We chat to Dr Staci Vicary, Lecturer and Bachelor of Psychological Sciences Course Coordinator at the Australian College of Applied Psychology (ACAP).
What was your work background prior to joining Navitas?
I completed a PhD in Psychology in 2014 at the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Development, teaching as a sessional educator into the Psychology department at Western Sydney University. Before joining Navitas as a full-time lecturer in 2017 I completed a Post-Doctoral research fellowship at Brunel University and Goldsmiths University in London, where I was fortunate to work with professional performance artists and neuroscientists, studying the social processes of group movement. I have also been lucky enough to work with British research students and teach into Masters programs in places such as Frankfurt, Germany.
Tell us about your role at ACAP; your main responsibilities, the parts you enjoy and the challenges you face.
My primary role at ACAP is as a Lecturer within the Discipline of Psychological Sciences on the Sydney ACAP campus. As a lecturer, it is my responsibility to design learning experiences and guide students through the content they need to cover to meet their learning requirements. Typically, I give a three-hour on-campus lecture that is live-streamed nationally and lead a one-hour on-campus tutorial for each unit every week, as well as preparing, grading, and giving feedback on student assessment. Of course, there are many other aspects of this role, including course development, student administration, research and research supervision.
My favourite part of this role is the interaction I have with students and the degree to which I get to guide and influence their learning journey. I have always enjoyed working directly with students, particularly new students. I try to make sure we have a lot of fun in my classes.
The lecturing role can be challenging as there is a lot of content to cover. You need to ensure students develop critical skills, while making the content memorable and engaging, and that it is accessible to students from a wide variety of backgrounds and abilities. It’s a bit of a performance art at times!
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