Diane joined the Ridley team as Educational Designer in 2014, where she enjoys working with Ridley faculty and visiting scholars to create engaging online courses for students. She is interested in helping students to learn (and teachers to teach) well, particularly in distance and online education. Her PhD explored learning design for student spiritual formation in online education.

She has previous experience as a Distance Education Coordinator for Sydney College of Divinity, with Macquarie Christian Studies Institute, as a student services manager and adviser and as an AFES staff worker at Macquarie University. She completed undergraduate degrees in politics and history at the Australian National University in Canberra and studied theology at Sydney Missionary and Bible College.

Diane met her husband David at ANU in Canberra where they both worked in Public Service roles for a few years before moving to live in Sydney. Diane and David have two young adult children and are involved in Macquarie Chapel Presbyterian church in Eastwood, Sydney. Diane enjoys the benefits of living in Sydney and regularly travelling to Melbourne which enables her to experience the unique aspects of each of these two cities.

Research Interests

Spiritual formation, pedagogy, distance and online education, learning design, educational technology

Hobbies and interests

Diane enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading fiction, bush-walking, drinking coffee and eating chocolate, watching and thinking about movies, catching up with her young adult children, and travelling in Australia and overseas.