Professional Learning Team

Our team consists of a Project Management team in Adelaide and Project Officers based across Australia. 

Our Project Officers have a diverse mix of skills, experience and qualifications and they are keen to support schools with mathematics education. Their goal is to build teacher confidence and enjoyment of maths, in turn supporting students to love maths too!

Toni Falusi, Project Officer 

Toni Falusi is an experienced K-10 educator who has a passion for empowering teachers and students to be innovative and engaged with their learning. In addition to classroom teaching, her background includes developing and delivering professional learning as an eLearning Coach, Teacher Librarian and Project Officer for the Computer Science Education Research (CSER) MOOC team. Currently, Toni is a sessional lecturer for the Australian Catholic University, leads the STEM Coaching program for the Australian Mathematics Trust, Curious Minds project and is part of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies review/writing team.

Celia Coffa, Project Officer 

Celia has extensive experience as an educator, classroom teacher, ICT coordinator and eLearning Coach. Her enthusiasm for being a ‘networked educator’ and connecting teachers to share and learn from each other led to the introduction of TeachMeets in Victoria. Her role as Project Officer for the Computer Science Education Research team of the University of Adelaide allowed Celia to work with teachers across the state and to develop or and deliver professional learning both in face to face opportunities and on-line environments.  Celia’s wider experience includes the skills and challenges of running a small business. Celia was awarded the 2015 DLTV Educator of the Year Award for her dedication, advocacy and innovation in digital learning and teaching across her school and beyond. Celia has worked in the CSER Team for over 4 years as a project officer and also is a digital content designer for the Maths MOOCs. 

Genovieve Grouios, Project Officer 

Genovieve Grouios is a sessional lecturer in charge at Australian Catholic University and has worked in tertiary education for over five years. She is also a mathematics consultant and director for Australian Mathematics Central (AMC) and has worked across schools in Victoria for over four years. Her university and consultancy work focuses on helping teachers enhance their mathematical knowledge for teaching, changing mathematical mindsets, and building productive communities of practice. She has skills in curriculum writing and was involved in developing the Mathematics Curriculum Companion (Levels 5-6) and the Numeracy High Impact Teaching Strategies (levels 3-8) documents for the VIC Department of Education. As a current PhD student, Genovieve is currently researching how adults learn mathematics and how metacognition facilitates the collaborative professional learning of primary mathematics teachers and how this sustains their enhanced professional knowledge and practice. Her philosophy of mathematics education aligns closely to the words of Rene Descartes: 'mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency'...it is a subject of true beauty and wonder and one that should be experienced by all. 

Debbie Reinholtd, Project Officer 

After entering the teaching profession in Victoria some 36 years ago, Debbie began to explore her enthusiasm for mathematics. In addition to her primary role, she was recognized for her dedication
to mathematical education. Debbie is a published author of mathematical resources based on the Australian Curriculum. She was a Mathematics Consultant for the Southern Metropolitan Region and is
actively engaged in professional development for teachers in mathematics. As an instructional leader she was consulted across many sectors with significant contributions to Exploring Mathematics in Classrooms (EMIC), the Early Years Numeracy Project and reSolve (Maths by Inquiry). Debbie is passionate about mathematics so that future generations can share the beauty of mathematics with enthusiasm.

Sue Carter, Project Officer 

Sue has worked in NT Education for more than 30 years starting out as a primary school classroom teacher in Nhulunbuy in 1986. Her experiences include early childhood and primary teaching, PE specialist, Teacher Librarian and ICT specialist completing a Master's degree in Technology in 1997. Sue has worked in the CSER Team for over four years having been a Project Officer in the Digital Technologies area and now a part of the Maths team. Sue has extensive experience in developing cross-curricula resources and working with schools on country across the Northern Territory.

Dr John West, Project Officer 

Dr John West has taught mathematics at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, having worked as a mathematics teacher and Lecturer in Mathematics Education at The University of Western Australia. John’s research has been published in several peer-refereed international journals and he has had the opportunity to teach in Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam. In April 2019, John participated in the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers’ inaugural Singapore Study Tour. John has worked as a mathematics education consultant for schools across Australia (including, most recently, Coober Pedy Area School), and as a numeracy consultant for the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). John currently serves as the President of the Mathematical Association of Western Australia, and a former Editor of Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom. He has written a number of books for teachers including Problem Solving in Primary Mathematics (2017) and Foundations of Primary Mathematics Education (Allen & Unwin, 2019).

Dr Rebecca Vivian, Project Lead & Senior Research Fellow

Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Education (Junior Primary & Primary, With Honours) and a PhD in Education in the field of educational technology. In addition to Project Lead, Rebecca is a Senior Research Fellow in the Computer Science Education Research Group (CSER), The University of Adelaide. Her interdisciplinary research spans educational technology, educational psychology, professional learning and STEM education engagement. Since 2014, Rebecca has led the launch of a number of online courses, including courses for postgraduate students and teacher training. She co-led the establishment of a national teacher training program in Digital Technologies (including AI, AR, VR and cyber security) which has reached over 38,000 teachers. Dr Vivian is passionate about engaging more students, particularly underrepresented groups, in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Susie Barber, Project Manager

Susie manages a number of education projects at the University of Adelaide. She collaborates with academic leads, coordinates and communicates with our Project Officers, key stakeholders and schools across Australia. Susie has worked in education policy, program and project delivery at both national and state level. Her interest in inclusive education and sustainable career pathways for all young people has resulted in her working on career and employment related projects as well as skills training and mental health and wellbeing programs. Susie is currently undertaking a Master of Education at the University of Adelaide.

Associate Professor Lewis Mitchell, Head of School of Mathematics

Lewis is Head of School and a Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at the University of Adelaide. He studies how information moves over social networks using mathematical models, coupled with data science techniques. His research interests are in computational social science, human dynamics, online social networks, as well as data assimilation and the mathematics of weather and climate. A/Prof Mitchell is passionate about maths and communicating the real-world value and impact of maths careers and study.

Professor Katrina Falkner, Executive Dean of Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technologies (SET)

Katrina has extensive experience in industry consultation, including work with DST Group, NICTA, Google US, Google Australia & New Zealand, the Commonwealth Department of Education and Training, and Telstra Foundation, crossing both the areas of Computer Science Education within her role as Lead of the Computer Science Education Research Group (CSER) and Distributed Systems and Modelling (within DIT). As part of her work within CSER, Katrina has led the development of the CSER MOOCs - open online courses for Australian teachers to help prepare them for the Digital Technologies Curriculum, and leads the national CSER Digital Technologies Education Program, designed to support Australian teachers in teaching Computer Science, with an emphasis on supporting young women, low-SES and Indigenous populations.