Melinda Lewis

Lecturer/Quality Adviser
MHlthScEd Sydney BAppSc(MRA) Cumb

Melinda undertakes curriculum review, development, implementation and evaluation activities to support the endeavours of the Associate Dean, Learning & Teaching. In 2011 this role will continue to link student learning and quality teaching in a curriculum change evaluation model to support revised curriculum. Melinda co-constructed the educational philosophy of the School and the conceptual framework for curriculum, as well as outlined a new pedagogical framework for 2010 onwards. Melinda assists with the orientation of new academic staff to the School and facilitates clinically-oriented staff transition to academic roles. She chairs both the Quality Education Working Party (QEWP) and the eLearning Working Party (ELWP) of the Learning & Teaching Committee. In 2011 Melinda continues as the School eLearning representative to the Health Cluster within the University and actively initiates and participates in a variety of eLearning development and evaluation projects aimed to improve the student experience. She generates and promotes the scholarship of learning and teaching, and assists teaching staff to apply for learning and teaching grants and teaching awards. In 2011 she joins Dr Jennifer Hardy to deliver the unit of study: Clinical and Patient Education in the Bachelor of Nursing (post-registration).

Prior to joining the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery in 2007, Melinda had 10 years experience in the health sector in a variety of health information management, staff training and health roles at hospitals throughout Sydney. She was the Education Manager for the Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA), managing a range of distance education programs and short courses; and worked in learning and teaching project roles at the Faculty of Health Sciences when she returned to the University.

In 1997 Melinda was awarded a Master in Health Science Education with a dissertation on lifelong learning for health professionals. Melinda has several pedagogical research publications and presentations. Integrating her core disciplines of Health Information Management and Health Science Education, she will commence a doctorate in 2011 at the Centre for Research on Computer Supported Learning and Cognition (CoCo Research Centre) within the Faculty of Education and Social Work supervised by Professor Peter Goodyear.

Recent scholarship activity

McKenzie J, Hardy J, Fischer M & Lewis MJ (2011). Showcasing a new Sydney Nursing School ‘clinical home’ model for professional education and community engagement. Submitted 21/3/11 to Synergy (Issue 31), ITL publication, the University of Sydney. http://sydney.edu.au/itl/synergy/

Foster K, Lewis MJ & Lewis P (2011). Comprehensive health assessment and clinical judgement education for graduate nurses: A qualitative evaluation. Being prepared for Nurse Education Today (May issue). http://www.nurseeducationtoday.com/

Harris L, Lewis MJ, West SW & Driscoll P (2011). Meeting the needs of Nursing and Health Science students’ in their transition to graduate-level study. Being submitted to Advances in Health Science Education http://www.springer.com/education+%26+language/journal/10459

Lewis MJ & Newman S (2011). An evidence-based framework for quality: Bringing the best from informatics in healthcare to quality in higher education @ Sydney Nursing School. Abstract submitted to HERDSA 2011 conference: Higher Education on the Edge. http://conference.herdsa.org.au/2011/

Publications and presentations (last five years)

Harris LM, Driscoll P, Lewis MJ, Cumming S, Matthews LR & Russell C (2009). Implementing Curriculum Evaluation: Case Study of Generic Undergraduate Degree in Health Sciences. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 1–14, iFirst Article.

Harris LM, Lewis M, West S & Driscoll P (2009). Lost in Transition: Students voice their experiences in innovative combined and accelerated Master level professional preparation programs in health and nursing. HERDSA 2009 Conference The Student Experience, Darwin, July.

Harris LM, Lewis M, & Driscoll P (2009). Prioritizing Communication: Theory, Practice and the Student Experience in the Bachelor of Health Science. HERDSA 2009 Conference The Student Experience, Darwin, July.

Curtis, K, Murphy M, Hoy S & Lewis M (2009). The Emergency Nursing Assessment Process – A structured framework. Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal. 12(4): 130-6.

Lever, T, Devonshire, E, Lewis, M & Everingham, F (2009). The learning design collaborative space through role play glasses. ASCILITE 2009 Conference: same places, different spaces. 7–9 December, Auckland.

Harris L, Driscoll P & Lewis M (2009). Do Drop In! Embedding Research Engagement through Online, Stand-alone, Drop-in Modules. CoCo Learning Technology Research Symposium, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, 1 October.

Cumming S, Harris LM, Matthews LR, Lewis MJ, Driscoll P, Russell C, Nisbet G & Aslani P (2008). How can we be interprofessional when we aren’t professionals? The challenge of identity and interprofessional learning in a generic Health Science degree. HERDSA 2008 Conference, Rotoroua, New Zealand, 1–4 July.

Lewis MJ, Harris LM, Cumming S, Matthews, LR, Driscoll P & Russell C (2008). How student perceptions and curriculum mapping drive curriculum change. Poster presented at HERDSA 2008 Conference, Rotoroua, New Zealand, 1–4 July.

Matthews LR, Harris LM, Cumming S, Russell C, Driscoll P & Lewis MJ (2008). Combined bachelor master degrees: A new model of health professional preparation that enhances capacity to meet global changes in higher education and local changes in health care and health workforce practices. HERDSA 2008 Conference, Rotoroua, New Zealand, 2–6 July.

Lewis M, Harris L & Driscoll P (2008). How do you take your IT? Student and staff responses to Information Technology in the Bachelor of Health Sciences. CoCo Learning Technology Research Symposium, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, 8 December.

Cumming S, Nisbett G, Harris L, Matthews LR, Lewis MJ, Driscoll P, & Russell C (2007). Interprofessional or pre-professional? IPL in the context of a generic degree. Paper presented at the Faculties of Health, Fourth EdHealth Conference 2007: Shaping the Future, Terrigal, NSW, 15–16 November.

Harris LM, Cumming S, Matthews LR, Lewis MJ, Driscoll P & Russell C (2007). The Bachelor of Health Sciences: early outcomes of curriculum change. Paper presented at the Faculties of Health, Fourth EdHealth Conference 2007: Shaping the Future, Terrigal, NSW, 15–16 November.

Harris LM, Cumming S, Matthews LR, Lewis MJ, Driscoll P & Russell C (2007). Evaluating curriculum change in the Bachelor of Health Sciences: Measuring the costs and consequences of curriculum change in a generic health sciences degree. Paper presented at the Faculties of Health, Fourth EdHealth Conference 2007: Shaping the Future, Terrigal, NSW, 15–16 November.

Lewis M, & Lee G (2007). Establishing a program based e-Learning strategy: Implications for development in the new bachelor of Health Sciences. Paper presented at the Faculties of Health, Fourth EdHealth Conference 2007: Shaping the Future, Terrigal, NSW, 15–16 November.

Harris L, Matthews L, Everingham F & Lewis M (2007). Developing interdisciplinary learning in an undergraduate generic health science degree. Focus on Health Professional Education: A Multi-disciplinary Journal, 8(3), 16-26.

Harris L, Cumming S & Lewis M (2007). Curriculum model for informing curriculum change in health science education. ISSOTL Conference (International Society for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning), Sydney, 2–7 July.

Harris LM, Cumming S & Lewis MJ (2007). Implementing and Evaluating Health Sciences Curriculum Change at the University of Sydney. Paper presented at the ISSOTL 2007 conference: Locating Learning: Integrative dimensions of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Sydney, 2–7 July.

Lewis M, Mahony M, & Poulos A (2006). Making workload visible: mapping academic expectations. Poster presentation at the Best Practice in Assessment and Student Feedback Forum, Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, 16 June.

Poulos A, Mahony MJ & Lewis MJ (2006). Same data, different perspective: A preliminary study of assessment mapping in the health sciences. Poster presentation at the Best Practice in Assessment and Student Feedback Forum, Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, 16 June.

Awards

Lewis M & Lee G (2007) Best abstract in session. Faculties of Health, Fourth EdHealth Conference 2007: Shaping the Future, Terrigal, NSW, 15–16 November

Grants

Lewis M, Hardy J, West, S, Scott, K & Brown S (2010) Developing pedagogical scaffold(s) for ePortfolios. USYD eLearning Strategic Project Grant, 150 hours

West S, Lewis M & Fisher M (2010) Using elearning to enhance delivery of multi-media clinical (workplace) learning materials in Nursing. USYD eLearning Strategic Project Grant, 150 hours

Ahern M, Lewis M & West S (2009) The question is the answer! Facilitating critical thinking through higher-level questioning in the Bachelor of Nursing (Post-registration). TIES Large Grant, $48,467

Fisher M, Lewis M, Maw M, Canning Green J, Gatward H & Canalesse J (2009) Watch, Learn, Go: Developing multi-professional learning resources to support clinical and communication skills development for health professionals. TIES Large Grant, $97,250

Harris L, Lewis M, West S (2009) Navigating the transition: Strategies to support the student experience in combined and accelerated Master level professional preparation programs in allied health and nursing. TIES Large Grant, $48,683

Chiarella M, Lewis M & White K (2009). Implementation and Evaluation of GosSIP –a Faculty based program to encourage the dissemination of “Scholarship In Practice”. TIES small grant, $9,250

Chiarella M, White J, Lewis M, Marshall A & Maw M (2009). Reviewing the impact of a clinical leadership education unit of study on the perceived self-efficacy of post-graduate clinical nurses. TIES small grant, $9,635

Harris L, Lewis M, West S & Brown L (2008) Achieving a match between the declared and delivered curriculum. TIES Large Grant, $124,000

Masters J & Lewis M (2008) Extending the functionality of the 2007 online case-based learning template and building another case. USYD eLearning Grant, 100 hours

Stephens M, White K, Nattress K, & Lewis M (2008) To build a blended eLearning template for post-graduate units of study in cancer nursing. USYD eLearning Grant, 250 hours

West S, Everingham F, Groenlund C, Williams K & Lewis M (2008) To establish a searchable database or other form of digital storage of previously developed learning objects that can then be accessed as either examples of technical solutions to specific educational design problems and/or exemplars of completed sites. USYD eLearning Grant

Cumming S, Chapparo C, Jones M, Lewis M, Smit J & Matthews LR (2007) E’tivities for interactivity in the development of generic attributes for Faculty of Health Sciences courses. Sydney eLearning Grant: 250 hours April–June.

Mahony MJ, Lee G, Lewis M (2006) Development of a common WebCT shell for year one Bachelor of Health Science units of study. Sydney eLearning Grant: 500 hours October 2006–February 2007.