Rate My Professor Mark Oliver

Mark Oliver is a Lecturer in Human Development and Counselling within the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland. With over a decade of experience in education and counselling, he specializes in human development, wellbeing, and learning sciences. Oliver teaches courses for preservice and practicing teachers, including Introduction to the Profession (EDC1000), Counselling in Education Contexts: Theory and Practice (EDU8507), Lifelong Career Development (EDU8607), Cultivating Supportive Learning Environments (EDM5007), and Individual Assessment and Testing (EDU8317). These courses address learning psychology, psychoeducational assessment, psychometrics, educational counselling, and career development. Previously, he managed the Residential Colleges at the University of Southern Queensland, including programs for international students to foster cultural awareness and social connections.

Oliver's research focuses on talent development, specifically cognitive and emotional individual differences, intellectual virtues pedagogy, intuitive theories of cognition, self-regulated learning, and scale development using factor analysis. He employs mixed methodologies and is currently completing doctoral studies in Learning Sciences at the University of Queensland, investigating pedagogical approaches to supporting first-year students. He received the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study research methods and educational psychology at the National Research Centre for the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut, where he worked as a research assistant on the Global House initiative. In 2022, he co-received the Richard Johns Research Grant from Mensa Australia to explore intuitive theories of cognition. Key publications include 'Teacher educators' perception-practice tensions in the enactment of intellectual virtues pedagogy' (Journal of Further and Higher Education, 2025), 'Developing higher education students' intellectual virtues through intentional practice' (2023), 'Everyday classroom teaching practices for self-regulated learning' (2020), and 'Shared pedagogical understandings: Schoolwide inclusion practices supporting learner needs' (Pastoral Care in Education, 2013). His contributions have garnered over 80 citations, influencing educational practices and student success in the field.