Rate My Professor Jessica Mantei

Jessica Mantei is an Associate Professor in Language and Literacy in the School of Education and Early Start, Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, at the University of Wollongong. She serves as Deputy Head of the School of Education and leads Early Start’s Play, Pedagogy and Curriculum Research Group. With more than 30 years of experience across early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary education sectors in Catholic, independent, and public school systems, Mantei holds a Bachelor of Education (BEd), Master of Education by Research (MEd Res), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Her academic career at the University of Wollongong encompasses teaching, research supervision, and leadership in literacy education.

Mantei’s research specializations include early literacy teaching and learning across educational settings and transitions, development of proficiencies in reading, writing, talking, and listening in digital and paper-based environments, pedagogies for improved learner outcomes, and interactions among children, educators, and technology. She is an Associate Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, contributing to the Educated Child program. As Co-Editor of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, she has influenced the field through editorial contributions. Her publications number 15 peer-reviewed journal articles and 5 book chapters, including practitioner-focused texts. Key works are 'New technologies, new pedagogies: Mobile learning in higher education' (2009), 'Design principles for mobile learning' (2009), 'Interpreting the images in a picture book: Students make connections to themselves, their lives and experiences' (2014), 'Pretend Play: Children in Control of a Shifting Narrative' (2022), and 'A cautionary tale: digital resources in literacy classrooms' (with Lisa Kervin). She co-developed the Online Reading Assessment (ORA) tool (Kervin and Mantei, 2016), used by teachers to assess online reading proficiency, and created resources on eye movement technology and miscue analysis for reading assessments. Mantei has delivered invited keynotes, national and international conference presentations, and practitioner workshops across Australia, building extensive networks in educational settings. Her scholarship is evidenced by over 1,847 citations on Google Scholar.