Dr Renee Morrison is a core member of the Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre (ITRC) at the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC). She is a Lecturer in Curriculum & Pedagogy in the School of Education & Tertiary Access, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Research Focus

Dr Morrison’s research investigates digital literacies and the intersection between online technologies, information practices, and education. She uses both empirical and critical methods (particularly critical discourse analysis) to explore the relationship between digital practices & discursive practices. Dr Morrison’s work considers how online technologies are being used in education and how they may be better used. A focus on understanding the role of technology in society, particularly the role search engines and GenAI play in constructing versions of ‘truth’ and knowledge is also present in her work.  Dr Morrison is interested in problematising asymmetries in power and knowledge and in ensuring discourse is a resource, not an obstacle for learning.

Her work extends to alternate forms of education (such as home-education), online learning, and issues of equity and access particularly how technology can reinforce or challenge existing inequalities in knowledge access and educational opportunity.

Key Research Impact

Dr Morrison has contributed to a deeper understanding of how digital practices influence learning and equity in education. Her work highlights the need for ongoing and explicit instruction in critical information literacy. Dr Morrison’s findings have informed debates about digital pedagogy, home-education policy, and the role of internet literacy in equitable education.

Her work also challenges traditional assumptions about “digital natives,” and argues for more reflective, critically aware teaching practices in digital and blended learning environments.

Recent Grants and Projects

Dr Morrison is involved in several current projects that reflect contemporary challenges and opportunities in education and digital pedagogy:

• The affordances and constraints of the Turn to Teaching (TTT) program: Strategies to strengthen the effectiveness of mid-career change teacher preparation funded under the Education Horizon Grant scheme (2024–2025).
• First Nation academics’ perspectives on misappropriating generative AI outputs an ITRC seed grant project (2024–2025), exploring how generative AI intersects with Indigenous knowledge, authorship and academic equity.
• Choosing animations for science teaching: teacher search and selection strategies a SETA seed-grant project (2023–2025), investigating how teachers choose and use digital media in science education.

Selected Recent Publications

These publications reflect Dr Morrison’s growing influence in information studies and digital literacy research, especially in how online information seeking and discourse intersect with learning and social equity.

McMaster, N., Morrison, R., Jordan, R., & O'Chin, H. Generative AI and Australian First Nations Representation: Ethical Concerns and Cultural Implications. Australasian Journal of Technology Education.

Morrison, R., Call, K., Siostrom, E., Heck, D., & Dwyer, R. (2025). Questions of ‘teacher quality’: problematising myths about education in political discourse. The Australian Educational Researcher, 1-22.

Translation to Practice and Policy

Dr Morrison’s research offers evidence-based guidance for educators, schools, and policy makers by:

• Informing digital-literacy curricula and pedagogy that recognise the power dynamics of online information, as well as of our own discursive practices surrounding technology use.
• Contributing to teacher-education programs and working to build competencies in digital pedagogy, critical information literacy, and blended/online learning.
• Problematising the predominantly colonial narratives reproduced by current GenAI and supporting calls for a multiplicity of intellectual perspectives and for more equity-oriented educational and information practices.  
• Highlighting ethical and cultural challenges associated with online information and knowledge production, especially with respect to Indigenous knowledge holders.

Recognition and Significance

Dr Morrison’s long-standing career spanning over 20 years of secondary education in Australia, Canada and the UK combined with her scholarly work, teaching excellence, and research leadership, positions her as a significant voice in digital literacy, equity in education, and information practices.

Her work advances the ITRC’s mission of socially relevant, culturally aware, and equity-focused research. By interrogating how technology shapes access to knowledge and learning, as well as how ‘knowledge’ and ‘learning’ are understood, she helps chart more inclusive, critically engaged, and future-facing educational practices within UniSC and beyond.