Dr. Susan O'Neill

Professor, Faculty of Education

Areas of Interest

Global perspectives on music education, music psychology (developmental pathways and wellbeing in music performance education), youth music engagement and learning, intergenerational learning, intercultural communication, diversity and inclusion in music education, multimodal literacies and creative technologies, creative collaborations and knowledge mobilization, mentoring and leadership in postsecondary education

A key focus of my current scholarship involves mapping young people's creative learning ecologies, particularly within learning contexts involving music and interactive digital technologies. This focus on learning ecologies provides an interface between multimodal activities, materiality, networks, affordances, empowerment and the construction of learning identities within the contexts that render young people’s experiences purposeful and personally meaningful. An overlapping concern is to gain more inclusive, discriminating, and integrating perspectives on youth issues in relation to music learning, and how to initiate and sustain meaningful and equitable youth-adult and youth-peer creative collaborations that support youth engagement, empowerment, and social innovation in practice.

I am also interested in creative collaborations and the potential of using interactive modes as resources for learning, communication, and expression. Current research projects focus on intergenerational multimodal learning, intercultural communication, youth-led creative collaborations, and dialogical inquiry, drawing on theoretical ideas from critical youth studies, critical pedagogies, critical social psychology, multimodal literacies, communication and media studies.

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