Griffith University

Dip Teaching, GDip Health Science, M Health Science, PhD
Lecturer, School of Education and Professional Studies
Contact details for Dr Wayne Usher
Professional page for Dr Wayne Usher

Research expertise

Dr Usher’s research interests include school and community health and physical education. His past and current research examines 21st century pedagogical approaches that engage the teacher/interventionists and the student/audience in the co-construction of meaning, value, and knowledge associated with school/community health education. He gives specific attention to modern communication technologies and how they are creating a paradigm shift surrounding traditional barriers of power and information dissemination. Other areas of research include medical education, general practitioners, the internet, WWW and Social Media applications. Current research includes online health information and the impacts of health websites on the general practitioner and e-health consumer relationship.

 Research grants

• Usher, W.  ASI for Chronic Disease Prevention Innovation Grant 2011- 2013. “Chronic disease self-management - Enabling healthy outcomes for Australians by exploiting Mobile Web Site Optimisation”. Griffith Health Institute (3rd CI x 8) - $100 000.
  
• Usher, W. Dean's Faculty Research Grant (2011). “Australia’s Health Consumers’ usage patterns associated with e-health communications: Internet, World Wide Web (Web1.0) and Social Media (Web 2.0) platforms. Faculty of Education - $4 000.
  
• Usher, W - An Empirical Study Investigating School Aged Adolescents and their Health Information Retrieval Using Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 (2011). Faculty of Health - $4 000.
• Griffith Teaching and Learning Grant (2010). “The Griffith Education Online Uni Navigator”. Dr Sorrel Penn-Edwards, School of Education and Professional Studies, Professor Michael Balfour, Dr Allan Edwards, Helane Fittell, Deborah Rossow, Dr Wayne Usher. Faculty of Education - $25 000.

Current teaching

• Primary / middle years curriculum - studies of society and the environment
• Senior geography curriculum
• Senior history curriculum
• Primary / middle years curriculum - health and physical education
• Senior years curriculum - health and physical education
• Primary / middle years curriculum – health and physical education / SOSE
• Primary years curriculum – advanced physical education
• Primary years curriculum – coaching pedagogy

Appointments

• Editorial Board: Health Education Journal
• Editorial Board:  Australian Journal of Public Health - CSIRO
  

Publications

Book proposal

• Usher, W (under review, 2010). “Social Media and Health Care Delivery in the 21st Century”.

Book chapters

• Skinner, J. Edwards, A, Usher, W. (accepted, 2010). Researching Sport Management. Sport Management Text. Managing the Business of Sport. Routledge.
• Skinner, J. & Usher, W. (accepted, 2010). Professional Sport Leagues, Tours and Organisations. In WM, Li, E Macintosh, G, Bravo (Eds), International Sport Management, Human Kinetics.

Refereed journal articles

• Usher, W. (in press, 2012) Transforming School Health Education in Australia: Enhancing the Student Experience through Social Media. ACHPER - The Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation
•  Liisa, L, Armstrong, K, Usher, W. (under review, 2012) Cyber-management of people with chronic disease: Web 2.0 applications, online support and their health promoting capabilities.
  
• Usher, W. (under review, 2012) Australian University Students and Social Media: Transforming Pedagogical Information Retrieval, Knowledge Management and Social Capital In The 21st Century.
  
• Usher, W. (accepted, 2012) E-Health Knowledge Management by Australian University Students. International Journal of Reliability and Quality E-Healthcare.
• Usher, W. (2011) The School is not a Bubble; It Is Part of Society':Social Media (Web 2.0) and Early 21st Century School Health Education In Australia. Education and Health, vol.29, no.4, pp 14-20. Schools Health Education Unit, United Kingdom.
  
• Usher, W. (2011). Australian Allied Health Professionals’ Social Media (Web 2.0) Adoption Trends.   Australian Journal of Primary Health. 18(1) 31-41.
• Usher, W. (2011). EMPIRE and the Internet Prescription: technologies of control. Social Theory & Health. 34(4), 40 – 60.
• Usher, W. (2011). Australian Health Professionals’ Health Website Recommendation Trends. Health Promotion Journal of Australia. 22 (2), 134-41.
• Usher, W. (2011). Developing Policies For E-Health: Use Of Online Health Information By Australian Allied Health Professionals.; Health Information Management Journal. 40 (2), 1 – 22. 
• Usher, W. (2011). Types Of Social Media (Web 2.0) Usage By Australian Allied Health Professionals’ For Early 21st Century Practice Promotion and E-health Care Delivery. Social Work in Health Care. 50 (4), 305-329. 

Refereed conference papers

• Usher, W. (2012) The school is not a bubble; it is part of society: social media (Web 2.0) and 21st century school health education.10th Hawaii International Conference On Education (January 5 – 8, 2012) .ISSN # 1541-5880.
• Usher, W. (2012) Early 21st Century Practice Promotion and Health Care Delivery by Australian Allied Health Professionals: An Empirical Study into Social Media Applications. 10th Hawaii International Conference On Education (January 5 – 8, 2012). ISSN # 1541-5880.