A new challenge: Research at QUT

In early 2020, just before the covid pandemic hit, I applied to the Masters of Philosophy degree at QUT. Probably not the ideal time to begin a new challenge, but how was I to know that within the next few months, while completing mandatory research skills courses, I’d also have my two kids at home doing year three and four classes online, and welcoming an 8 week old puppy into our family as well! Somehow, we all got through that time and I began to craft my research project. I knew generally, the topic needed to be associated with education and design and the access I had to my students at ACU helped to make the rest of my project clear. 

‘Enhancing the capabilities and self-efficacy of pre-service primary school teachers with design thinking’ became my working title and I developed a case study around my pre-service teachers. In early 2021, I got ethics approval (quite a process!) and collected the data I required; pre and post-course surveys, focus groups and assessment tasks all aimed at understanding the impact,  understanding and value future teachers place on design-led pedagogy. Becoming a researcher has been a steep learning curve. I have joined a couple of research groups at QUT including the QUT Design Lab, the Centre for Inclusive Education (C4IE) and Digital Learning for Change (DL4C). I’ve participated in writing workshops, retreats and meet ups and I even entered the 3 minute thesis competition. As I have continued working on my thesis, I’ve also been employed as a research assistant and intern with the Design Lab. What all of these experiences have afforded me, the most impactful has been the experience of meeting and working alongside some absolutely brilliant people. Hearing about their research experiences, their academic careers and their areas of interest has been really enriching.   

In early 2022, I realised I had quite a bit of data and I was confident that I had found a significant gap in the current literature. I decided to apply to become part of the PhD program, in a process called ‘articulation’. As I was preparing for the seminar I needed to give, to be accepted, I was invited to be a speaker at the QUT Digital Learning for Change monthly forum, the first student member invited to speak. I had recently entered a HDR poster competition for the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) online conference. For the poster, I developed a visual that essentially mapped my research journey to the design process. Creating this visual summary proved to be really helpful in clarifying my own thoughts and I used it to structure my presentation. I did this again for my articulation seminar and it was so well received the panel even suggested I use the graphics to frame my entire thesis. 

Seeing your research in ‘real life’ is always exciting!

As I write this blog, I’ve just been formally accepted into the PhD program. It’s official! So now I just keep going, writing and editing, seeking feedback, writing some more and generally trying to maintain focus. It’s not easy but I keep telling myself ‘they don’t give away PhD’s’. I’m nothing, if not determined so I know that I can keep working to meet this new challenge I’ve set myself. Hopefully in one of my next posts I’ll be wearing a jaunty hat and holding that precious degree. Until then, I better get back to writing the actual thesis!

HEAL – Design Research, Intensive Care and the Power of Shared Experience

This blog feels a bit like one of those ‘how it started, how it’s going’ memes. 11 years ago my daughter was born via emergency caesarean at 30 weeks. Rose was born weighing just over 1kg and spent 2 months in neonatal intensive care. It was challenging, traumatic and something I wouldn’t wish any new parent to experience.

Fast forward 9 years and I found myself sitting in an initial project meeting for the PICU Partnership Project, one of 8 key projects within the Health Excellence AcceLerator (HEAL) initiative. HEAL, a collaboration between the QUT Design Lab and Clinical Excellence Queensland, brought design-led researchers into healthcare settings across a variety of projects. The PICU Partnership Project comprised a small team of QUT researchers with specialities including interior architecture and visual communication design. Alongside staff and families in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of the Queensland Children’s Hospital in South Brisbane we worked to imagine a more supportive environment for families of children in intensive care.   

Of the large number of people in that initial meeting, I found myself sitting right next to paediatric physiotherapist, Ali Ferguson. Towards the end of the meeting, I decided I would share my story. I spoke up, telling Ali, and the group, that I remembered her caring for Rose at the Royal Women’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), some nine years earlier. From that point, and throughout the entire project, I sensed the clinical staff looked to me not just as a researcher or designer, but as an ally. They said as much. “You’re one of us”, on the first tour of the ward that same day. I knew their world, and thus was afforded a level of inclusion, hard-earned by the most challenging experience of my life.  

Connecting with PICU staff was a project highlight

In my role as HDR student intern I spent 1/day a week at PICU, embedding myself in the space, getting to know key staff and eventually opening dialogue with parents willing to discuss their experiences. The design focus areas were Interior Design and Wayfinding and visual communication students from QUT were also employed as part of a Workplace Integrated Learning program. 

Early in the process I helped to envisage specific strategies for data collection via. our engagement with families and staff. Three engagement strategies were developed and enacted: static interactive displays, a parent pack and a drop-in marketplace installation. 

They say good design starts with empathy, and this was certainly the case in this project.

Empathy in this project was crucial and needed to be embedded at every stage of our process. The staff and families in an intensive care unit simply do not have the luxury of forward planning or commitments of large amounts of time. This informed our co-design strategies and they became purposefully optional, short, visual, and self-directed. The PICU Marketplace strategy was something I am particularly proud of. Allowing families and staff to ‘drop-in’ to various engagement strategies over a two-day installation was such a successful approach, that the director of PICU has adopted this strategy for internal engagements in the unit.  

Alongside the more formal engagement strategies, I became responsible for meeting families and conducted several recorded interviews. I felt privileged to sit with these families, hear their stories, concerns and make connections. I found that if I shared just a little of my own experience with Rose, they really opened up. I could almost see it in their faces ‘you’re one of us, you’ve been where we are’ and they’d want to talk.  

In May, alongside a large number of other HEAL projects and the PICU Partnership Project team, I presented to a room of over 100 health professionals and spoke for the families of PICU. By the end of that year the HEAL project had won, not one, but two Good Design awards! An absolute credit to the entire team. 

Presenting with the team about the HEAL project

Interviewing and connecting with PICU staff members

The HEAL experience was an incredible opportunity to use design thinking to make a difference.

At a personal level it was both a gift and a challenge. I was challenged most days on this project to rise above the emotional triggers of being in an intensive care ward for children, meeting and seeing families at the very worst times in their lives, but I was also gifted with an opportunity to do good. 

In late 2021, I was invited to another HEAL project, this time as a supervisor of Interior Architecture students who turned my spatial concepts into Virtual Reality. We returned to PICU for another iteration of the PICU Marketplace to share and text our ideas with staff and families. In late 2022 I was invited back to HEAL 2.0…..this time as an integral part of team tasked with making design improvements to the Neonatal ward in the Royal Womens Hospital, the very place Rose was born 11 years earlier. A complete full circle. This project continues and we are working hard to imagine and implement a more supportive environment for families with babies in intensive and special care. 

In 2023, a book will be published summarising all of the HEAL projects. I have contributed to two chapters and was also invited to write my own personal reflections – NICU Mum to PICU Researcher. 

The best bit? Knowing I’m making Rose proud.

The HEAL marketplace within the hospital

Testing out VR with the team

The privilege of teaching future teachers

Since the beginning of 2018, I have been teaching as a sessional academic, in the School of Arts and Education at the Australian Catholic University. What a privilege it has been to have worked for and with students who have chosen primary school education as their pathway. Over the years I have taught into six different units and wanted to share some of the highlights of my experiences.  

ACU Students learning with Makey Makey

Technologies Education, Assessment and Pedagogies, is my happy place. The first unit that I was asked to teach and I really worked to make it my own. For each tutorial (albeit hampered by that pesky pandemic!), I incorporated a hands-on element, wanting to expose my students to the tech they will encounter in the primary classroom, gain confidence and have fun. We would create picture book readings using green-screen, talking robots using Makey Makey, prototype solutions for an aging population using littlebits and consider a future with driverless cars using lego robotics. We tried various programming languages, apps and pedagogical techniques and I would always share anecdotes and stories from my time as a Technologies Teacher in Residence (F-6).

One of the elements of which I am most proud is creating something I called, ‘Inspiring Queensland Educators’. I sought, and collated inspiring messages from educators who have inspired me and shared these with the students in a linked weekly topic. 

ACU students engaged in a coding exercise

ACU students sharing ideas with Makey Makey

I have taught a couple of Science Units where I enjoyed building my own self-efficacy and came to realise how much fun science is. The highlight of my science classes would have to be our annual tutorial held at the Nudgee Waterhole. Inspired by the work of Dr Kimberley Wilson who’s research has centred around place-based, flexible, science education, we would take water samples, sketch habitat, collect leaf litter and even dress up like waterbugs with the wonderful Sue from Waterbug Wonders.

Other highlights included all the hands-on learning in the lab, making starburst rock cycles, testing wind speeds with anemometers, convection currents, sketching and classifying plants from Wamala, ACUs Indigenous garden.

I always tried to incorporate technologies into our classes and found this impactful and fulfilling when seeing students do the same in their assessment responses.

Something I felt very proud of was asking the ACU Library for the Our Land, Our Stories box sets of resources aimed at supporting teachers to embed perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples into the curriculum. I used these in my science classes and the students loved them. I was really blown away to then learn that because of my request, ACU purchased a set for the libraries of every Australian campus. 

Working with first years in a foundation unit called Digital Pedagogies was another interesting experience. I enjoyed supporting them as they settled into university more generally and then sharing my passion for education to hopefully inspire them and feel connected to the course. The showcase at the end of this unit, where student groups presented games created in Scratch, was always fun and it’s always great to see confidence levels grow. I always said to them, and I’ll say it now again, students don’t need us to be tech-geeks that teach, they need us to be teaching geeks-that can use tech.

littleBits are always popular with students - both young and young at heart!

As the Covid 19 pandemic impacted the delivery of tertiary education across the world, the courses I taught were also affected. I became involved in two units, delivered nationally, purely online. This is certainly a challenge for someone like me, who loves to make, do and play! The Masters of STEM Education included two units that I became involved in teaching, STEM in an integrated Maths curriculum, and STEM in Technologies and Engineering. The first (maths!), I co-taught with the incredible Emeritus Professor Romina Jamison-Proctor, and to say I had a masterclass in teaching as well as mathematics is an understatement!

Romina’s professionalism and experience has been a gift to me and I value our friendship and her belief in me as an educator and researcher.

In 2020 I was asked to deliver the online offering of STEM in Technologies and Engineering to practicing teachers across Australia. With little existing content I was, essentially starting from scratch, but again, worked hard to make it my own and integrate some genuinely enriching discussion, learning and assessment into the unit. Our weekly online tutorials quickly transformed into a place where we shared experiences, supported each other, talked through the challenges of integrating STEM and being ‘that’ teacher trying to change things in a school. This community of practice was a real highlight of this course.

I’ve also enjoyed being a tertiary supervisor and visiting ACU students on their placements. Seeing students in their element, working with the students, overcoming nerves and gaining confidence is particularly satisfying. Working at ACU has enabled me to develop my own personal pedagogy, to experiment, to learn, to grow as a teacher. The privilege of teaching future teachers is something I have not taken for granted. What an experience!

The ACU Brisbane campus

Big smiles from Leighann’s ACU students

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Kind Words about Leighann from ACU Students:

“Her clear approach made the unit much less stressful. She is a really great, creative, encouraging and inspiring teacher. Her passion motivated me so much. She also demonstrates how invested she is in our success and is proud of our work and shows us this.’’

Student SELT survey 2020

“I respected the depths of her connections to industry leaders and her ability to connect with their knowledge. I also appreciate some of the most comprehensive assignment feedback provided by any LIC for the assignments. It not only has pointed areas for improvement but also acknowledges strengths. I really gained a lot out of both the lectures and tutorials to further my ability to connect students and ICT in the future. Thank you for helping create a preferred future.’’ 

Student SELT survey 2018

ACU students learning about coding

ACU students get hands on with science

ACU students enjoying a visit from farm animals

“Learning under your tutelage has been such a pleasure all year. Your classes are fun, engaging, imaginative, and inspiring. Although I’m partial to almost all STEAM subjects, biology and earth sciences have never captured my interest as much as the others. But your enthusiasm for and delivery of the content inspired the same enthusiasm in me and that was reflected in the effort that was invested in my work.”

”I can say with honesty that in the years to come you will have had a lasting impact on not just my education, but in the way that I teach. The chance to have that impact on students is the reason I chose to change careers and you’ve modelled how to achieve that comprehensively. You’re a credit to your profession and should be congratulated.” 

Feedback received via. email at end of Semester 2, 2020 

Design for Impact….has had a big impact on me!

In late 2015, I was on my first placement as part of my teaching degree, at Kelvin Grove State College in the Art and Design Department. The Head of Department was a fantastic educator called Les Hooper, who I was lucky enough to have as my first supervisor. While on placement I heard the teaching team preparing to deliver a program called 2 Day City, in conjunction with the State Library of Queensland. I volunteered my time (my placement now complete) to work with the 100+ year 7 students from a multitude of state schools, as they reimagined and constructed a large scale prototype of Brisbane in 2050. I was blown away by the level of planning and connections to real world issues and experts all of which was designed to empower the students to imagine a future, using design thinking. I returned again to volunteer in 2016, when the program was adapted for Year 3 students, and called the K8 Children’s Symposium, as part of the Out of the Box Festival. By this time I was the STEAM Education Officer for QUT The Cube, so was invited to deliver into the Professional Development sessions for teachers and ran an activity aimed at encouraging the students to incorporate digital technologies into their prototypes. 

The ‘ideas dragonfly drone’ by a young student

Using chibitronics we supplied circuit stickers that when powered by batteries, created lights that students could imagine as an interactive part of their designs. During this activity I met a young man who was making what would have to be my most favourite student creation ever. One I always tell my pre-service teachers about, when trying to illustrate the power of imagination and creativity. He came up to our table, holding what looked like a big butterfly. I was intrigued when most students were making architectural masterpieces, bridges and structures, so I smiled and asked him “what have we got here?”. I still marvel at his response:

“It’s a dragonfly drone that flies over the city collecting ideas. When it gets a new idea it’s eyes light up.” 

How’s that for creativity!

Fast forward to 2020 and I was now involved as a HDR student in the QUT School of Design. Dr Natalie Wright, my then-supervisor, was working with Matthew Flinders College in Buderim on some programs aimed at incorporating design-led pedagogy across the college. We began brainstorming and determined to create a 2-day event, this time within the context of the Sunshine Coast, in a program we named the Design for Impact Summit. I began working closely with the staff at Matthew Flinders and developed guided resources, a large-scaled, true-to-life map of the new Maroochydore City Centre, detailed timings and run sheets for the 2-day event and powerpoint visuals to keep us on track and enhance the various presentations. I helped devise the format which connected the design process the students would undertake to the Sunshine Coast design guide, and suggested that a student from each ‘team’ could become a minister for a specific portfolio aligned to these principles. I co-presented the summit over the two days with Justin Hill, a teacher from Brisbane, and invited my pre-service teachers from ACU who all absolutely loved the experience. We repeated the same format again in 2021 and I absolutely loved being a part of it all over again.  

Leighann facilitating creative thinking at the Design for Impact Summit

Empowering students to use their voice, to be creative and to work together is such an enriching thing to experience.

As a teacher, and a mother, I am passionate about ensuring we provide opportunities for kids to think ‘well, why not me?’ when wondering who will solve some of the problems we face as a society.

What ever it’s called, 2-day city, the K8-summit or the Design for Impact summit….it’s all had an impact on me! In the words of the Australian Technologies curriculum, we need to provide opportunities for our students to imagine and create preferred futures, and making a massive cardboard city certainly delivers on that!  

Leighann with ACU students at the Design for Impact Summit

The Design for Impact Summit materials - including a hard hat!

Teaching Tertiary: my current role at ACU

For the past two years, I’ve worked as a sessional Lecturer at Australian Catholic University (ACU), Banyo within the School of Education.

In my work with preservice teachers, I’ve been Lecturer-in-Charge and tutor of two units;  Technologies Education and Science Education: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment both within the second-year of the primary education course. 

In planning for tutorials I use hands-on learning experiences aimed at providing practical teaching and lesson planning methods for my students. I have relished the opportunity to empower and inspire the pre-service primary educators in the classes I teach and enjoy sharing resources, ideas and inspiration from my PLN. I am particularly proud to have gathered personal video messages from Queensland teachers doing excellent things in design thinking, digital technologies and food technologies speaking directly to my students in which I incorporate into my weekly lectures.

“I always value your hard work and the ocean of resources you have us behold and the way you encourage us to dive in and enjoy the water :)”

— ACU Student Feedback

ACU students ideating with Makey Makey

ACU students get creative with LEGO Robotics

ACU students get hands on with green screen

In addition to lecturing, I have envisaged, designed and delivered a program entitled Share the Spark on behalf of ACU for two consecutive years. Share the Spark is a series of Introductory Workshops designed to support primary and middle years teachers in implementing the Australian Curriculum.  In this program, I support educators to get hands-on with technology and provide practical ideas and ready-made resources for immediate implementation in their own classrooms.

In 2019, I was nominated to represent ACU at the National Education Summit. At the Education Summit, I provided an overview of the Share the Spark program at ACU and provided insights and examples from my own work with pre-service teachers.

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If you’d like to learn more about professional development workshops or public and education programs  - please contact Leighann at CREATE ED here.

Leighann works with educators and students (P-12), tertiary institutions and cultural spaces of various sizes and can tailor her approach to suit what you need.

Reflections On: Travel

As part of my role as education & design consultation at Create Ed, I’ve had the opportunity to travel throughout Australia

In late 2018, I was invited to the Edmund Rice Flexible Learning Centre in Townsville where, I facilitated a full day workshop with a large team of secondary educators who work with disengaged youth. I facilitated a full day session where educators could experiment with different technologies including littleBits, Makey Makey and Green Screen in group rotations, a short design challenge which produced some very creative solutions and finished with a focus-group meeting with key staff-members. 

Some highlights from my visit to the Edmund Rice Flexible Learning Centre

Thank you to the team at Edmund Rice in Townsville for their hospitality during my visit to Townsville and I look forward to visiting again in the near future! 

Sir Ken Robinson & I

LEGO Robotics at EduTech.

As part of my dedication to my own Professional Development, I recently attended EduTech Sydney. Highlights included hearing Keynotes from Sir Ken Robinson - of whom I am a huge fan of from his infamous TED talk Do Schools Kill Creativity? As well as current Australian of the Year Dr Richard Harris, attending workshops run by Lego Education, Adobe and experiencing the Vivid light festival for the first time. 

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If you’d like to learn more about professional development workshops or public and education programs  - please contact Leighann at CREATE ED here.

Leighann works with educators and students (P-12), tertiary institutions and cultural spaces of various sizes and can tailor her approach to suit what you need.

Role Recap: Technologies Teacher in Residence

Throughout 2018 and 2019 I had the role of Tech Teacher in Residence at St William’s school in Northern Brisbane. As the first role of its type at St William’s, I worked in a number of capacities including building capacity with and planning with class-room teachers from Prep-Year 6 to implement the Technologies curriculum, running a lunchtime Tech-Club and Makerspace and coaching a LEGO robotics team.  I also advised on tech-toolkits for the school to purchase, worked with students to incorporate green screen special effects into the school musical, ran staff seminars and drove the implementation new flexible furniture and a MakerSpace in the school library. 

Students getting creative with Bee Bot

Bee Bot Resources

St Williams Library Makerspace

The green screen in action at the St William’s school musical

“Whenever we have a lesson with you,
I ALWAYS learn something new.”

— St Williams Student Feedback

Within the classroom, I supported classroom teachers from Prep to Year 6 with the development and delivery of the Technologies Curriculum. This involved planning with year-level teaching teams at the beginning of each term and co-teaching/modelling the lessons within the unit. As we worked collaboratively, I observed teacher confidence in the implementation of new technologies within the classroom grow.

FIRST LEGO League team ‘Give me some Space” working on their award-winning entry.

In late 2018, I coached a team of Year 6 students to compete in FIRST LEGO League, an international robotics competition for middle-school students. Each year students work in teams to research and respond to robotic and real-world design challenges with the 2018 theme competition titled ‘Into Orbit’. Our team which we named ‘Give me some Space’ were thrilled to be awarded a Project Design Award for their creativity and use of the design thinking process based on the topic, “long-term space travel” where they presented a prototype for pet-pod aimed at supporting the mental health of the astronauts.

In addition to coaching FIRST LEGO League and in classroom support, I facilitated a lunchtime Tech-Club. Held in the library, the Tech Club provided the opportunity for students of all ages to experiment with digital technology outside of a classroom context and even participate in the Premiers Coding Challenge.

“Thank you for your passion, dedication and enthusiasm.”

— St Williams Teacher Feedback

Recent Collaborator: State Library of Queensland

This year, I’ve collaborated with the Exhibitions team at the State Library of Queensland on not one, but two fantastic exhibitions, Magnificent Makers and Islands.

Magnificent Makers tells seven stories of canny creations, daring discoveries and imaginative inventions that trace a path through Queensland’s history since the late nineteenth century.

For Magnificent Makers, I developed curriculum mapped learning notes for teachers based on the exhibition content and produced the content for the on-site drop in activity. You can see a photograph of the activity space and a sample of the activity cards in the images below.

Islands, at the State Library of Queensland (SLQ), explored the hidden histories of Queensland’s hidden islands, using material drawn from SLQ’s incredibly rich heritage collections.

For the Islands exhibition, I researched, developed and produced three curriculum linked learning notes and complimentary downloadable activities. You can access the downloadable resources via this link.

Images: SLQ

Latest News: CREATE ED at Australian Catholic University

Recently, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by the team at Australian Catholic University (ACU) about the Share the Spark workshop series I’ve developed and delivered for Primary School teachers.

The workshops, facilitated at ACU, support educators to deliver the recently implemented Technologies Curriculum and explore robotics through animation and editing; coding; and understanding the design process using modular electronics.

You can read the full article about the Share the Spark workshops here.

Creativity as an Educator: Guest post for SLQ Design Minds

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to collaborate with SLQ Design Minds across a number of education and design-based public programs and projects. 

Recently, the team asked me to put together my thoughts on how I incorporate an interdisciplinary approach into my career and also asked me to recommend some of my top book selections for both adult and younger children audiences.

Spoiler alert; my book selection is all about thinking outside of the box! 

You can read the full article here.