Robin Nagy
PhD Candidate
Arts, Design & Architecture
School of Education
Email: r.nagy@unsw.edu.au
Supervisors: Andrew Martin, Rebecca Collie
Robin Nagy is a PhD candidate and Research Assistant in Educational Psychology at UNSW, supported by an RTP and DET Waratah scholarship. His PhD investigation into high-school students' academic effort was awarded 'most innovative HDR research in NSW' by the NSW Institute for Educational Research and he has presented his research at several national and international conferences including recently at APA2023, JURE23, EARLI23, and CEMA23. Robin has over 25 years' experience as a teacher and in school leadership, having taught in the UK, Thailand and Australia, and as a Professional Learning Consultant for the Mathematical Association of NSW. Robin has two degrees in Electronic Engineering and extensive experience in data analytics and coding. He runs two education consultancy businesses: ‘Academic Profiles’ and ‘Effort Tracking’, advising schools on best practice in implementing data-driven student growth strategies and assisting in the collection and analysis of data on student effort and achievement.
Awards and Scholarships
- May 2021 - NSW Institute for Educational Research Award: “Most Innovative HDR Research in NSW” , for 3-minute thesis pitch. This was a state-wide inter-university competition, where universities were invited to enter their best HDR research. This research was judged by a panel to outperform nominees from five NSW universities. The panel comprised experts in educational policy, practice, and academia.
- 2021 Awarded a Waratah PhD Scholarship from NSW Department of Education.
- 2020 Awarded an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship for PhD Research.
- July 2017 - Outstanding Session Award - Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Excellence in Professional Practice Conference 2017 (Gold Coast) - Tracking and Visualising Student Effort: A Practical Analytics Tool for Student Engagement – Case Studies of Practice.
- May 2000 Outstanding Secondary School Teacher - Special Commendation- UK National Teaching Awards: Robin was one of four regional finalists (Southeast of England) in the UK National Teacher of the Year Awards. Specially commended at a ceremony in the Café Royal, London in the Outstanding Secondary School Teacher category.
- Research area
- Research outputs
PhD Thesis Title: The Role of Effort in High School Students’ Academic Development: A Longitudinal Perspective in Mathematics and English
Research Areas:
- Effort
- Engagement
- Motivation
- Achievement
- Quantitative Methods
Journal Articles
- Martin, A. J., Ginns, P., Nagy, R. P., Collie, R. J., & Bostwick, K. C. P. (2023). Load reduction instruction in mathematics and English classrooms: A multilevel study of student and teacher reports. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 72.
- Nagy, R. P., Martin, A. J., & Collie, R. J. (2022). Disentangling motivation and engagement: Exploring the role of effort in promoting greater conceptual and methodological clarity. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. also published in Frontiers Research Topics Series.
- Martin, A. J., Collie, R. J., Nagy, R. P. (2021) Adaptability and high school students’ online learning during COVID-19: A job demands-resources perspective, Frontiers in Psychology, V12:3181.
- Nagy, R.P. (2019) Teaching by Numbers: What’s Wrong with Mathematics Education?.– The Mathematical Association of New South Wales Journal ‘Reflections’, Vol 44 (1).
- Nagy, R.P. (2017) Tracking and Visualising Student Effort: A Practical Analytics Tool for Student Engagement, ACER Excellence in Professional Practice Conference 2017 – Case Studies of Practice. Australian Council for Educational Research pp.53 – 62.
- Nagy, R.P. (2016) Tracking and Visualizing Student Effort: Evolution of a Practical Analytics Tool for Staff and Student Engagement. Journal of Learning Analytics (Special Section – Learning Analytics for 21st Century Competencies), Vol 3(2). Pp. 165–193.
Media
- Nagy, R.P. (2024). League tables are damaging education in NSW. In ‘Education Review’, February 13.
- Nagy, R.P., Martin, A.J., & Collie, R.J. (2023). It’s time to measure students’ effort at school. In ‘Education Review’, January 31.
- Martin, A.J., Ginns, P., Nagy, R.P., Collie, R.J., & Bostwick, KC.P. (2023). It would be so much better if we taught two ways—balancing explicit and independent approaches. Here’s why. In ‘EduResearch Matters’, January.
- Martin, A.J., Collie, R.J., & Nagy, R.P. (2021). Students who are more adaptable do best in remote learning – and it’s a skill we can teach. In ‘The Conversation’, August.
- August 2021: Martin, A.J., Collie, R.J., & Nagy, R.P. (2021) UNSW Mediarelease.
Conference Presentations
- Nagy, R.P. (2023, August 26) Effort Tracking: Using teacher and student ratings of students’ effort in goal-setting conversations [ICT Demonstration] EARLI23: The 20th Biennial European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Conference 2023, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece.
- Nagy, R. P., Martin, A. J. & Collie, R. J., (2023, August 22). The role of effort in students’ mathematics development: Investigating its predictors and outcomes [Individual Paper presentation]. EARLI23: The 20th Biennial European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Conference 2023, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece.
- Nagy, R. P., Collie, R. J., & Martin, A. J. (2023, August 20). An investigation into students’ effort in English classrooms: a multilevel latent profile analysis [Individual Paper presentation]. JURE23: The 27th Annual Junior Researchers of EARLI (JURE) Conference for Research on Learning and Instruction 2023, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece.
- Nagy, R. P., Martin, A. J. & Collie, R. J., (2023, August 03). The role of students’ multidimensional effort: A multilevel study of antecedents and consequences [Poster presentation]. APA23: American Psychological Association (APA) 131st Annual Convention 2023, Washington D.C., USA.
- Nagy, R. P., (2023, July 4). The role of high-school students’ effort in their academic development.