Associate Professor Debra Donnelly

Dr Debra Donnelly is researching how best to support pre-service teachers while also focusing on history education and how film influences our historical consciousness.

Dr Debra Donnelly is an academic with a passion for shaping the minds of future teachers, while her research focuses on the impact of film and media on the development of the historical consciousness. Debra, who has an extensive background as a history high school teacher, is part of the internationally respected History Education Research Network (HERMES) and is the editor, alongside colleagues Associate Professors Robert Parkes and Heather Sharp, of the Historical Encounters journal, which was recently ranked Q1 in the Scimago Journal Rankings.

Developing an informed historical consciousness

Debra is dedicated to helping the pre-service teachers under her tutelage be the best history teachers they can be and that involves encouraging them to become critical thinkers and to pass this trait onto their own students. Her research into historical consciousness is put to use in her lectures, challenging students to question rather than accept information at face value.

“People might talk about a particular historical event and without realising it, will be drawing their knowledge from a film they may have watched. In this way people’s historical consciousness is being informed by a construction, rather than a verified source,” Debra said.

“Historical consciousness is a lens that helps you navigate life and understand the world. When we start relying on film and media to learn historical information we may not end up with a well-informed historical consciousness.”

Debra’s research has examined why the multimodality of film is so impactful when it comes to learning about history.

“When you’re watching a film you’re listening, seeing and emoting so that impacts your brain so much more than if you were just reading. The film is stored in your long-term memory much more effectively, making film a powerful method to transfer information.”

“However, when you make a film you understand how constructed it can be. History films are useful because they motivate people to look further into historical topics, but in many cases they’re not based on evidence. They may have a historical setting, but they may not be anything to do with history. They are a gateway to historical topics but shouldn’t be taken at face value,” she said.

Debra is also involved in a research project that is investigating the role of museums as educative resources in pre-service teacher’s understandings of displacement. The project involves taking students to the Sydney Jewish Museum and interviewing and surveying them to understand what they found memorable and impactful about their visit.

“We’re looking for cognitive engagement and emotional engagement – what are the museum elements that moved the students. The project also seeks find out how the museum can effectively create a resource that is engaging and that stimulates a deep historical understanding and empowers their audience to look further into the topic of displacement,” Debra said.

Creating Teach Ready students

Debra is the Academic Director of Professional Experience in the School of Education and is involved in research projects in schools which aim to enhance outcomes for UON pre-service teachers. Debra directs a program known as TeachReady which support students who have struggled with professional placements. The program provides opportunity for students who have had issues with transitioning to teaching practice to get individualised, targeted support and teaching skill practice.

“We have educational psychologists that work with our pre-service teachers to guide them through issues such as stress management, how to take constructive criticism and time management.”

In addition to this Debra is researching a virtual micro-teaching program called TeachLive. This gives education students the chance to teach short lessons and interact with a classroom of virtual students, or avatars.

“The program allows students to build their confidence and efficacy in the classroom and is a fantastic mechanism to practice their skills and learn how to build rapport with students,” Debra said.

“It is especially helpful for those university students who may have some challenges in completing their Work Integrated Learning (WIL). Teaching is a science and an art; some students come to it easily and others take longer, but it is something you can learn.”

“We find that with practice with the avatars and talking about the skills of teaching and scenario work, students can develop themselves into teachers.”

Debra is also conducting research in schools to determine what issues pre-service teachers face on placement and what supports can be provided to overcome any challenges.

“Teaching in a COVID world has changed with online teaching and smaller face to face groups. And we don’t know if that change will be temporary or permanent, but my aim is to give students experiences of all the ways they will have to teach.”