Rate My Professor Katie Kumasaka

Dr Katie Kumasaka is a Lecturer in the School of Education at Curtin University, where she specializes in Humanities and Social Sciences Education. She delivers programs both face-to-face and online and serves as Course Coordinator for the Graduate Certificate in Education, Undergraduate Certificate in Teaching Education Studies, and Undergraduate Certificate in Secondary Teaching. A dedicated educator and passionate advocate for Humanities and Social Sciences, Kumasaka has taught across a wide range of curricula, from national mandated curricula to international frameworks. Her teaching experience spans primary and higher education contexts, including professional development events and school visits such as presenting on the Binar Space WA Program at Mel Maria Primary School.

In 2024, Kumasaka completed her PhD at Curtin University with a thesis titled 'Phenomenological understandings of higher education students with flow in the online learning environment.' This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored students' flow experiences in online learning through creative and reflective methodologies, emphasizing storytelling and vocative texts to reveal hidden meanings in human experiences. A publication arising from this research is 'Online higher education student engagement: finding flow,' published in 2025 in the journal Distance Education. Her research interests encompass sociological issues, student engagement, phenomenology, and the use of innovative qualitative methods to investigate human behaviour and emotions. Current projects focus on flow experiences among Humanities and Social Sciences students in higher education to enhance engagement with content on social justice and ecological literacy. Kumasaka received the Walter D Neal Award for Excellence in Educational Research. She has presented her work at the WAIER Forum 2023, HERDSA webinars on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning methodologies including phenomenology, the Curtin Early to Mid-Career Research Symposium 2024, and Thesis Fest speakers' events.