Education graduate: Kim DeBacco, PhD

Over the years when I’ve been asked by friends and, in particular, relatives who never went to university, “What do you actually do at the uni?” 
I reply: “I teach university professors how to teach.”   
“… Oh….. OK.  Got it.” 

But actually it is so much more than that! I help university lecturers improve their teaching in traditional (face-to-face), blended and online courses.  I’m really interested in curriculum and syllabus design, teaching and learning methods in face-to-face and online classes, as well as that “bug bear”: assessment!

Here at the outset, I have to add that the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the flag for the field of instructional development in higher ed. 

Since mid-March, our Online Teaching & Learning team at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) has been run off its feet supporting our faculty, instructors and teaching assistants (professors, lecturers and tutors) in the rush to “remote teaching”.

Yet in the midst of this epidemic, in this time of social distancing and “stay-at-home” orders, suddenly my work has value!  Suddenly I am really needed! How strange, indeed.

I love working with university teachers at all levels: professors, lecturers, teaching assistants (tutors).

I am immersed in all supporting the teaching and learning of all kinds of topics and research across the spectrum of the university.  I am currently working on courses in Public Health, Islamic Studies, ESL education, Epidemiology, and Education.

What’s less loveable about it?

I don’t get to do as much research as I’d like. Research has to be in my own time unfortunately. This field needs more and better research!

When I was finishing my PhD in 2006-7, I was working in the Institute for Teaching & Learning at the University of Sydney.  In 2007 I took a 6 month sabbatical at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching near Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Alas the winds of change were sweeping through the ITL at the University of Sydney.  There was some upheaval. 

When I returned in January 2008, I took one week to tie up my affairs at work, and I took a voluntary redundancy – I left a tenured position – and I headed back to California, giving myself six months to find a position in the US hopefully in California.

I was confident I could return to Australia with many employment possibilities if this Californian adventure didn’t work.
My PhD gave me options. 

In addition, I had also met my husband-to-be here in California while on sabbatical so this added another layer of desire for staying and working in the Golden State (as California is known). 

In mid 2008, my application for the position of “Instructional Consultant” at the University of California in Santa Barbara (UCSB) was successful, and I ended up working there in that role for seven years.  

In 2015 I moved on to become International Program Director for UCSB Extension (Continuing Education).  However in 2017, five key people in that unit’s leadership retired or left, and ill winds were starting to blow through international education - no thanks to the Trump administration – so I made the decision to move on. 

After an 18-month interlude as an instructional designer at the University of California, Riverside (what an harmonious, high-achieving, diverse student culture!), I accepted a job offer at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and I moved with my husband to the “big smoke” of LA. 

I was missing the inner-city life I had enjoyed in Sydney, plus the opportunity to work at UCLA could not be turned down!

Australia’s history of distance education, including correspondence schooling and “school of the air” shaped the judicious adoption and adaptation of online teaching and learning practices during the late 80s, 90s and early 2000s.

In those years, video streaming was not widely available or reliable.  We academic developers were encouraging university teachers to take up and push the limits of asynchronous, flexible online practices, in particular discussion forums, blogs and collaborative writing in wikis, for example.   

When I landed in the US in 2007, it became evident that the more widely accessible wi-fi networks and recent advances in video technology in North America were propelling strong interest in synchronous (live) online teaching practices – live webinars or video conference classes in particular.  

Live teaching and learning is not very flexible; it can also be rather risky – in that anything can happen, and “Zoom bombing” is the latest case in point!  

As an instructional designer, I am secretly pleased that the rush to “remote teaching” here in the US is leading to some reconsideration of live online lectures via Zoom (google handouts, or whatever you use). 

Educators in the US are only now starting to re/think very carefully and critically about which pathways or blends of synchronous and asynchronous learning modalities make for successful online learning experiences, in which disciplines.

What are some important innovations and evolutions in instructional design that you are excited about?

Technology is always evolving, new apps are always coming out.

I probably get more excited when university teachers come up with new ways of using common or familiar technologies, such as, for example, using your smart phone to record weekly informal video updates for your students, or using your phone to record feedback on foreign language assignments, instead of writing down lots of words. 

More broadly, I think the push to adapt the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) merits more exploration and careful critique.

One of the foundational concepts of UDL is that if we can adapt our practices to meet the needs of students with physical and learning disabilities, in fact we can then provide all our students multiple means of access, input, engagement and creative expression.

Words of wisdom/advice for education practitioners and instructional design specialists?

When designing a new course, keep it simple.  Course design is all about what you leave out! 

All that excess content, those assignments and those great ideas can go in the next course you’ll design to parallel or follow this one. 

When redesigning an existing course or course components for an online format, consider the learning pathway and learning activities and ask yourself, “What is the student doing now?”  

Finally, be transparent and involve your students in your teaching experiments. 

At the higher ed level, early on I had to learn new jargon and terminology: language and concepts such as freshmen and sophomore year, then junior and senior year (the 4 years of undergraduate education in the University of California (UC) system).

The UCs run on three ten-week quarters (fall, winter, spring) followed by six-week intensive summer sessions courses, which students use to retake failed courses and to complete their degrees early.   

And student life is so very active on university campuses over here!

I am pretty impressed by how much American universities run on the labor of students which is absolutely essential to the functioning of academic departments, administrative services, Student Affairs centres, athletic centres, the bookstores, recycling programs and many other units on a university campus. 

I loved the many opportunities to present my research in the School of Education; it was such a collegial group of lecturers and professors working in the School back in 2001-2007!  And I loved any excuse to go over to that beautiful Kuringai campus to present or get together with other Education researchers.

Above all, I had the best doctoral supervisors – Professors Lyn Yates and Dave Boud, both now retired – with whom I stay in occasional touch.  I learnt so much from them:  much wisdom plus ways of thinking and working never to be expressed in a mission statement or curriculum.

Any funny and challenging moments from your time doing a PhD? 

I remember lots of fun times spent philosophising in pubs and at “pot luck” dinners with friends also tackling their PhDs! 

Challenging..?   hmm… figuring out how to analyse and interpret the many interviews I conducted with the university teachers in my study…

I ran at that pile of wordy data at least three times before it all came together and a pattern of metaphors emerged.

Did you build networks with other PhDs locally/domestically/internationally?

During my PhD studies and later, I presented at many international (higher) education conference and quickly built a network of colleagues to whom I can still turn for advice and inspiration.

Did it contribute to your career going international?

My PhD enabled me to gain a top position as an instructional consultant at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) in California in 2008, just before the academic immigration doors started to close, in the lead up to the 2009 recession.   

My PhD about academic identity and “the move online”, coupled with Australia’s great reputation for flexible, distance and online education, was instrumental in enabling me to establish myself as an instructional consultant and designer not just at UCSB but in system-wide instructional design groups in the UC system. 

I am very proud to continue to support the University of California – Santa Barbara, Riverside, and now Los Angeles.

Advice for prospective and current PhD candidates?

Never ever complain about your PhD!  It is a gift. Wake up! Not many people get this opportunity.  It is a select experience by means of which you can follow your intellectual curiosity.   As soon as I turned my head around and acknowledged this, my attitude changed, the writing flowed, and I embraced my identity as a researcher. 

For a kid from a remote and muddy dairy farm in NW Tasmania, my UTS PhD was a sparkling achievement.  Thank you UTS ;)

Cooking, shopping, reading, restaurants, walking…. When not in “stay-at-home” mode, I love walking around downtown LA with my husband. 

The heart of this city is coming alive again and there are many lovely restored buildings, Art Deco movie theatres, plus lots of interesting restaurants and cafés – not to mention LA food trucks.

Los Angeles has lots of little “neighbourhoods” such as Little Tokyo where we live, and the über-cool Arts District nearby. 

We also love to don the leathers and helmets, jump on his Harley Davidson Fat Boy, whizz by the traffic and head over to Santa Monica, to Long Beach, or to the Valley (San Fernando Valley) – YOLO!