Senior Executive Profiles

Professor Margaret Mazzolini is the Dean (Learning & Teaching) and Deputy Head, Higher Education at Swinburne. Margaret heads the Swinburne Professional Learning unit at Swinburne, formed in January 2008 as a merger of academic support and curriculum coordination units. SPL supports the development of Swinburne's Professional Learning Model, providing an innovative, supportive learning environment that produces graduates who are work ready and have strong career skills as well as being up-to-date in their chosen specialisation. As Dean (Learning & Teaching), Margaret provides advice and assistance on curriculum development and coordination, academic quality assurance and improvement, and associated teaching, resourcing and operational issues.

Margaret has considerable experience in curriculum development at tertiary and secondary levels. Prior to taking up the role of Dean (Learning & Teaching) in January 2008, she held a number of positions at Swinburne, including Director (Curriculum Development) leading the Curriculum Framework Project, Deputy Head and Educational Development Coordinator (Biophysical Sciences and Electrical Engineering), and inaugural coordinator of Swinburne Astronomy Online.  Her main research interests are in the implementation of active learning techniques in e-learning environments, especially in evaluating the effectiveness of instructor and student interactions through asynchronous discussion groups.

Margaret has a BSc(Hons) and a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Melbourne, a Masters in Online Education from USQ, and was awarded the Swinburne Excellent Teacher (Higher Education) Award in July 1999.