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Amanda Edgar

(she/her)

Senior Lecturer, Learning Spaces Innovation

Deakin Learning Futures/Digital Learning

Orcid identifier0000-0002-2931-5052 (opens in a new tab)⁠
  • Senior Lecturer, Learning Spaces Innovation
    Deakin Learning Futures/Digital Learning
  • Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Amanda Edgar is a higher education researcher whose scholarship examines how assessment, simulation, learning spaces and digital technologies shape human flourishing. This is informed by a postdigital perspective, understanding learning as emerging through the interaction of people, technologies, places, practices and institutional structures. This framework provides a coherent foundation for research that assembles virtual simulation, extended reality, assessment design, student partnership and learning-space innovation.

 

Her research addresses practical challenges in higher education, particularly how assessment and learning environments can support capability development at scale. She investigates how reasoning can be made visible through assessment, how extended reality can expand access to learning, and how student partnership and Indigenous knowledges can inform the design of learning experiences. Her work adopts a pragmatic, practice-led approach, drawing on empirical, conceptual and design-oriented methods to generate evidence that informs educational practice and institutional decision-making. This program of scholarship is reflected in peer‑reviewed publications in journals such as BMC Medical Education, Advances in Simulation, Education and Information Technologies and Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, and this narrative has been formalised through completion of a PhD by prior publication.

 

Her work includes virtual simulated placement models adopted by institutions internationally, including Mzuzu University (Malawi), Elite School of Optometry and Greater Lions Eye Hospital (India), City, University of London (United Kingdom), and Karolinska Institutet (Sweden). She also undertakes ongoing research on learning spaces that contributes to emerging sector approaches to hybrid and digitally enabled learning environments.

 

Amanda has established and chairs a National Learning Spaces Network spanning Australian universities, supporting cross‑institutional collaboration, knowledge exchange and capability building in postdigital learning environments. This network includes partners such as The University of Melbourne, Monash University, University of New South Wales, University of Sydney, Murdoch University, Edith Cowan University, Deakin University and the University of the Sunshine Coast, and contributes to advancing scholarship and practice across the sector.

 

Her scholarship is characterised by a strong focus on translating research into practice and building sector capability in learning environment design, professional capability development, and educational innovation.

GRANTS

  • INTERNAL GRANT
    Mitigating Digital risks: A Cyber harm prevention framework in AI-powered smart ecosystems for Higher Education ($6,000)
    Deakin Cyber Collaboration Grants Scheme 202622 Jul 2026 - 31 Jan 2027
    People funded by this grant:
    This research addresses the emerging cyber risks associated with AI-powered wearables and smart devices in higher education. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach, the project will survey university students and conduct multi-stakeholder focus groups to examine risk literacy and privacy apathy. Findings will inform a stakeholder-validated Cyber Harm Prevention Framework aligned with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and ACSC guidelines, supporting universities to balance technological accessibility with student data protection.
  • INTERNAL GRANT
    Students as Decision Makers Exploring Learning Spaces in Higher Education ($500)
    Deakin Learning Futures Microgrant1 Jun 2025 - 31 Dec 2025
    People funded by this grant:
    • Edgar A
  • PRIZE / AWARD
    Developing professional capabilities with virtual simulation ($5,000) (opens in a new tab)⁠
    Faculty of Arts and Education Conference Grant9 Jun 2024 - 14 Jun 2024
    Supported dissemination of research on teaching and learning and learning environments to international audiences.
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  • GRANT
    Cocreating student learning space resources to support the learning journey with learning space influencers. ($8,000)
    Led co‑creation of learning space resources with students to support the learning journey, informing strategic institutional approaches to learning environments.1 Feb 2024 - 20 Dec 2024
  • GRANT
    Microanalysis of a digitally simulated reasoning assessment ($1,000)
    Deakin Learning Futures Microgrant1 Feb 2024 - 31 Dec 2024
    People funded by this grant:
    Led microanalysis of a digitally simulated clinical reasoning assessment, contributing to research on assessment design and capability development and informing ongoing innovation in assessment practice.
  • GRANT
    New Colombo Plan Student Mobility grant to visit Sankara Nethralaya Eye Hospital in Chennai ($33,000)
    9 Jan 2022 - 31 Dec 2023
    Led expansion of international placement models, forming the basis for simulation-based learning and research in global and virtual clinical education.
  • GRANT
    New Colombo Plan Student Mobility grant to visit Sankara Nethralaya Eye Hospital in Chennai ($33,000 with $24,000 pivoted for use as a virtual placement)
    30 Dec 2019 - 28 Feb 2021
    Led international and virtual simulated placement initiatives in collaboration with partners in India. Funding was strategically pivoted during COVID‑19 to develop virtual simulated international placements, enabling continuation and expansion of global learning opportunities and informing subsequent research and implementation of simulation‑based learning.