Amanda Carr

Amanda Carr holds degrees in Arts and Letters in the disciplines of History, Literature and Italian Studies, and a Graduate Diploma and Masters in Education, with a specific focus on Secondary VCE and HE Transition teaching.

She has taught at primary, secondary and tertiary levels in the humanities, literary studies and academic literacies.

She has a doctoral research role at the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on development frameworks for academic widening participation in the Humanities and Creative Arts. She hopes to make an impact on the tertiary HASS environment and contribute to knowledge-rich, social inclusion education in the west – and in the broader Australian higher education sector. She has published in social inclusion and academic learning journals.

Amanda in the Director of the Portfolio of Teaching and Learning at Victoria University. The main aspects of the role are to:

• ensure the College is recognised nationally and internationally for the relevance and quality of its courses, teaching effectiveness and graduate outcomes and employability
• oversee the processes for quality assurance and continuous improvement in its courses in relation to the University’s new curriculum framework.

Amanda works in conjunction with the Dean to develop and implement the College’s teaching and learning strategy. She also ensures that the teaching and learning support and structures in the College serve both staff and students, and effectively draw on University teaching and learning support and governance structures (e.g. Centre for Collaborative Learning and Teaching).

She also coordinates the collection of trend data and the presentation information on the College’s teaching and learning profile and achievements for annual and other reports. In this way, Amanda provides leadership to develop the teaching and learning capability of the College. She develops and promotes a culture of teaching and learning in the College to support high quality teaching programs by teaching groups, introducing staff development programs and sharing good practices.

On the research front, Amanda conducts her own and promotes the scholarship of teaching and learning, including securing projects and grants for improved teaching and learning. She subscribes to and leads an evidence-based approach to improving curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment to enhance student learning.

She works with discipline leaders and course leaders to align established and new teaching and learning activity with agreed College/University foci, including alignment with relevant distinctive specialisations. Throughout the year, Amanda liaises with industry, government and professional bodies in matters relevant to high quality teaching and learning.

Finally, Amanda’s particular interest is to provide leadership to develop the student experience in the College by ensuring that courses and their modes of delivery are of high quality and innovative in meeting the needs of students, industry and the community.

In 2016, Amanda has focussed on strengthening the integration of cooperative teaching ventures, working with College teaching staff to ensure strong support for students transitioning into courses and successfully progressing through them.

Another of her major projects has been to work with the Centre for Collaborative Learning and Teaching to promote the use of e-learning and blended learning methods, to support student learning. She aims to develop mechanisms to improve the student experience, retention and satisfaction, as well as widening participation.

Recent publications

Refereed journal articles

Carr, A. (forthcoming) (2016). ‘Student voice and agency programs in non-traditional FYE settings’

Carr, A., Gilmore, G. & Cacciattolo, M. (2015). ‘Case writing for collaborative practice in education studies’, Qualitative Research Journal, 15 (2), pp.121 – 134

Carr, A. (2013). ‘Found in Translation: Academic knowledge and language learning in discipline-linked transition pedagogies’, [Thesis], VUIR, Victoria University.

Daddow, A., Moraitis, P. and Carr, A. (2012). Non-traditional students in tertiary education: inter-disciplinary collaboration in curriculum and pedagogy in community services education in Australia. International Journal of Inclusive Education. pp. 1-10. 

Moraitis, P., Carr, A. and Daddow, A. (2012). Developing and sustaining new pedagogies: A case for embedding language, literacy and academic skills in vocational education curriculum. International Journal of Training Research, 10 (1). pp. 58-72.

Books

Carr, A. & Moraitis P. (2010). Writing Sociology: A Practitioner Handbook, VU College, Victoria University, Melbourne.

Conference presentations

Carr, A. & Hallpike (2013). ‘Writing Sociology: collaborative and supportive curriculum development for social science transitions’, 11th Biennial Conference for the Australian, Association for Academic Language and Learning, RMIT, Melbourne

Henderson F., Chahal D., Carr A. (2011). ‘First Year Experiences in Transition Programs’, Conference Paper, 2nd International Conference for First Year Experience, Sydney.

Carr, A. & Daddow A. (2011), DEECD Innovation Showcase in Education, Melbourne Convention Centre.

Carr A., Chahal D., Hallpike M. 2011, ‘New Partnerships in Dual Sector Contexts’, 10th Biennial Conference for the Australian, Association for Academic Language and Learning, Adelaide.

View Amanda's publications in VU's Research Repository.

Awards

Amanda Carr has received recognition for her contributions to teaching excellence.

• Vice-Chancellors Teaching Excellence in a Higher Education Team 2015
• Vice-Chancellors Excellence in Teaching in Vocational Education 2011
• VU College, Award for Teaching Excellence 2010

Professional memberships

• Chair, College of Arts Course Advisory Group
• Chair, Student Experience and External Engagement Working Group
• Member, Courses Committee, Victoria University
• Member, Association of Academic Language and Learning

Industry experience

Amanda has worked for a wide range of organisations, primarily in Communication and Education, including:

• RMIT University
• University of Melbourne
• Live Institute of Language, Florence
• Regional Government, Tuscany
• Roberto Cavalli
• Findomestic Italia
• Genazzano FCJ College
• Mowbray College
• Millbank Publishers
• Geelong Advertiser