ACHIEVEMENTS 1

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International Teaching Experience

From 2002-2006, I was employed at the British School in Tokyo (BST) Japan and held the concurrent leadership positions of (a) Head of House and (b) Head of Pastoral Care, as well as (c) Parent-Teacher Representative. Representing a beautiful spectrum of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, BST hosted an average of 55 different nationalities. At the forefront of all three positions was my ability to communicate, inspire, motivate and drive the direction of the school and to enable students to develop their potential—academic, cultural, physical and social—through effective relationships established among largely non-English speaking and cross-cultural staff, parents and the broader community.

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Special Education

Since 1995, I have been teaching and/or have implemented ‘Learning Support Programs’ in most of the schools/educational institutions I have taught. I have been assigned students who are either considered ‘special needs’ or ‘gifted’ as I have the patience, understanding and emotional intelligence to deal with learners at both ends of the spectrum. I have a wealth of experience designing and/or negotiating IAPs for ESL/EFL/NESB/SEN students from Reception (4 years old) to university level (65 years old), as well as mentoring indigenous, minority and new arrival students.

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During 2009-2010, as Coordinator of Student Development at the University of Adelaide. I developed strong links with the university’s ‘Disability Service’. I was required to help develop, implement, monitor and evaluate ways to best accommodate students who needed help coping with their study programs. Circumstances included those caused by sporting accidents (e.g., fractures, prolapse discs); learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia); medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, Crohn Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome); mental illness (e.g., OCD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia); sensory impairments (e.g., vision, hearing); mobility issues (e.g., paraplegia); and brain injury (e.g., strokes or injuries caused by accidents). I have proven experience coordinating a large scale language and learning program across the University of Adelaide (10,000+ students).

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From 2011-2012, as Coordinator of several core-curricular subjects in the School of Education at the University of Adelaide, many Graduate Diploma students tended to be university returnees and mature-aged students. Oftentimes, I needed to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate program(s) to address the learning wellbeing of students with (non-Disability Service) welfare needs. Student circumstances included: bereavement; child custody cases; depressive and suicidal tendencies; divorce; short and long-term homelessness; minor surgeries; miscarriage; and restraining orders. I enabled the effective provision of quality educational experiences to include individualised programs to address the learning needs of different adult students.

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Coordinator of Student Development

In 2009-2010, within the Centre for Learning and Professional Development, I held the position of Coordinator of Student Development (Undergraduates 10,000 students). This role encompassed responsibility for the University’s Writing Centre (10,000+ undergraduate students); the Semester Seminar Series (i.e., focused workshops on annotated bibliographies, data collection methods, literature review, thesis construction/writing etc.); and the publication and distribution of Learning Guides (i.e., resources on paraphrasing, procrastination, reporting verbs, time management etc.). My team managed social and professional development opportunities to better nurture rapport among academic staff and local/international students, such as multidisciplinary in-house symposiums and other ‘Learning Hub’ events. We also aided the implementation of innovations to enhance academic teaching and student learning through the provision of collaborations, exchanges, research, resources, as well as community partnerships, external consultancies, and outreach programmes during semester and holiday vacation periods (i.e., Summer and Winter schools).

 

My team provided guidance to enhance staff teaching and student learning through research and the provision of educational services, resources and consultancies. A key feature of this role was the need to work as a member of a multidisciplinary team—tutors, lecturers, faculty members, specialists, internal support services and public/private external agencies—and to employ a collaborative management approach. My team supported the implementation of innovations in teaching and learning including, but not limited to: course design recommendations (inclusion, differentiation); academic dishonesty procedures (emotional intelligence); international student issues (wellbeing, acculturation); and new methods based on multimedia technologies (social learning).

 

I worked on special projects with Faculty Heads and Coordinators of Programs within the schools of: (a) Architecture; (b) Dentistry; (c) Gender, Work and Social Enquiry; (d) Heath Sciences; (e) Linguistics; (f) Mechanical Engineering; and (g) Plant Biotechnology. In multidisciplinary teams, I produced materials addressing specific aspects of university policy (e.g., Plagiarism Awareness Certificates, Reasonable Adjustments to Teaching and Assessment for Students with a Disability Policy), piloted new programs (e.g., DECS First Generations), and provided consultancy services to outside organisations (e.g., Adelaide to Outback, Regency TAFE College).