Dr. Debra Hoven

I research and teach in the areas of appropriate technologies in education, open, flexible and blended learning and pedagogy, and appropriate technologies for intercultural education and learning in the MEd and EdD programs in the CDE. Previously I have taught in LOTE/TESOL Education at the Queensland University of Technology, and the Applied Linguistics program at Queensland University in Australia where I was involved in teaching, research and consultancy in the areas of language teacher education, innovative and flexible pedagogies, and the integration of technology in language teaching and learning. Other places I have taught include Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan.

My major current areas of research interest are in digital storytelling to support success in Indigenous education and educational leadership, ePortfolios as a tool to develop critical reflection, Indigenous research methodologies, doctoral student persistence and success, and Ecological Constructivism as a learning theory that fits with contemporary understandings of how people learn, particularly in online, blended and mobile environments.

I have held numerous research and teaching development grants, particularly relating to interculturally-appropriate uses of technology in learning and teaching, digital storytelling, and flexible and emerging pedagogies.

Discover my research

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Research interests

• Innovative approaches to teaching and learning
• Emerging pedagogies in intercultural contexts
• Learning-centred instructional design
• Ecological constructivist perspectives on learning theory
• Designing and innovating for online doctoral persistence and success
• Indigenous research methodologies
• Indigenous educational leadership
• Land-based and blended educational programs
• Digital storytelling and story-based research methodologies
• EPortfolio pedagogy for lifelong and life-wide learning
• Authentic & innovative approaches to graduate assessment
• Reflection and Reflexivity

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Educational credentials

• 1998 Ph.D (Queensland) Applied Linguistics/Instructional Design
• (Media & learner-centred instructional design)
• 1987 Royal Society of Arts (London) Diploma in the Teaching of English as a Second Language (Further and Continuing Education)
• 1984 Bachelor of Educational Studies (Queensland), (specializing in curriculum design, development and evaluation, and educational psychology with particular reference to learning styles and FLL and Special Education)
• 1974 Bachelor of Arts (Queensland), (double major in German and Japanese)

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Professional affiliations

• Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (ODLAA)
• Queensland College of Teachers (QCT)
• Nordic Education Research Association (NERA)
• Canadian Social Sciences in Higher Education (CSSHE)
• International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)

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