Dr Aruna Devi is a Lecturer in the School of Education and Tertiary Access at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia. She teaches tertiary preparation pathway programs that aim to provide skills and knowledge for students to succeed at university. Dr Devi gained her Bachelor of Education at the University of the South Pacific (Fiji), Graduate Diploma in Science and Mathematics Education at the University of Adelaide, Master of Education in Learning Support (with Dean’s honours) at The University of Queensland, and Graduate Certificate in Higher Education at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. She is a registered teacher (full registration).
Dr Devi completed a doctoral degree from the University of Southern Queensland, awarded an Excellence in Doctoral Research by the Dean of the Graduate Research School. She has a strong interest in inclusive education and disabilities. Her thesis, “Preparing Teachers to Instruct Students with Autism in Inclusive Settings: Australian Pre-Service Teachers’ and Recent Graduates’ Perspectives - An Exploratory Case Study”, was the best among education graduates, nominated for Ray Debus Award for Doctoral Research in Education. Dr Devi received a Golden Key International Honour Society Membership awarded for being in the Top 15% of high achievers during her Graduate Certificate program.
Dr Devi’s current research interests are inclusive education (autism), disabilities, teacher education, pathway programs and interdisciplinary areas of trauma, mental health, and student performance models. Dr Devi’s core interest is in socio-cognitive and educational theories for self-efficacy beliefs with strong foundations in qualitative research methods, thematic analysis, as well as evolving in quantitative research. Dr Devi is an external supervisor for doctoral and masters’ students and is also seeking expressions of interest from higher degree, PhD and Master’s students interested in pursuing a postgraduate research program in education at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. For potential inquiries, please email: adevi@usc.edu.au to discuss a proposed area of research.
Professional Memberships
- Queensland College of Teachers – Registered Teacher (Full)
- Golden Key International Honour Society
Awards
- Excellence in Doctoral Research University of Southern Queensland, Australia, 2020
- Nominated for: Ray Debus Award for Doctoral Research in Education by USQ, Australia, 2020
- Golden Key International Honour Society: University of Southern Queensland, Australia, 2018
- Dean’s Honours for High Achievement, Faculty of Social & Behavioural Science: The University of Queensland, 2008
- Commonwealth Government Scholarship, The University of Queensland, 2007
Professional social media
Research Projects
|
Name of project |
Investigators |
Year/Amount |
|
Parent Voices: The perception of parenting self-efficacy among parents of children with disabilities in early childhood. |
Dr Aruna Devi (Principal Investigator), Dr Alison Willis, Dr Tracey Sempowicz, Amla Nand |
2022 / $ 4000 [School of Education and Tertiary Access Research Seed grant] |
|
What are the perceived and actual benefits and motivations for undertaking Auslan training? |
Dr Tracey Sempowicz, Dr Peter Grainger, Dr Michael Carey, Dr Aruna Devi (Associate Investigator) |
2022 / $ 4000 [School of Education and Tertiary Access Research Seed grant] |
|
Culturally Responsive Education Recovery after Disruption and/or Trauma) |
Dr Alison Willis, Dr Aruna Devi (Associate Investigator) |
2022 / $27, 117 [UniSC LAUNCH Partnership] |
|
Impact of the pandemic on expectations of current and future international students in the Australian tertiary education sector |
Professor Jeffrey Soar (UniSQ), Professor Prabal Barua (UniSQ/Industry), Professor Ravinesh Deo (UniSQ), Dr Aruna Devi (external supervisor |
2022 – 2024 / $ 96,000 [Industry Research Program grant, Master of Research] |
|
Design and evaluation of an AI-enabled student enrolment/application process through an integrated platform |
Professor Jeffrey Soar (UniSQ), Professor Prabal Barua (UniSQ/Industry), Professor Ravinesh Deo (UniSQ), Dr Aruna Devi (external supervisor |
2022 – 2025 / $ 96,000 [Industry Research Program grant, PhD] |
|
Artificial intelligence as a predictive analytics framework for learning outcomes, assessment, and student success |
UniSQ team, Dr Aruna Devi (external investigator) |
Technology Demonstrator Project, 2018-2023 |
Research areas
- Self-efficacy theory – Bandura’s social cognitive (and related) education theories
- Exploring teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and preparedness in teaching students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
- Parental engagement in inclusive practices for children
- Parental self-efficacy in caring for children with disabilities
- Inclusion, learning difficulties, self-efficacy/anxiety and student engagement
- Factors influencing teachers’ preparedness in teaching students with ASD
- Factors Influencing students self-Efficacy related to mathematics and other areas of learning
- Effective online teaching strategies (students with special needs)
- Parental engagement in inclusive practices (special education needs)
- Qualitative and Quantitative methodologies or case study-based inquiry research
Teaching areas
- Devi A., Palmer E. E., Ganguly, R. & Baua P. D. (2022). Teachers’ educational experiences and preparedness in teaching students with autism. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40299-022-00709-7
- Devi A. & Ganguly, R. (2022). Pre-service teachers and recent teacher graduates’ perception of self-efficacy in teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder – An exploratory case study. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-17.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2022.2088869 - Nguyen-Huy, T., Deo, R. C., Khan, S., Devi, A., Adeyinka, A. A., Apan, A. A., & Yaseen, Z. M. (2022). Student Performance Predictions for Advanced Engineering Mathematics Course with New Multivariate Copula Models. IEEE Access, 10, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9759284
- Ahmed, A. A. M., Deo, R. C., Ghimire, S., Downs, N. J., Devi, A., Barua, P. D., & Yaseen, Z. M. (2022). Introductory Engineering Mathematics Students’ Weighted Score Predictions Utilising a Novel Multivariate Adaptive Regression Spline Model. Sustainability, 14(17), 11070. https://doi.org/10.3390/su141711070
- A. (2022). Effective autoethnographical exploration that enhances educational researchers’ self-efficacy and preparedness: The Self-Study of becoming a researcher. In D. L. Mulligan; E. A. Anteliz, & P. A. Danaher (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Autoethnography in Educational Research. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/b23046
- Devi, A. (2021). Combatting Procrastination. Academic Success. Pressbooks. https://opentextbooks.uregina.ca/academicsuccess/chapter/combatting-procrastination/
- Bartlett, C., Cawthray, T., Clark L., Conway S., Derrington K., Devi A., et al. (2021). Academic Success. University of Southern Queensland. January 20, 2021. PRINT ISBN https://usq.pressbooks.pub/academicsuccess/
- Devi, A. (2019). Preparing teachers to instruct students with autism in inclusive settings: Australian pre-service teachers’ and recent graduates’ perspectives – An exploratory case study. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Southern Queensland].
Dr Devi's current research interests are inclusive education (autism), disabilities, teacher education, pathway programs and interdisciplinary areas of trauma, mental health and student performance models.