellow Julie Posetti
I was part of an international team of researchers led by Professor Julie Posetti which investigated legal frameworks for the protection of journalists. Is it possible to keep journalists’ sources confidential in the digital age? What laws exist globally to support journalists’ ethical obligation to protect their sources from unmasking? To whom do these laws apply? How are legislative protections being adapted to digital realities? And what are the potential consequences of this shifting landscape for acts of investigative journalism? These are some of the questions to be interrogated in a significant study being undertaken by the World Editors Forumfor UNESCO, under a project funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).