Education Design

Kathryn Meldrum

Senior Lecturer
kathryn.meldrum@jcu.edu.au

Thilinika Wijesinghe

Educational Designer
thilinika.wijesinghe@jcu.edu.au

Shaping the 21st century student experience at regional universities (Old ID 22065)

Kathryn Meldrum

23 Feb 2015 - 30 Sep 2016

This project seeks to understand the 21st century experiences of the diverse undergraduate student populations of regional universities to identify how equitable outcomes for these students can be achieved. New information and key practices will be discovered and a rich suite of resources will be made available to the sector for immediate takeup and use. As a result, regional universities will be able to strengthen their contributions to their regions and the nation by ensuring more students have a successful university experience.

Going viral: Exploring opportunities for whole of institution collaborations that enhance student learning (Old ID 21925)

Kathryn Meldrum

04 Dec 2014 - 19 Feb 2016

Enhancing student learning outcomes through a judicious use of blended learning approaches continues to develop traction across the Australian tertiary sector. During 2014 JCU has adopted a collaborative, whole of institution approach to developing and supporting blended learning. This approach has led to collaborations between professional and academic staff, particularly around the purposeful use of technological tools. This project aims to investigate the way that viral leadership defined as “the promotion of ideas, knowledge and skills on an ad hoc basis via informal personal connections” (Cleuett, et al., 2011, p. 4) promotes the use of technology and supports blended learning.

Developing an appropriate depression screening tool for Aboriginal people living in Far North Queensland. (Old ID 28957)

Kathryn Meldrum

01 Jan 2023 - 31 Dec 2023

Continuing impacts of colonialism negatively affects Indigenous peoples' health and health outcomes, including mental health. Mainstream tools used to screen for mental ill-health are often not fit for purpose because they use words that do not facilitate accurate reporting of symptoms for diagnosis. Additionally, adapted tools may not be adequately validated. The aim of the study is to develop an appropriate depression screening tool for Aboriginal people aged 18 and over living in Far North Queensland. This project will begin the adaptation process by identifying tools used and words used by Aboriginal people to express depression in clinical settings.

ADAPTTS - App-Based Diet and Physical Activity Tools for the Torres Strait (Old ID 27530)

Kathryn Meldrum

01 Mar 2022 - 01 Mar 2024

The aim of this project is to develop and validate dietary and physical activity assessment tools for use in the Torres Strait. Having culturally appropriate assessment tools embedded in primary health care services will facilitate appropriate identification and referral for at risk patients. This will promote best practice care in the region leading to better health outcomes and improved service delivery for the benefit of Torres Strait Islanders living in Far North Queensland. The project also is a collaboration between researchers at JCU Healthy Ageing Research Team (HART), clinical staff in TCHHS and local NGOs based in the Torres Strait.

University students' digital readiness for emerging technologies as cognitive tools (Old ID 22514)

Kathryn Meldrum

01 Dec 2015 - 30 Jul 2017

The ubiquity of web 2.0 technologies means that university progression is increasingly dependent on students developing a range of IT skills. Consequently, this project aims to: 1. examine students' digital literacy skills in Malaysian and Australian universities; 2. develop digital learning objects that support the preparedness of diverse students; 3. Test a curriculum that enhances student preparedness for learning a digital environment' 4. Guide students to develop applications for use as a cognitive tool in learning. Thus, contributing an understanding of the digital readiness of students entering university and developing a curriculum tailored to meet their academic needs.

Strong community, strong health: Exploring opportunities for chronic disease prevention in the Torres Strait (Old ID 27539)

Kathryn Meldrum

01 Jun 2022 - 31 May 2026

Despite a decrease in mortality rates from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease since 2006, they still represent significant risk to the health and wellbeing of Australia’s First Nations peoples. This project will partner with First Nations people living in the Torres Strait to support their chronic disease outcomes by: 1) co-developing diet and physical activity (PA) tools; and 2) mapping social and environmental impacts on health in each partner community. This project will provide essential information about dietary and PA practices of people living in the Torres Strait.

Challenges to Positive Mathematical Wellbeing

Kathryn Meldrum

06 Jan 2025 - 31 Dec 2025

Concerns have been raised across the university regarding a substantial number of first-year students experiencing mathematics anxiety, low engagement with the subject, and negative feelings toward mathematics. To address these concerns, scholars have introduced a new construct called Mathematical Wellbeing (MWB), which is conceptualised as students’ propensities to feel good and function well in mathematics. Enhancing MWB and fulfilling first-year students’ positive feelings, dispositions and functioning in mathematics is essential. Studies that have investigated predictors of learners’ mathematics performance have focused mostly on cognitive skills and knowledge attainment. Despite the success of this line of work in explaining a sizeable amount of variance in mathematics performance (50–60%), a significant amount of variance remains unexplained (Caia et al., 2018). Explaining this significant amount of variance would require work that address other areas like MWB. There is evidence that learners’ affective and conative domains, and social skills can be cultivated and supported in learning and teaching practices (OECD, 2015; Clarkson et al., 2010). This project seeks to (1) investigate challenges to positive MWB, (2) develop and evaluate an instrument that supports students’ positive MWB, and (3) develop and evaluate support strategies for positive MWB.

GenAI in the classroom: Transforming Assessment Practice

Kathryn Meldrum

06 Jan 2025 - 31 Dec 2025

Internal JCU Learning and Teaching grant

Spreading the word: Research translation on ageing well for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Far North Queensland

Kathryn Meldrum

25 Mar 2022 - 25 Mar 2024

The Healthy Aging Research Team (HART) has been engaged in clinical outreach services and conducting research in the Torres Strait for over 20 years. The proposed project is situated within, and enhances, research already underway focusing on healthy ageing in the Torres Strait[1] and the outcomes from this project will be incorporated into the resources and toolbox being developed as part of a wider Framework for Healthy Ageing study for the region. HART has also completed research focused on dementia prevalence and the associated issues of ageing, in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) and the Torres Strait.[2-6] Findings from these completed studies have been disseminated, however, the team are conscious that additional strategies could be used to support research translation and the team incorporate suggestions made from the community with exploring additional innovative dissemination strategies. This project involves cross-sector collaboration between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of a multi-disciplinary research team (Health Ageing Research Team (HART)), a media production agency, AudioCraft, and a media distribution agency, Radio4MW (4 Meriba Wakai) based on Waiben (Thursday) Island.