Raoul Adam

Dr Raoul Adam is a senior lecturer and researcher in educational psychology and inclusive education. He has extensive experience in educational leadership as former Director of Teaching and Learning and ITE coordinator at Southern Cross University, and leader of JCU's Academic Design and Development Team. Specifically, Raoul has led faculty transitions in curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy and managed university-wide projects in Artificial Intelligence, HyFlex and Blended Learning, and critical and creative thinking.

Dr Adam is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, previous recipient of the overall JCU teaching citation, and a national ALTC Awardee for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning. He has consulted for organisations including the United Nations, the Australian Council for Educational Research, and Pearson Publishers on matters related to curriculum, pedagogy, and complex problems. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Secondary Education (Hons) from the Queensland University of Technology, a Master of Education by Research (Hons) from James Cook University, a Postgraduate Certificate of Cognitive Science and a PhD in cultural cognition from the University of Queensland. 

Dr Adam's research focuses on metacognition and epistemological development in contested cultural contexts. He has published, presented, and consulted extensively in this field. His framework for critical, creative and consilient thinking (i.e. Big Little Thinking) has been used in diverse secondary and tertiary contexts in Australia and overseas. He leads the Worldviews Attitudes and Values in Education SIG (WAVES) and is currently working on Artifact Mediated Thinking (AMT) to support teaching through complex problems in contested spaces. This work has been applied to a range of contemporary issues including conspiracy theories related to the global pandemic, sociopolitical polarisation in Western Democracies, 'education wars' in the Australian Curriculum, and religious and secular fundamentalism. 

Key Links

Education for Wicked Problems and the Reconciliation of Opposites: A Theory of Bi-relational Development: This book is the culmination of conceptual and empirical research into ways of knowing and being in relation to dyads (e.g. nature-culture; conservative-liberal; local-global; spirit-matter)

Big Little Thinking (BLT): This website includes a framework and set of resources for teachers and leaders who facilitate thinking through wicked problems and social issues in contested spaces.

Interactive Rubric for Written Communication: Dr Adam and his team designed this website to support first year students' academic literacy.