Professional Summary

Biography

Dr Lynette Pretorius is an award-winning educator and researcher in the fields of academic language, literacy, research skills, and research methodologies. She has experience teaching undergraduate, postgraduate, and graduate research students, including supervising PhD students. Lynette is the author of multiple journal articles and two academic books focused on the experiences of graduate research students in academia. She has qualifications in Medicine, Science, Education, as well as Counselling, and her research interests include doctoral education, academic identity, student wellbeing, AI literacy, and autoethnography. Lynette is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy – an international honour awarded to educators who demonstrate a thorough understanding of, and a strong commitment to, teaching and learning approaches which foster high-quality student learning.

Teaching Philosophy

Dr Lynette Pretorius’ teaching philosophy is focused on three themes: the social co-construction of knowledge, experiential learning, and reflective practice. She believes students and teachers learn from each other as they explore knowledge together. She also believes that students who discover knowledge through experience can better integrate and apply what they have learnt. Finally, she recognises that reflective practice helps students better understand themselves and others, fostering personal growth and improving professional practice. Her learning environments incorporate significant peer-based and student-led learning, as well as experiential and reflective tasks. In this way, she creates learning opportunities which foster students’ independence, facilitate diversity and inclusion across the curriculum, and inspire students to succeed.

Research Summary

Dr Lynette Pretorius conducts mixed methods and qualitative interdisciplinary research. Her research interests include doctoral education, academic identity, student wellbeing, AI literacy, and autoethnography. At the moment, she is particularly interested in how educators and academic institutions more broadly can improve the educational experiences of graduate research students. She is currently working on several major research projects.