Gregory M. Donoghue Ph.D
Learning Scientist, Specialist Educator, Wellbeing Researcher
About Me
Gregory is an academic researcher, lecturer, specialist education counsellor, with a PhD in educational neuroscience. He has spent the last 12 years working at the University of Melbourne lecturing and conducting research in this field.
He has worked with children most of his professional career - over 13 years with Victoria Police as a child abuse detective, and child protection investigator, and since 2008 has worked with schools and educators in developing effective learning and wellbeing programs to Australian students of all ages.
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Currently, Gregory is the principal of G.M. Donoghue & Associates (thinkEd), and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education.
My Approach to Learning
Traditional, formal schooling does not suit every leaner. Students with learning or behavioural difficulties (diagnosed or not) can benefit from a tailored, individualised and evidence-based learning approach. I have extensively researched learning strategies, and published widely with Prof John Hattie of Melbourne University. By engaging learners and identifying their strenghts, interests, motivations and goals, I teach them how to not just learn new content, but also to how to learn, and why.
This approach has been proved by worldwide research to improve learning for people of all ages and abilities, including adults returning to study.
Individual Learning
I work with students all ages and all abilities, and find that one-one (often with a parent in the background) works best. In our individual sessions,we identify the student' abilities, challenges, motivations and interests, and link these to proven learning techniques and strategies. The overall focus is to develop the student's self-efficacy, i.e. the ability to take personal charge over their own learning. So not only do the learn the 'subject', they also learn 'how to learn'.
Returning to Study
Many adults, when returning to study, have found that they've never really developed solid learning and study strategies. Individualised sessions can quickly help those in this situation, by focusing on proven learning strategies, motivational methods, and strengths-based approaches.
In particular, many clients have reported excellent results in learning writing techniques, and conceptual understanding of mathematics, when adopting our approach.
Educational Counseling & Advocacy
The National Disability Insurance Scheme is now available to assist learners with diagnosed disorders such as ADHD, ODD and ASD. Educational counseling enables such learners to gain self-knowledge and understanding of their own learning, and develop their own personal resources to achieve their learning and educational goals. In other words, this counseling helps learners to become independent, effective learners, despite their diagnosis.
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