It has been a truly international education for Dr Sitti Maesuri Patahuddin who, along with her family, is settling into her first ‘real’ Australian winter.

 

Originally from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, Dr Patahuddin has moved to Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia from the State University Surabaya in east Java for a three-year research fellowship.

 

The Indonesian academic, who specialises in the Internet in teacher professional development, is now living in Wagga Wagga with her husband and two daughters.

 

Dr Patahuddin is a Research Fellow at the University’s Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE).

 

“I was drawn to RIPPLE at Charles Sturt University as a strategic place to develop myself and to contribute my experience and knowledge in education and society in general,” she said.

 

“The Institute is one of the few research centres that has two main roles: construct and develop theories relevant to professional practice and apply those theories in the field.

 

“RIPPLE, under the leadership of maths education specialist Professor Tom Lowrie, is very global in its approach to research, particularly in education and this means that I will have a great opportunity to learn and build a broader network.

 

“I really appreciate my husband’s ongoing support in my academic career and he also encouraged me to come here. I am glad that my family has been enjoying living in Wagga Wagga.”

 

During her time at RIPPLE, Dr Patahuddin will continue to research the educational potential of the Internet, particularly in the professional development of teachers.  

 

“This means that I am continuously learning how to use the Internet more effectively myself and to promote the potential of the Internet to a broader community in this increasingly digitalised world,” she said.

 

While her daughters are enrolled in local schools, Dr Patahuddin’s time at CSU will also be spent as a lecturer in mathematics: content and pedagogy with the School of Education.

 

Dr Patahuddin’s academic career to date has spanned three countries.

 

While a lecturer at the State University Surabaya in Java, Dr Patahuddin secured an AusAID scholarship in 2003 to develop her English for academia in Bali and from 2004 to 2008, for her PhD study.

 

She then completed the PhD at the University of Queensland into the uses of the Internet in teacher professional development and mathematics teaching and learning.

 

In 2008, Dr Patahuddin returned to teaching and research in Indonesia. She took on a role as a teacher trainer locally as well as nationally and in the south-east Asia region. Dr Patahuddin also worked as a mathematics education consultant.

 

In the middle of 2011, Dr Patahuddin travelled to South Africa for postdoctoral research at University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg and worked closely with an International leading researcher in mathematics education Professor Jill Adler.

“The city of Surabaya, where I last worked, is a large, crowded city,” she said.

 

Reflecting on her new workplace overlooking the Australian bushland, Dr Patahuddin said, “The environment here is very conducive to focusing on my research. Even though we are living in a regional area, the facilities we would expect in a larger city are also available here.”