Rate My Professor Joanne Walters

Joanne Walters is a Lecturer and Clinical Education Coordinator for the Speech Pathology (honours) program in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Newcastle, Australia, within the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing. She also serves as Program Convenor for Speech Pathology. A qualified speech pathologist, she holds a Graduate Certificate in Health Promotion from the University of Newcastle. In her lecturing role, she teaches across all years of the program, with an emphasis on translating theoretical knowledge into clinical practice and her interest area of paediatric speech sound disorders. As Clinical Education Coordinator, she oversees strategic planning and implementation of the clinical education program, facilitates training for clinical educators associated with the University of Newcastle, and engages with diversity in clinical education through innovative models that enhance the student learning experience. Her research interests encompass clinical education, clinical skills, evidence-based practice, interprofessional learning, paediatric language, paediatric speech sound disorders, professional issues, simulation, speech sound disorders, and work integrated learning, primarily within the field of speech pathology.

Current research projects include evaluations of clinical education models and simulation use. Joanne is an investigator on a national grant funded by the Department of Health to develop a framework for embedding simulation in Australian speech pathology curricula. She is a member of the Speech Pathology Research Network team. Her excellence in work integrated learning activities has earned her three university awards recognizing international engagement, school-based initiatives, and aged care contributions. Key publications include the book chapter 'Virtual reality (VR) oral musculature assessment (VOMA): Using VR to solve a real-world problem in health practice' (2025, with Unicomb R and Stevens A); conference papers such as 'Use of Virtual Reality to teach a specific clinical skill in speech pathology' (2024, with Unicomb R), 'Management of Adolescents Who Stutter in Saudi Arabia' (2025, with Alharbi E, Hewat S, Unicomb R), 'From university to the real world: Reflections from speech pathology students and new graduates' (2018, with Hewat S), and 'Speech pathology clinical placements in Fiji' (2017, with Webb G, Hopf S, Hewat S, Byrne N, O'Toole G). These works contribute to advancing simulation-based learning, clinical training, and paediatric speech pathology practices.