Conversations: TechDem Champs
Damien Lowe
Currently enrolled in the Master Professional Studies (Research) @ UniSQ
Read about our Student Engagement SIG Student Panel
Encourage others to sign up as Student Representatives – Under ‘How to Apply”
Read the UniSQ Education Plan 2022-2025
Interested in reading more about Students as Partners?
The following research has been published in the last year:
Breaden, J., Do, T., Moreira dos Anjos-Santos, L. & Normand-Marconnet, N. (2023) Student empowerment for internationalisation at a distance: enacting the students as partners approach in virtual mobility, Higher Education Research & Development, 42(5), 1182-1196, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2023.2193728. (Click here to access.)
Dai, K. & Matthews, K.E. (2023) Students as partners rather than followers but … ’: understanding academics’ conceptions of changing learner-teacher relationships in Chinese higher education, Higher Education Research & Development, 42(6), 1362-1376. DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2022.2135690. (Click here to access.)
Ravhuhali, F., Mboweni, H. & Nendauni, L. (2022). Inclusion of students as key stakeholders and agents in the induction of new university teachers: Disrupting the induction status quo. Critical Studies in Teaching & Learning, 10(1), 80-99. DOI: 10.14426/cristal.v10i2.580. (Click here to access.)
Setterington, N.A., McLean, S., & Woods, A. (2023). Design, implementation, and evaluation of Students as Partners interactive feedback model, Advances in Physiology Education, 47(2), 181-193. DOI: 10.1152/advan.00182.2022. (Click here to access.)
Smith, D. (2023). Working with politics ‘students as partners’ to engender student community: Opportunities and challenges. Politics, 0(0). DOI 10.1177/02633957231173372. (Click here to access.)
Walsh,K. & Jaquet, A. (2023). Towards inclusive student partnership: Challenges and opportunities for student engagement in the Australian context. Routledge. (Click here to access.)
Student Representative – Damien Lowe
Just like you, our priority is students, which is why we’re so excited to introduce you to our Student Representative – Damien Lowe.
Recent research reveals the benefits of the students as partners model, praising the positive impacts on learning and teaching. Students as partners:
- “empowers students” (Ravhuhali, Mboweni, & Nendauni, 2022, 88)
allows us to “rethink pedagogical practices through a relationship-rich ethos” (Dai & Matthews, 2023, 1362) - “has the ability to impact student community, which in turn can have a positive impact on student retention” (Smith, 2023, n.p.)
- “a ‘win-win’ strategy for … achieving a shift from a top-down students-as-participants approach to a grassroots process which engages students in an active, authentic learning cycle that in turn helps to shape other students’ experiences in future” (Breaden, Do, Moreira dos Anjos-Santos, & Normand-Marconnet, 2023, 1193)
- fosters reciprocal partnerships (Setterington, McLean, & Woods, 2023)
The UniSQ Education Plan 2022-2025 likewise embraces the model with one of our three core strategies “to provide intentionally designed flexible student experiences”, driven in part by partnering with students.
For us, we see working with students as vital, as it provides insights into the tools and pedagogies that we trial, shaping our processes of innovation and implementation.
For all these reasons, we are very excited to have Damien as our Student Representative and are grateful to him for his service.
Please join us in welcoming Damien to the team!
After 30 years in hospitality, an opportunity to educate future hospitality staff presented itself as a teacher for TAFE. This led to spending the last 7 years teaching vocational education and higher education level.
However, frustrated with the curriculum (at VET and Higher Education) I decided to embark on a research journey to actively seek how to improve curriculum and develop learning tools that are effective in practical industries. My Masters research, focussing on the hospitality industry and the relationship with vocational education and training, has led me to explore further about how technology advancements and artificial intelligence can assist us in day to day curricula and indigenous learning. Working as a fulltime resource developer for a private RTO provides me first hand with various ways to implement tools that all abilities of students are able to use.
This opportunity as a student representative in Tech Demonstrators is just the right avenue for me to continue research; to be a ‘voice’ in future curricula development for Uni SQ; and to understand further developments in technology, which will assist in students learning without academic misconduct, and potentially provide better student outcomes.
Want to connect with a TechDems Champion?
Each of our Champions is a passionate advocate for EdTech tools and online pedagogies. They’re also willing to share their expertise with you. Contact any of the Champions below.
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Dr Rhi Johnson
Dr Rhi Johnson is a Lecturer in Visual Arts (Printmaking), and is the First Year Experience and Employability Lead for the School of Creative Arts at USQ.
Dr Katrina Cutcliffe
After teaching in the secondary sector for over 20 years, Katrina moved to USQ and have been inspired by the community and the collective passion for student learning.
Vanessa Crouch
As a teacher with 20 years of teaching experience in primary schools in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Japan, Vanessa is passionate about leveraging technology for learning.
Dr Lisa Jacka
Dr Lisa Jacka is a senior lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland in the School of Education. She has over 18 years of experience in Higher Education at USQ, SCU, JCU and UNE.
Dr Julie Lindsay
Julie has a 35+ years career in higher education and K-12 schools and worked in international schools for fifteen years as an educational technology leader across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
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