Other research topics

Loath to be pidgeon-holed or restricted, Mark has a range of eclectic interests and is always keen to explore new areas of research and collaboration. This is evidenced by the wide variety of PhD projects he supervises. Two areas of recent activity summaried on this page related to teaching research and environmental psychology.

Teaching

With a large cohort of distance education students all over the world, most of whom he will never meet, Mark has an interest in teaching practices and technology, particularly initiatives that might increase engagement online. Always pragmatic, he does not adopt technology for its own sake, recognising that hype alone does not improve the experience. Some projects Mark is involved in include:

A comparison of online vs in-person lectures
Student embeddedness: the concept that students are less likely to drop out if they feel more connected to the university (and their course, each other, etc)
The use of wikis in the assessment process
The hype versus reality of MOOCs
A new online bridging/transition course for students entering social/health university courses (counselling, teaching, nursing, etc) at second year.

Environmental psychology

The area of environmental psychology has increasing currency as governments, companies, communities and individuals ponder things like public transport patronage, climate change, energy usage, and so on. Mark has a number of projects in this field:

Ecodriving is a method of driving that is aimed at reducing fuel use. With significant government and corporate funding Mark has trialed several driver training programs aimed at changing driver behaviour.
Mark is co-supervising a PhD student - Mohd Fabian Bin Hasna - exploring environmental psychology in relation to public art.
Mark was involved in a substantial Commonwelath-funded project exploring the notion of a climate-adapted coastal settlement.
The concept that nature is restorative and necessary for positive mental health (and the idea of 'nature deficit disorder') is of interest.
Two separate funded projects exploring the barriers and drivers to the use of mass timber construction for multi-story residental buildings in Australia.
Mark developed a university subject "Psychology of sustainability and environmental behaviours" with a focus on behaviour change.