Dr Linda Westphalen

• Biography/ Background

  Working in a School of Education has meant that teaching is not only my professional role, it is also my subject matter.  A nationally recognised OLT citation winner, I teach in the areas of culture, diversity and inclusion, pedagogy and engagement, and student wellbeing.  From 2009 to the end of 2015, I coordinated the School’s Teacher Education Programs, a role I relinquished to go on long service leave in the first half of 2016.

  As an Education Specialist, I enjoy the challenge of innovation and online learning in the School of Education.  I have a key role in developing the School’s capstone assessment requirement, the ePortfolio and, because of this work, I’m developing a keen interest in digital literacies, technology and blended learning.

  Teaching is about caring for the other, a subject area and learning, in whatever order.  For me, it also about giving people voices as agents in learning communities.  My philosophy of teaching is thus an extension of the work of Feminist Philosopher, Nel Noddings (see Noddings 2005), to include not only the carer and the cared for, but the wider political and social contexts where care of any kind can get lost in the machine of big picture institutions.  In this respect, visibility and voice are important – to consider the ‘cared about’ issues as lived experience in teaching is fundamental to my thinking and practice (after Freire 2000). 

  I supervise Education students while they are on Professional Experience in schools, Masters (Coursework), and Masters (Research) students.

  I completed my teaching qualification in 1985, my Honours in English in 1993 and my PhD in 2002 in Indigenous Women's Life-histories. I completed a Graduate Certificate in Online Learning in 2010.  Prior to working in the School of Education, I taught in Women's Studies and Australian Studies at Flinders University, as well as worked as a teacher in secondary schools. 

  Note: Teaching is the best, most rewarding job there is.

  References

  Noddings, Nel (2005) The Challenge to Care in Schools:  An Alternative Approach to Education. Teachers College Press, London.

  Freire, Paulo (2000) Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics Democracy and Civic Courage. Rowman and Littlefield, Oxford.

   

• Qualifications

  BA (Adelaide) Hons (Flinders) Grad Cert Online (Adelaide) Grad Diploma in Ed (Secondary) (Adelaide) PhD (Flinders)

• Awards & Achievements

  Winner of the 2008 Executive Dean of the Professions Prize for Excellence in Teaching (Postgraduate).

  Winner of an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) 2012 National Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, 'For vibrant and compassionate approaches to teaching and learning, which inspire students’ enthusiasm and passion for the profession of teaching.'

  Winner, with Mr Jarrod Johnson (Middle School, Pulteney Grammar School, Adeladie South Australia) of the Australian TEacher Education Association Teacher Education Partnership Grant, 2018.

• Research Interests

  My research interests include education technologies (TEACHnologies), working collaboratively with teachers in schools, gender and the student experiences while at university, with particular interest in the philosophical stance of Nel Noddings and Paulo Freire.

• Publications

  Johnson, J. and Westphalen, L. (2018) ‘City Week Program: Scaffolded Team-Based Learning and Community Engagement.’ Adolescent Success Volume 18, No. 2, November, pp, 28 - 35.  

  Westphalen, L. (2012) An Anthropological and Literary Study of Two Aboriginal Women's Life Histories: The Impacts of Enforced Child Removal and Policies of Assimilation.  Edwin Mellen Press, New York.

  Co-Editor (on invitation) with Dr Oliver Haag, Special Issue of the Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia (JEASA  Published under the auspices of Coolabah)  in honour of the late Dr Auntie Ruby Langford Ginibi in 2012.

  Haag, O and Westphalen, L (2012)  ‘A Life for the Truth: A Tribute to Ruby Langford Ginibi’, Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia Vol.3. No.1, 2012, pp. 1-7, (ISSN  2013-6897)

  Westphalen, L (2012) ‘Dear Aunty Ruby’,  Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia Vol.3. No.1, 2012, pp. 27-31 (ISSN  2013-6897).

  Westphalen, L (2009) ‘ Assessing the Personal.  Inclusion, Anecdote and Academic Writing.’ CELT - Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching:  A World of Learning.  vol 2, 2009,  pp. 40 – 47.  Alan Wright, Margaret Wilson,Dawn MacIsaac  (eds)  Published by STLHE - Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education / SAPES Société pour l’avancement de la pédagogie dans l’enseignement supérieur, Ontario, Canada.

  Westphalen, L. and Knight, J.R. (2009) 'Archaeology and engineering: what can engineers learn from the material cultures of the past?' Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Association of Engineering Education Conference, Adelaide, 2009, pp.783-788

  Folauhola, C., Kestell, C.D., Westphalen, L. and Missingham, D (2009) ‘Engineering Education. Reverse Engineering the Need for an Improved Disciplinary Design.’ Proceedings of the Twentieth Australasian Association of Engineering Education Conference, Adelaide, 2009, pp, 1093 – 1100.

• Files

  • OLT Citation - Westphalen_OLT.pdf [795.2K] (application/pdf)
  • Review of Linda Westphalen's Book in Australian Feminist Studies - Review_of_Westphalen_Book.pdf [66.9K] (application/pdf)

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 21 Feb 2023

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