Ron "Kim" Keamy

Kim was an inaugural Director of Learning & Teaching in the College of Education from February 2013 to December 2016.

Kim’s professional experience includes teaching in:

• primary education
• special education
• community education
• vocational education
• higher education.

In 2001 he was at La Trobe University Kim was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award for Postgraduate Teaching by the Faculty for Regional Development. In 2006 he received the Faculty of Education Award for University Teaching for a Program that Enhances Learning (team award). In 2011 he received the Faculty of Education Teaching Excellence Award.

Recent publications

Book chapter

Selkrig, M., & Keamy, R. K. (2017). Becoming comfortable with supercomplexity: Looking back, forward, in, out and shaking it about! In L. Ling & P. Ling (Eds.), Methods and Paradigms in Education Research: IGI Global.

Refereed journal articles

Selkrig, M., & Keamy, R. K. (2017). Creative pedagogy: A case for teachers' creative learning being at the centre. Teaching Education. doi:10.1080/10476210.2017.1296829

Manathunga, C., Selkrig, M., Sadler, K., & Keamy, R. K. (2017). Rendering the paradoxes and pleasures of academic life: Using images, poetry and drama to speak back to the measured university. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(3), 526-540. doi:10.1080/07294360.2017.1289157

Keamy, R. K. (2017). Time to listen: A case of leading a shift to blending teaching and learning in an Australian university. Teachers College Record. Retrieved from http://www.tcrecord.org ID Number: 21942

Keamy, R. (2016). Creative leadership? ‘It’s just the norm’, School Leadership & Management, DOI: 10.1080/13632434.2016.1196173.

Selkrig, M., & Keamy, R.K. (2015). Promoting a willingness to wonder: Moving from congenial to collegial conversations that encourage deep and critical reflection for teacher educators. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 21(4), 421-436. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.969104

Books

Keamy, R. & Reed, J. (1999). Study skills guide: A quick and easy reference for successful study (3rd edn.). Wodonga, Vic: Wodonga Institute of TAFE/La Trobe University.

Keamy, R. & Reed, J. (1995). Study skills guide: A quick and easy reference for successful study (2nd edn.). Wodonga, Vic: Wodonga Institute of TAFE/La Trobe University.

Keamy, R. & Reed, J. (1991). Study skills guide: A quick and easy reference for successful study. Wodonga, Vic: Wodonga Institute of TAFE/La Trobe University.

Keamy, R. (1981). Ida: Informal diagnostic assessment. Warragul, Vic: Warragul Education Centre.

Conference presentations

Keamy, R.K. (2016). Leading leaders of learning in a higher education context: Influencing in challenging times. Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Melbourne, December 1.

Selkrig, M., Keamy, K., Plows, V. & Tran, D. (2016). Academics blending and flipping: Learning to teach together, shifting the locus of control and making different spaces to co-construct knowledge. Victoria University Learning & Teaching Symposium, Footscray, September 29.

Manathunga, C., Selkrig, M., Sadler, K. & Keamy, R.K. (2016). Rendering the pleasures and paradoxes of academic life: Using images and prose to speak back to the measured university? 5th International Academic Identities Conference, Sydney.

Lipson, D. & Keamy, R.K. (2015) Special needs preparation in initial teacher education. Victorian Council of Deans of Education Conference, Melbourne, August 10.

Selkrig, M. & Keamy, R.K. (2014) Creative pedagogy: A case for placing teachers’ creative learning at the centre. AARE Conference, Brisbane.

Keamy, R.K. (2013). “Seeing things that others cannot see”: Leading for creativity in teaching, and teaching for creativity. AARE Conference. Adelaide.

Selkrig, M. & Keamy, R.K. (2013). Juggling identities: The complexities of, and the energy required in, being a creative educator. AARE Conference. Adelaide.

Selkrig, M. & Keamy, R.K. (2013). Creative pedagogies: Challenging, exciting…and exhausting. European Educational Research Association. Istanbul.

Keamy, R.K. & Selkrig, M. (2012). The use of protocols in an online environment and how pre-service teachers from a predominantly face-to-face course utilised them in a virtual setting. AARE-APERA Conference. Sydney.

Postgraduate research students

Prior to commencing at VU, Kim was either principal or associate supervisor for twelve Higher Degree by Research candidates at La Trobe University. The since-completed thesis topics include:

• Case studies of influences on the recruitment and retention of first year graduate nurses into perioperative nursing (Doctor of Education)
• Continuing Professional Development and Nursing Clinical Practice: an exploration of rural and regional nurses’ experience of Continuous Professional Development and practice change in their workplace (Doctor of Education)
• School restructures: Stories of Principals of Victorian government schools (Doctor of Education)
• Disability Liaison Officers and Learning Support Coordinators influencing success in Tertiary Education for students with Specific Learning Disabilities such as Dyslexia (Doctor of Education)
• The impact of government policies on an Aboriginal family in Western Victoria (Master of Social Work by Research)

Supervision

Kim was principal supervisor for Higher Degree by Research candidates at La Trobe University in the following projects:

• Continuing Professional Development and Nursing Clinical Practice: an exploration of rural and regional nurses’ experience of Continuous Professional Development and practice change in their workplace (Doctor of Education)
• Identifying good practice of disability liaison officers and learning disability workers in the tertiary sector (Doctor of Education)
• School restructures: Stories of Principals of Victorian government schools (Doctor of Education)
• The role of language in shaping gender identity and sexuality in early childhood (MEd - Research)
• The impact of government policies on an Aboriginal family in Western Victoria (Co-supervisor, M Social Work - Research)

Following his move to Victoria University, Kim is currently principal supervisor for a number of Higher Degree by Research and Minor Thesis candidates:

• Physical Education Teachers and the Australian National Health and Physical Education Curriculum (Doctor of Education)
• The role of the Graduate Transition Program in facilitating nursing graduates’ practice readiness in regional Victoria (Doctor of Education)
• Pedagogical leadership: a case study of the Educational Leader in an early childhood setting (Doctor of Education)
• Effective Professional Learning for School Principals and Senior Leaders (PhD Integrated)
• Early childhood educators walking the talk (M Ed Minor Thesis)

Thesis Examinations

Kim has examined the following doctoral theses:

• Underpinning existing foundations: A case study approach to community engagement within a higher education institution in South Africa (PhD)
• Multiculturalism: (re) intellectualising teaching (PhD)
• A Great Leap Forward: EFL curriculum, globalization and reconstructionism. A case study in North East China (PhD)

Research grants

• 2013: $2,240 Through lines: relationships between school leadership, teachers’ pedagogical approaches and students’ learning
• 2008: $10,000 Evaluation of the leadership structure, Catholic College Wodonga (solo investigator)
• 2007: $10,000 Save the Planet, North East Greenhouse Alliance (team investigation)
• 2006: $20,000 Personalised learning, Department of Education (team investigation)
• 2005: $15,600 Evaluation of a Yr 7 Innovation, Indigo Hills Cluster of Schools (team investigation)
• 2003: $10,000 Middle Years of Schooling, Beechworth Cluster of Schools (team investigation)
• 2002: $20,000 Implementation of the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, North East Local Learning & Employment Network (team investigation)

Professional memberships

• Australian Association for Research in Education

Industry experience

Kim's professional experience includes:

• teaching in primary schools (as a classroom teacher, a specialist physical education teacher and as a drama specialist)
• teaching in special education (including as a classroom teacher and as a Special Education Consultant)
• working in community education (with a community volunteers agency, project work in technology education, and as a loss and grief educator in a regional palliative care organisation)
• training in vocational education settings (including adult literacy in prisons, Indigenous education programs in TAFE, and workplace training with the Uncle Tobys Company), and in
• higher education (as the Academic Coordinator, founder of the academic skills support service and bridging program, international teaching, and teaching duties at La Trobe University's Albury-Wodonga Campus).

To find out more about Kim, see his eportfolio.