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A/Prof. Joanne O'Mara

STAFF PROFILE

Position

Associate Professor of Education (Language and Literature)

Faculty

Faculty of Arts and Education

Department

School of Education

Campus

Melbourne Burwood Campus

Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy, Griffith University, 2000
Master of Education, University of Melbourne, 1995

Research interests

My research program investigates young people's creation and usage of texts; innovative pedagogy, curriculum design and teaching practices; the policies and conditions of teachers' work. I have a particular interest in the areas of new literacies studies and the arts and am passionate about my ongoing series of research projects in the areas of drama education pedagogy and practices, digital games, emergent literacies and new textual practices.

Teaching interests

I am the Chair of Secondary English Curriculum Inquiry. I have taught secondary English and Drama education in a wide range of school and university settings. I have taught in Melbourne, Ballarat, Brisbane, Vanuatu and Canada, and bring this experience to my research, curriculum design and critique, and teaching.

I am an experienced post-graduate research supervisor and have successfully supervised a range of doctoral and masters students and their projects. I work in partnership with my post-graduate students, supporting them in the pursuit of their chosen project. I have worked across a range of critical theoretical resources and discipline areas. I am particularly interested in the usage of the creative arts as a research method and innovative approaches to research in the field of education. I have a strong record of supporting students through their studies to completion and beyond, assisting them to achieve their research and employment goals.

I believe that you have to start with where people are at and try to take them where they need to/want to go. This student-centred approach to learning and teaching in the context of my  Higher Degree Research students means getting to know their working style closely, so that I (and other members of the supervision team) can best help them to draw on their strengths to work towards their goals.

Units taught

Secondary English Curriculum Inquiry (Unit Chair and Lecturer)

Languages, Literacies and Learners (Lecturer)

Publications

No publications found

Funded Projects at Deakin

Australian Competitive Grants

Literacy in the digital world of the twenty-first century: learning from computer games.

Prof Catherine Beavis, Prof Clare Bradford, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Christopher Walsh

ARC Linkage - Projects Rnd 1

  • 2010: $52,596
  • 2008: $41,626
  • 2007: $65,295

Intercultural understanding in primary and secondary schools

Adj/Prof Christine Halse, Prof Fethi Mansouri, A/Prof Colin Arrowsmith, Prof Julianne Moss, Hon Prof Ruth Arber, Dr Nida Denson, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Naomi Priest

ARC Linkage - Projects Rnd 2

  • 2015: $76,337
  • 2014: $149,988
  • 2013: $108,321
  • 2012: $70,097

Serious Play: Using digital games in school to promote literacy and learning in the twenty first century

Prof Catherine Beavis, Dr Michael Dezuanni, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Sarah Prestridge, Dr Leonie Rowan, Prof Claire Wyatt-Smith, Dr Jason Zagami, A/Prof Yam San Chee

ARC Linkage - Projects Rnd 2

  • 2014: $44,500
  • 2013: $39,500
  • 2012: $38,500

The contribution of becoming reflective on the employability of teachers and social workers

A/Prof Fran Waugh, Prof Robyn Ewing, A/Prof Wendy Bowles, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Prof Joan Fook, Dr Jonothan Doherty, Dr Jane McLenachan, A/Prof Christine Morley, A/Prof Lisa Kervin, Dr Jessica Maneti

OLT Innovation and Development Grants - Office for Learning and Teaching

  • 2017: $6,250

Other Public Sector Funding

Literacy in the digital world of the twenty-first century: learning from computer games.

Prof Catherine Beavis, Prof Clare Bradford, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Christopher Walsh

DETVic Department of Education and Training Victoria, ACMI -The Australian Centre for the Moving Image

  • 2010: $25,000
  • 2008: $30,000
  • 2007: $25,000

Review of the literature on the connections between physical learning spaces and student learning outcomes

Prof Jill Blackmore, Dr Debra Bateman, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Jill Loughlin

DEECD Research Panel - Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

  • 2010: $30,844

Innovative Learning Environments Research Study

Prof Jill Blackmore, A/Prof Mary Dixon, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Jill Loughlin, Dr Debra Bateman, Hon Prof Anne Cloonan, Dr Kim Senior, Dr Jill Bamforth, Dr George Aranda, Mr Rod Le Cudennec, Ms Kate McCulloch

DEECD Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

  • 2011: $143,524
  • 2010: $54,000

Intercultural understanding in primary and secondary schools

Adj/Prof Christine Halse, Prof Fethi Mansouri, A/Prof Colin Arrowsmith, Prof Julianne Moss, Hon Prof Ruth Arber, Dr Nida Denson, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Naomi Priest

DEECD Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

  • 2013: $10,000
  • 2012: $125,000

Literacy and Numeracy Strategy - Literature Review

A/Prof Colleen Vale, Prof Damian Blake, A/Prof Glenn Auld, Dr Leicha Bragg, Prof Louise Paatsch, A/Prof Trace Ollis, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Gaye Williams, Dr Sarah Ohi

DEECD Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

  • 2013: $54,420

Transition: Improved Literacy and Numeracy Outcomes (Survey)

Dr Brian Doig, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara

DETVic Grant - Research - Department of Education and Training Victoria

  • 2015: $50,959

Evaluation of NISA project: Supporting implementation of Digital Technologies Curriculum

A/Prof Julianne Lynch, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Hon Prof Anne Cloonan, A/Prof Glenn Auld

Australian Curriculum, Assessment & Reporting Authority

  • 2020: $47,835
  • 2019: $22,500
  • 2018: $22,500
  • 2017: $5,000

Virtual Learning Principles for Teachers: Best Practices.

A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Prof Catherine Beavis

DETVic Grant - Research - Department of Education and Training Victoria

  • 2019: $45,454

Learner Improvement in Reading in Tasmanian Government Schools.

A/Prof Glenn Auld, Prof Julianne Moss, Prof Louise Paatsch, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Maria Nicholas, Dr Sarah Ohi

Department for Education, Children & Young People (Tasmania)

  • 2023: $605,126

Industry and Other Funding

Intercultural understanding in primary and secondary schools

Adj/Prof Christine Halse, Prof Fethi Mansouri, A/Prof Colin Arrowsmith, Prof Julianne Moss, Hon Prof Ruth Arber, Dr Nida Denson, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Dr Naomi Priest

Together for Humanity Foundation Limited

  • 2014: $30,000
  • 2013: $30,000
  • 2012: $30,000

Evaluation of the Professional Learning Flagship Program: Leading Curriculum Change

Prof Brenton Doecke, Prof Julianne Moss, Hon Prof Anne Cloonan, A/Prof Julianne Lynch, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara

Aust Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

  • 2012: $47,117

Literacy Learning in Playful Spaces: Using multimodal strategies to develop narrative with young learners

A/Prof Linda Laidlaw, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara

CSSHRC Grant - Research - Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

  • 2014: $18,043

Reimagining literacy education: Being literate in the twenty-first century

A/Prof Linda Laidlaw, Prof Jannifer Rowsell, A/Prof Joanne O'Mara

SSHRCC Grant - Research - Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada

  • 2021: $15,597

Improving the outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students Project.

A/Prof Joanne O'Mara, Prof Julianne Moss, A/Prof Tim Corcoran, A/Prof Glenn Auld

Catholic Education Centre

  • 2021: $117,066
  • 2020: $42,867

Opportunities and Challenges to / of Text Selection in Secondary English Education.

A/Prof Joanne O'Mara

Victorian Association for the Teaching of English Collaborative Research Grant

  • 2022: $8,000

Supervisions

Principal Supervisor
2021

Bella Nitza Illesca

Thesis entitled: Storytelling and the Representation of the Everyday Work of English Teachers

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2020

Susan Mullane

Thesis entitled: Coming to Know the Accompanied Solo

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2019

Gary Robert Shaw

Thesis entitled: How might interculturality be developed in an Australian primary school?

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2014

Lucinda McKnight

Thesis entitled: The Glitterbomb: Designing Curriculum and Identity with Girls' Popular Culture

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2013

Michelle Ludecke

Thesis entitled: Using beginning teachers' 'firsts' to understand identity formation and transformation

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2012

Margaret Milne

Thesis entitled: Doing Without School! Spaces becomes places: adolescent identity and engagement

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

Executive Supervisor
2023

Ena Herni Wasli

Thesis entitled: Using Drama Methodology to Teach Traditional Malay Literature in Brunei

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2022

Fiona Phillips

Thesis entitled: Becoming Musical: Stories from The Staff

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2021

Maureen Patricia Cann

Thesis entitled: Literacy Reform in an Australian Secondary School: Living the Discourses of Recontextualisation

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2019

Kynan Mackintosh Robinson

Thesis entitled: Enabling Collective Creativity in Schools using Minecraft: Serious Play

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2017

Luke Conrad Jackson

Thesis entitled: The Role of the Writer in Creating Narrative-Driven Digital Educational Games

Doctor of Philosophy, School of Education

2015

Benjamin Whitburn

Thesis entitled: Critical Engagement with Insider Accounts of Inclusive Schooling

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2013

Nishta Devi Rosunee

Thesis entitled: Who's culture, where and why? - identity, culture and artistic expression

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

Co-supervisor
2022

Jodi Williams

Thesis entitled: Peeling back the wallpaper: Postfeminist discourses in the senior Literature classroom

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

2017

Brandi Nichole Fox

Thesis entitled: Intercultural subjectivities of the everyday: A study of Australian school kids

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education

Associate Supervisor
2014

Lisa Breen

Thesis entitled: Teacher professional practice and an ethic of care: an everyday problematic

Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education