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Michael is an occupational therapist.  He graduated from the University of Queensland in 1983.  After graduating he lived and worked in Toowoomba, Hobart, and Ballarat, primarily with children and yound people for a few years.  He moved to Botswana in 1997 to develop occupational therapy services at the two main referral hospitals.  In 1991 he took up an occupational therapy research post at the National Injuries Centre, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, England.  This lead onto a position as an occupational therapy lecturer at the University of Southampton, England from 1995 to 2003.  In 2004 Michael returnd to Australia to take up a lecturing position at Charles Sturt University.  In 2005 he became course coordinator of the occupational therapy course, a position he still currently holds. He became an Associate Professor in 2011.

Positions and Roles

• Associate Professor and Discipline Leader for the Occupational Therapy program

Teaching

Michael has been teaching at universities since 1995.  Prior to this he ran regular workshops on spinal injuries, wheelchairs, and assistive technologies for practitioners and university students.  When teaching at universities Michael tried his hand at numerous subjects such as core occupational therapy assessment and practice skills, assistive technologies, compensation strategies, research, paediatric practice, cardio-vascular practice, neurology, anatomy, professional reasoning, and more recently workplace learning. 

Michael sees his role as being an educator, a facilitator of learning, developing collaborative partnerships between students and myself.  His goal is to engage students in learning and enable them to be responsible for their own learning by equipping them with the skills required to become interdependent acquirers and users of knowledge and information.

Underpinning any educational approach Michael uses is the principle that students need to be actively engaged if they are to learn.  Students need to develop their skills of critical reflection to facilitate their responsibility for their own learning.  In essence, Michael favours a student-centred approach to education, particularly as the expansion in student numbers at university means, classes are not only large but diversified in terms of student ability, motivation and cultural background.  This means that university lecturers have to be more creative in their approach to education to engage students at a high cognitive level, encouraging deep, rather than superficial learning.  In his experience, students engage in learning when:

• They are involved in the process
• They can see the relevance of the topics being studied;
• The sessions are enjoyable, motivating, active and interactive;
• They can work collaboratively with other students and with the educator;
• There are clear signposts as to what is expected. 

In addition, each student’s learning can be enhanced through formative feedback during the subject and by assessments that are fair, contain no surprises, and reflect the learning outcomes

Subjects Delivered

• Third and fourth year workplace learning subjects

Innovations in Teaching

Michael’s recent innovation in teaching is the sustainable establishment of interprofessional fourth year placements in Bangladesh, Nepal and Vietnam, working with a host organisation in those countries in collaboration with an Australian organisation that has expertise in the area of practice.  This way of running these placements has been in place since 2009.

In 2007 Michael was part of a team that was awarded a Carrick Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning; the team was Lindy McAllister, Gail Whiteford, Bridget O’Connor, and Michael Curtin.  The citation was for the development of an innovative fieldwork program enhancing learning opportunities for allied health trans-disciplinary and inter-cultural practice.  The project involved working with fourth year occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech pathology at Thi Nghe, an orphanage for children with physical and cognitive impairments in Vietnam.

Research and Publications

Michael’s research interest primarily focus on investigating the live experiences of people with disability, their significant others, and the professionals who work with them.  He tends to use qualitative research approaches which are underpinned by biographical and phenomenological philosophies.  However, he is also interested in mix methods, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, choosing the approach or approaches which will best address the questions being asked.

Michael’s research projects are eclectic in their nature.  His masters level research looked at identifying the elements of effective grip for adults with a tetraplegic spinal cord injury.  In his doctoral level research he worked with nine children with cerebral palsy to write and analyse their life stories.  His more recent research interests have ranged from evaluating an older persons’ circus skills program, to investigating the participant of adults with brain injury living in regional, rural and remote areas, to working collaboratively with occupational therapy practitioners across Australia to develop a community of practice scholars, to understanding the nature and process of the disclosure of child sexual abuse in a regional area of Australia.  He is passionate about conducting research in which there is collaboration and involvement between the researcher and the participants, to ensure that the participants voices are heard and are guiding the research process.

List of Publications

• Parsci L, Curtin M (in press) Experiencs of occupational therapists returning to work after maternity leave. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal
• Williams CM, Tinley P, Curtin M, Nielsen S. (in press) Foot and ankle characteristics of children with an idiopathic toe walking gait. Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association
• Williams CM, Tinley P, Curtin M, Wakefield, S, Nielsen S (2013) Is idiopathic toe walking really idiopathic? The motor skills and sensory processing abilities associated with idiopathic toe walking gait. Journal of Child Neurology
• Williams CM, Tinley P, Curtin M, Nielsen S (2012) Vibration perception thresholds in children with idiopathic toe walking gait. Journal of Child Neurology, 27(8), 1017-1021.
• Williams CM, Tinley P, Curtin M, Nielsen S (2012) Hand preference in children with an idiopathic toe walking gait. Acta Paediatrica, 101(3), e140–e141.
• Wilding, C., Curtin, M., Whiteford, G. (2012) Enhancing occupational therapists’s ocnfidence and professional development through a community of practice scholars. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 59(4), 312-318.
• Alston M, Jones J, Curtin M (2012) “It’s not visible damage”: Women and traumatic brain injury.  Australian Social Work, 65(1), 39-53.
• Jones J, Curtin M (2011) Reformulating masculinity: Traumatic brain injury and the gendered nature of care and domestic roles, Disability and Rehabilitation, 33(17-18), 1568-1578.
• Shanahan, L, McAllister, L and Curtin, M (2011) The party planning task: A useful tool in the functional assessment of planning skills in adolescents with TBI. Brain Injury, 25(11), 1080-1090.
• Curtin M, Jones J, Tyson G, Mitsch V, Alston M, McAllister L (2011) Outcome of Participation Objective Participation Subjective Measure Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Brain Injury, 25, 3, 266-273.
• Williams CM, Tinley P, Curtin M (2010) The Toe Walking Tool: A novel method for assessing idiopathic toe walking children. Gait Posture, 32: 4, 508-511.
• Williams CM, Tinley P. Curtin M (2010) Idiopathic toe walking and sensory processing dysfunction.  Journal of Foot and Ankle Research,  3(16), 1-6.
• Farnworth L, Rodger S, Curtin M, Brown G.T. and Gilbert Hunt, S (2010) Occupational therapy entry-level education in Australia: Which path(s) to take? Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 57. 4. 233-238.
• Jones J, Curtin M (2010) Traumatic brain injury, participation, and rural identity. Qualitative Health Research, 20, 7, 942-951.
• Shanahan, L, McAllister, L and Curtin, M (2009) Wilderness adventure therapy and cognitive rehabilitation: Joining forces for youth with TBI, Brain Injury, 23: 13, 1054 – 1064.
• Barbara A, Curtin M (2008) Gatekeepers or advocates? Occupational therapists and equipment funding schemes. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 55, 1, 57-60.
• Curtin M, Fossey E (2007) Appraising the trustworthiness of qualitative studies: guidelines for occupational therapists. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 54, 88-94.
• Salmon L, Curtin M, Ginnivan D, Neumayer R (2007) Building sustainable rural research capacity: The experiences of a brain injury rehabilitation service. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 15, 155-158.
• Curtin M, Murtagh J (2007) Participation of children and young people in research: competence, power and representation. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70(2), 67-72.
• Loverani M, McCluskey A and Curtin M (2006) Editorial: Critically appraised papers limited high-quality research on effectiveness of assistive technology. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 53(1). 50.
• Curtin M, Clarke G (2005) Living with impairment: learning from disabled young people’s biographies.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68(9), 401-408.
• Curtin M, Clarke G (2005) Listening to young people with physical disabilities’ experiences of education. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 52(3), 195-214.
• Pitt V, Curtin M (2004) Integration versus segregation: the experiences of a group of disabled students moving from mainstream school into special needs further education.  Disability and Society, 19(4), 387-401.
• Curtin M, Jaramazovic E (2001)  Occupational therapists’ views and perceptions of
  evidence-based practice.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 64(5), 214-222.
• Bishopp K, Curtin M (2001)  The TVPS, MVPT and VMI: what influences a therapist’s choice.  National Association of Paediatric Occupational Therapists Journal, 5(1), 8-11.
• Curtin M  (1999)  Ensuring credibility and accessibility through referencing.  British
  Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62(11), 485.
• Curtin M.  (1999) Commentaries on research papers.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62(10), 483.
• Curtin M.  (1999)  An analysis of tetraplegic hand grips.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 62(10), 444-450.
• Curtin M.  (1998)  Environmental control systems and the NHS supplies contract.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61(11), 517-518.
• Curtin M, Alderton J  (1998)  A foglalkoztato terapia (ergoterapia) a serult emberek
  Fuggetlensegeert (Occupational Therapy: Working Towards Independence for Clients who have an Impairment).  Nover, Junius 11. EVF 3 SZAM.
• Curtin M  (1998)  Publishing your paper: the inside story.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 61(1), 1.
• Curtin M, Powell H.  (1997)  Responding to individuals in the computer resource room.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 60(10), 461-462.
• Chapman J, Curtin M  (1997)  Student assessment in the school of occupational therapy and physiotherapy.  Southampton Health Journal, 13(2), 8-12.
• Curtin M, Clarke H.  (1997)  Choosing a powered wheelchair: the choice of a client dependent on a ventilator.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 60(4), 156-160.
• Curtin M.  (1997)  Feel like writing a short report for the journal.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 60(2), 49.
• Ballinger C, Curtin M, Eakin P, Hollis V, Nicol M, Telford R.  (1996) Writing
  an abstract. British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 59 (1), 33-35.
• Curtin M.  (1995)  Collaborative research: the next step.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 58(11), 457.
• Curtin M.  (1994)  Technology for people with tetraplegia: additional information.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 57(11), 449.
• Curtin M.  (1994) Technology for people with tetraplegia, part 2: environmental control units.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 57(11), 419-424.
• Curtin M.  (1994)  Technology for tetraplegia.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy,  57(10), 400.
• Curtin M.  (1994) Technology for people with tetraplegia, part 1: accessing computers.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 57(10), 376-380.
• Curtin M.  (1994) Tetraplegic hand assessment and splinting protocol.  Paraplegia, 32, 159-169.
• Curtin M.  (1993)  The management of the C6 quadriplegic patient’s hand.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56(12), 455.
• Curtin M. (1993) Powered wheelchairs and tetraplegic patients: improving the service.  British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 56(6), 204-206.

Community Engagement

Michael has been an active member of Occupational Therapy Australia and the British Association of Occupational Therapists throughout his career.  He has held various positions in the Associations including: chair of local occupational therapy group, member of the BAOT Research Committee, member of editorial board for British Journal of Occupational Therapy, reviewer for the British Journal of Occupational Therapy and the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, and British alternate delegate for World Federation of Occupational Therapists.  During 2011 to 2013 Michael chaired the Occupational Therapy Australia Research Working Party which has lead to the establishment of a Research Foundation and the appointment of the insugural Research Foundation Committee.

Memberships and Affiliations

• Member of Occupational Therapy Australia
• Registered occupational therapy practitioner, Australian Health Professions Regulation Agency