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Dr. Trixie James

Doctor of Philosophy (Education): Masters of Learning Management (Executive Leadership); Graduate Diploma of Learning Management (Executive Leadership); Bachelor of Learning Management(with Distinction); Justice of the Peace (Qual); Certificate IV of Life Coaching; Diploma of Positive Psychology
Lecturer
School of Access Education
Centre for Research in Equity & Advancement of Teaching & Education (CREATE)
Bundaberg
Building 1 - G.12
Bundaberg Campus
About Me

As a lecturer in the STEPS enabling program, I believe it is important that students witness in me a passion and genuine love for the role I undertake. In my role, I work with adult learners who have very specific educational needs. Many have been out of the education environment for a number of years and may have had negative educational experiences which continue to haunt them as they strive to carve a new identity as a student. With this cohort of students, conventional teaching strategies are not enough. These students need to learn how to learn and require time to combat their fear, challenge their belief system and have faith in themselves as learners in order to persevere through setbacks. My role in STEPS posits me perfectly to support these students and help them to achieve their goals.My personal foray into education has enabled me to become a passionate advocate for adult education as I also began this journey as a mature age student. Since commencing study in 2003, I have completed a number of degrees as shown below and this journey is still continuing and on my 20th anniversary of beginning this journey, I completed my PhD. 

2006: Bachelor of Learning Management (Primary) with Distinction

2009: Graduate Diploma of Learning Management (Executive Leadership)

2011: Masters of Learning Management (Executive Leadership) with Distinction

2009: Justice of the Peace (Qualified)

2012: Certificate IV in Life Coaching

2014 - Diploma in Positive Psychology

2024 - Doctor of Philosophy (Education)

General
Universities Studied At

Central Queensland University - Bundaberg - Bachelor of Learning Management (Primary)

CQUniversity - Graduate Diploma of Learning Management (Executive Leadership)

CQUniversity - Masters of Learning Management (Executive Leadership)

University of Tasmania - Doctor of Philosophy

Universities Worked At

Commenced at CQUniversity in 2008

Awards

2022 - Senior Fellow (Advance HE)

2021 - Student Voice Commendation for Distance Educator of the Year

2020 - Student Voice Commendation for Distance Educator of the Year

2018 - Student Voice Commendation for Distance Educator of the Year

2017 - Student Voice Commendation for Distance Educator of the Year

2016 - National Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning ($10,000)

2015 - Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contributions to Learning and Teaching - Tier Two Award. This award acknowledges Trixie James for excellence in motivating and inspiring Enabling students to realise their potential and gain a passion and thirst for knowledge through innovative teaching practices.

2014 - Vice-Chancellors Award for Good Practice in Learning and Teaching - Tier One award. This award recognises quality practices for facilitating student participation and success.

2014 - Opal Award for Internal Service (Health and Wellbeing Group)

2013 - Student Voice Commendation for Distance Educator of the Year

Professional Experience

Board Director and Secretary of the Bundaberg Christian College Board of Directors

Executive Committee Member of the National Association of Enabling Educators of Australia 

  • SIG Executive Overseer

Professional Memberships

Committee member of the National Association of Enabling Educators of Australia

The aims of NAEEA Inc. are:

(a) To advocate, encourage, promote and widen access and successful participation in groups who are under-represented in tertiary education.

(b) To undertake activities which establish a profile for Enabling Education and promote the benefits it provides to individuals, universities and society.

(c) To organise and hold a bi-annual conference.

(d) To hold forums fostering an exchange of ideas and support for collaboration and co-operation between individuals, groups and organisations engaged in Enabling Education.

 

Centre for Research in Equity and Advancement of Teaching and Education (CREATE) member

Professional Interests

Social Innovation

Led a team to develop the Be Positive initiative which is a 12 week Positive Psychology program designed to assist students to re-frame the way they think about their studies.

The ‘Be Positive’ initiative is a 12-week Positive Psychology educational wellbeing program that has been developed by educators within the School of Access Education, CQUniversity, to assist with building student optimism. Investigation into the benefits of psychological wellness and personal well-being is often an overlooked construct in research, especially in relation to student success at university. This is evident with research output on depression and anxiety extraneously exceeding the research output on subjective well-being (James & Walters, 2020). However, evident in literature is that Positive Psychology has the potential to increase psychological well-being and therefore might be the missing link to improved student engagement and retention. In light of this, since Positive Psychology has the potential to develop a person’s well-being, the ‘Be Positive’ initiative was developed explicitly for building students’ confidence and encouraging a more optimistic mindset towards their study. Ackerman (2021) shares that initiatives based on positive psychology can have an enormous benefit as “change in one’s perspective can lead to astounding shifts in wellbeing and quality of life”.

This program has been piloted in the STEPS enabling program, evaluated, and the findings written into a journal publication. It is being expanded and developed into a micro-credential so it is more accessible to the community.  Further development will be taking place so it can be trialled in a high school setting.

 

Scholarship into Learning and Teaching

The creation of a teaching framework called theHigher Expectation Framework has come about through my vision to ensure that instructional design for post secondary education engages an adult audience and is a fun and engaging experience that enables them to gain confidence and develop self-efficacy. The Higher Expectation Framework is a structured approach to thinking, planning and actioning, and is an innovative and engaging model that makes the class environment a safe place where students feel empowered to step out of their comfort zone and become more engaged with the content.

This approach to teaching can be used in any higher education environment and all educators are welcome to view and trial this approach in their own classrooms. The RCEA approach (James 2015) is the key to applying the Higher Expectation Framework into any adult learning situation. These four stages ensure that students are gaining the deepest benefits from the classroom situation.

The four stages include

  • Review (and establish the foundations of concepts)
  • Connect (concepts to prior knowledge)
  • Extend (and construct deeper knowledge through peer interaction)
  • Apply (the knowledge to life situation)

Following the development and dissemination of the HEF, I recognised an opportunity to further develop this framework to assist students to reflect critically on what they were learning. Critical thinking (CT) and critical reflection (CR) are skills that need to be developed and practiced. For enabling students, this can be daunting and difficult to learn as they often lack the ability to reason and critically interact with the presented knowledge. Drawing on scholarly literature in the field of CR and CT, there is consensus that many adults exhibit deficient reasoning but, in theory, can be taught to think critically; however, this skill is unlikely to develop in the absence of explicit instruction (Case, 2005). This matched my experience as a STEPS educator, therefore, based on my scholarship experience, I prioritised developing an evidence-based approach that provided explicit instruction. Enabling students enter as surface level learners, inexperienced in questioning what they are learning. I could see how students would benefit from having explicit instruction to guide them in the process of reflection. There was a synergy with the RCEA approach and an ability to broaden this initiative into a different context. Therefore, I invited two colleagues to collaborate, and we devised a critical reflection journal (CRJ) using the four steps of RCEA to teach students to critically reflect on content being taught in their study. Our team identified the need for this approach to be self-explanatory with semi-guided instruction.

The CRJ uses the four-step RCEA approach, that encourages students to pose questions around each criterion in order to reflect on the content they are learning. The criteria includes: 1). Review and reflect on the content, 2). Connect what they have learnt to past experiences, 3). Extend their knowledge through research and finally, 4). Apply this new knowledge to authentic experiences. This journal is presented in a visually stimulating hardcopy booklet or as a downloadable resource from www.higherexpectationframework.com .

 

 

 

Key Achievements

Executive Committee Member of the National Association of Enabling Educators of Australia 

Director on the Board of the Bundaberg Christian College

Accomplishment of achieving a PhD

Research Supervision
Accreditation

I am currently accredited for supervision in the following:

  • 3903 Education Systems
  • 3904 Specialist Studies in Education
  • 3902 Education policy, sociology and philosophy
  • 5205 Social and personality psychology

Current Capacity
I am currently available to supervise more research candidates
Research Interests
Education

Curriculum and Pedagogy - Humanities and Social Sciences Curriculum and Pedagogy (excl. Economics, Business and Management)
Positive Psychology: The ‘Be Positive’ project is a positive education program designed for students to mitigate against mental illness through the building of positive processes and capacities that may help to strengthen a students’ thinking and decision-making processes. Unlike traditional programs which adhere to a deficit view of reducing mental distress, our goal was to create a program that would help to boost aspects of positive mental health instead.   ‘Be Positive’ is a series of 12 animated videos, each one introducing students to a positive psychology concept which includes the concepts; growth mindset, learned helplessness, 4 C’s, optimistic thinking, ANTS & POTS, 3Ps, ABCDE, broaden & build, stress spiral, values, strengths, iceberg theory, gratitude and pay it forward. Students are introduced to the different concepts through a highly engaging 5-8 min snapshot video and provided with a worksheet that outlines the concept and provides activities for them to undertake during the week to further cement the knowledge and help them apply it to their own personal lives.

Education

Curriculum and Pedagogy - Vocational Education and Training Curriculum and Pedagogy
The creation of a teaching framework called the Higher Expectation Framework has come about through my vision to ensure that instructional design engages the adult audience and is a fun and engaging experience. The Higher Expectations Framework is a structured approach to thinking, planning and actioning, and is an innovative and engaging model that makes the class environment a safe place where students feel empowered to step out of their comfort zone and become more engaged with the content. Upon hearing the benefits of the Flipped Model Classroom, it was decided to trial this teaching approach in a higher education cohort of students. Although the trial was successfull with positive feedback from students and facilitators, there were some very obvious gaps in regards to a framework or working definition to guide the planning and implementation of this teaching approach within an adult classroom of students. Therefore, through the process of critical evaluation, and reviewing key philosophies such as Adult Learning Principles (Knowles), 12 Brain Principles (Caine) and Self Efficacy theory (Bandura), the Higher Expectation Framework was created. For more information, go to www.higherexpectationframework.com

Education

Education policy, sociology and philosophy - Education policy, sociology and philosophy not elsewhere classified
Trixie’s research interests centre on the support and engagement of under-represented adults in the tertiary sector, with special interest in student engagement, quality teaching practices and positive psychology. More recently, Trixie has written papers on how Positive Psychology has enhanced her student's study experience. In addition, she is leading a team in the creation of a Positive Psychology initiative called "Be Positive". A 12 week series of animated videos to assist students in developing a toolkit of strategies to improve their psychological well-being.

Education

Other Education - Other education not elsewhere classified
Be Positive Program is a social Innovation initiative developed by a team within the School of Access Education. This program has been piloted and evaluated and is being re-developed to suit a high school audience.

Publications
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Teaching
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