Many thanks to Associate Professor Heather Fehring, Deputy Head Research and Innovation, School of Education for being our latest Q&A respondent.
What are your teaching /research Interests?
My teaching interests are in two specific fields. First, the broad field of literacy: acquisition, development, teaching strategies, assessment and reporting and curriculum design. I teach into the BEd and the Graduate Diploma of Education (Primary). Secondly, research design theory and practice for research postgraduate students. I teach research methods to the postgraduate students.
My research interests are in the area of literacy assessment and reporting.
Website/online resource you regard as indispensable?
Related to literacy information
Assessment For, As, Of… Advice, Professional Learning Modules, Resources
Prep to Year 10 Assessment tools
Prep to year 10 Curriculum and Standards
Australian Association for the Teaching of English
Australian Council for Educational Research
Useful for formal and diagnostic assessment.
Australian Literacy Educators’ Association
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Victoria (DEECD)
for Assessment, Blueprint for Government Schools, Student Reports etc.
Education Departments across Australia
International Reading Association
Current information on Literacy and Assessment
My Read. Strategies for Teaching Reading in the Middle Years
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards, Progression Points and Assessment Maps Links:
Victorian Essential Learning Standards by Level and Domain
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA)
A favourite educationist/author/ theorist and why?
i) Literacy related writers:
Theorists who have been influential in setting the literacy scene in Australia:
Peter Freebody
Allan Luke
Ilana Sydner
Brian Cambourne
These authors combine theory and practice in very accessible publications.
ii) Practitioners in the literacy field who are also influential in the setting the scene in Australia :
Assessment – Toni Glasson
Rubrics – Rod White
Inquiry Learning – Kath Murdoch
Multiliteracies – Michele Anstey & Geoff Bull
These writers can translate theory into practical classroom curriculum in easily accessible styles.
iii) Research methodology related writers;
Michael Crotty
John Creswell
Norman Denzin and Yvonne Lincoln
Michael Quinn Patton
Robert Yin
Robert Stake
Ernest Stringer
Victor Minichiello
These writers have the ability to write about quite difficult theoretical concepts related to research design in language that not only emerging researchers can understand, but also, extend and challenge experienced researchers.
Where do you do most of your teaching preparation/research?
I do most of my reading, thinking, writing and research at home. Trying to undertake such activities at work is almost impossible. Student contact, administrative responsibilities and meeting attendance involved in my current role as Deputy Head Research and Innovation prohibit any further commitments during normal working hours.
How do you find out about newly published research?
- Library alerts
- Conferences
- Professional Association publications
- Professional Journals
Are professional networks important to your research/teaching? How?
Professional networks are essential for my research and teaching. Not only professional organisations like ALEA, AARE, AATE, and the AEU, but also, the collegiate networks that one builds up over years of participating in conferences, seminars, professional development courses and being an examiner of research theses.
These professional networks are a very important means of keeping up to date with changes in the teaching and learning of literacy and when it comes to choosing examiners for research students’ PhD theses I supervise.
Describe your personal library
My personal library consists of a split between very expensive research methodology books such as Denzin and Lincoln ($250.00) and practical teaching and learning literacy strategies books with an emphasis on literacy assessment and reporting. These two collections cover my major teaching responsibilities within the School of Education.
Something you’d like your students to know and understand about the library
The RMIT libraries are an indispensable source of information for any student studying in the Higher Education area. The libraries are modern and have great databases for research purposes. The staff at the RMIT libraries, especially Bundoora, are fantastic. Nothing is too much trouble for them when you have a query. They are always helpful and ready to teach you new ways of researching the information you need. The special courses they run, such as the Endnote bibliographic software programme are informative and fun. We are very fortunate at RMIT to have such dedicated, professional and friendly librarians to work with us.
Favourite journal
I actually think the suite of journals published by the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association (ALEA) is an excellent source for maintaining teachers’ professional currency and a fantastic source of theoretical and practical ideas. The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy – AJLL [the flagship research journal of ALEA, classified as an A ranking journal under the new Excellence in Research in Australia (ERA)], the Literacy Learning: The Middle Years (a journal which concentrates on the Years 5 – 9 area of literacy development) and Practically Primary (which tends to concentrate on the practical implementation of literacy in the primary classroom area).
Something you’d like to change about the library
If it was within the budget, I would like to see some private study areas or small single private study rooms, introduced into the library somewhere. It would be advantageous for students to be able to book a private study cubicle for a day or two so they could research in quiet areas where they could also leave their material and personal laptops in safety.
Currently reading
Boud, David & Lee, Alison. (2009). Changing practices of doctoral education. Abingdon, Oxon, UL: Routledge.
I am currently doing a book review for the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) regarding this new publication. So naturally I have to read it first.
