Rhoda Abadia

APrf Rhoda Abadia

Dean Academic, EIT

Office of Engineering and Information Technology

College of Engineering and Information Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.

Associate Professor Rhodora Abadia is the Associate Dean for UniSA Online acting as the primary liaison between STEM and Education Academic Units and UniSA Online. She leads digital transformation of academic programs and improves online course quality.
Rhoda combines educational leadership with IT and AI expertise. Her research focuses on advanced technology-enhanced online learning, including Virtual Reality, adaptive learning, and data analytics. Currently, she explores AI applications in persuasive technologies for education.
Rhoda is involved in projects that help create the new Adelaide University. She leads the Learning Insights Group and contributed to strategic initiatives in modular education, assessment, and Artificial Intelligence integration.
With her previous experience as an academic director and program head, Rhoda brings both strategic vision and operational expertise to her role. She provides academic oversight to UniSA Online teams, fostering innovation in teaching methods and ensuring quality online education.
Her work with AI continues to advance online learning, shaping the future of digital education.
 

National Government Grants

Chief investigator, Data Ethics in Educational Ai: A Comparative Framework for Australia-Korea Collaboration. Australian Korean Foundation Grant .UniSA Co-investigators: Gosia Ludwichoswska-Alluigi (co-lead), Neil Bretana, Reid Honan, Srecko Jocsimovic; Flinders University: Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos; Changwon National University: Par Jaeuhun; Inje University: Lee Eun Hua. (EOI submitted, waiting for results) - 2025

Chief Investigator, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Software Engineering Research Labs. Funded by Advanced Research Institute in Computing, De La Salle University Research Coordinating Office, ASEAN Universities Network and Department of Science and Technology, Philippines (~AU$28,000). Investigators: Prof Raymund Sison, Dr Conrado Ruiz, Christine Gocolay, Carlo Galvey, Eden Ordona (1996-2003)

University Grants (2021-present)

Chief Investigator, EngageAI:Using Persuasive AI to Improve Student Engagement in Digitally Enhanced Learning Environments. Teaching and Learning Development Grant, UniSA (~$25000). Co-investigators: Gosia Ludwichoswska-Alluigi (co-lead),  Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos,  Neil Bretana, Reid Honan. (2024-)

Technology Equipment Grant (Additional servers to increase access to applications for online students) ~$41000 (2024)

Co-investigator, Perceptions and Adoptions of (Generative) Artificial Intelligence in Online Learning: The Case of the Large Language Model ChatGPT. UniSA Online Research Seed Grant ($5000). Co-investigator: Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos (lead) (2023- 2024)

Chief Investigator, Unlocking the Digital Potential of Construction Management Using Virtual Reality.  Research seed funding for Women, Australian Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environment. Investigators: Dr Shokry Abdelaal, Dr Thilini Jayawickrama, and Mr Jonathan Fritsch  (2023- present)

Chief Investigator, Enhancing Online Experiential Learning using Virtual Reality .UniSA Online Research Seed Grant. Investigators: Dr Shokry Abdelaal, Dr Thilini Jayawickrama and Mr Jonathan Fritsch.

 

Conference Awards:

  • Best Paper Award -  International Conference in E-Learning and Digital Learning (2023)
  • Best Paper Presentation - International Conference of Educational Technology and Computers  (2018)
  • Nominiee for Best Technical Paper - Internation Conference in Computers in Education  (2019)

Associate Professor Abadia has more than 25 years of experience in undertaking research projects in the areas of  learning analytics, virtual reality, and  Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology in Education. Her major area of interest is in the use of technologies to improve quality of instruction and provide maximum impact on student learning.

She published in journals (such as Artificial Intelligence in Education; Journal Research in Science, Computing and Engineering; Journal in Computers and Education; Intelligent Tutoring Systems: Lecture notes in Computer Science; Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence; and International Conference on Computers in Education) and have presented in conferences in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. She also worked as a visiting researcher at the School of Computing and Mathematics at Deakin University and worked on the area of intelligent tutoring including the consideration of human factors and visualisation in designing the interface of the system.  She conducted research at the Center of Highly-Interactive  Classrooms, Curricula and Computing in Education at University of Michigan. Her research focused on the design of a highly interactive intelligent tutoring interface for novice students learning logic programming. Aside from researching the use of technologies in education, she was also involved in the use of data mining applied to health.  She was part of the research team who developed algorithms for real time processing of data from patient biodevices.

Currently, she is continuing her research in areas such as technology (e.g., VR, AI) applied in education.  She is currently a recipient of a research award and working on analysing the effectiveness  of immersive technologies in students learning.

 

 

 

Year Citation
2024 Abadia, R., Fritsch, J., Abdelaal, S., & Jayawickrama, T. (2024). Opportunities overcome challenges in adopting immersive virtual reality in online learning. Computers And Education Open, 7(100208), 1-17.
DOI Scopus12 WoS3
2023 Abadia, R., Liu, S., & Sun, Q. (2023). High academic performance and engagement behaviours in online learning environments. IADIS International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems, 18(2), 1-21.
2020 Calvert, J., & Abadia, R. (2020). Impact of immersing university and high school students in educational linear narratives using virtual reality technology. Computers and Education, 159(article no. 104005), 1-13.
DOI Scopus165 WoS123

Year Citation
2025 Abadia, R., Jayawickrama, T., Fritsch, J., & Abdelaal, S. (2025). Immersive Virtual Reality for Online Training in Construction Management. In Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering Vol. 591 LNCE (pp. 992-1000). Springer Nature Singapore.
DOI
2024 Abadia, R. (2024). Immersive storytelling: exploring the potential of virtual reality to develop empathetic awareness among students. In CEUR Workshop Proceedings Vol. 3728 (pp. 103-104). Australia: CEUR-WS.
2024 Abadia, R. (2024). Embedding responsible al in technical education curriculum: a case study in an asynchronous online advanced data analytics course. In T. Olsson (Ed.), CEUR Workshop Proceedings Vol. 3901 (pp. 67-80). Germany: CEUR-WS.
2023 Abadia, R., Liu, S., & Sun, Q. (2023). High-performing online student behaviours. In IADIS International Conference Sustainability, Technology and Education 2023 (pp. 27-34). US: International Association for Development of the Information Society.
2021 Abadia, R., & Liu, S. (2021). Low adoption of adaptive learning systems in higher education and how can it be increased in fully online courses. In M. M. T. Rodrigo, S. Iyer, & A. Mitrovic (Eds.), 29th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2021): conference proceedings Vol. 1 (pp. 569-578). Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
Scopus2 WoS2
2020 Bretana, N. A., Robati, M., Rawat, A., Pandey, A., Khatri, S., Kaushal, K., . . . Cheang, G. (2020). Predicting student success for programming courses in a fully online learning environment. In 28th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2020). Proceedings Vol. 1 (pp. 47-56). Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (APSCE).
Scopus2
2020 Jayawickrama, T., Abdelaal, S., & Abadia, R. (2020). Using online learning environments to address digital literacy competencies of construction management graduates. In H. J. So (Ed.), 28th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2020). Proceedings Vol. 1 (pp. 670-679). Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education (APSCE).
Scopus4
2019 Abadia, R., Calvert, J., & Dasika, R. (2019). Effectiveness of using an immersive and interactive virtual reality learning environment to empower students in strengthening empathy and mastery learning. In M. Chang (Ed.), ICCE 2019 - 27th International Conference on Computers in Education, Proceedings Vol. 1 (pp. 495-504). Taiwan: Asia-Pacific Society for Computers in Education.
Scopus10 WoS7
2019 Calvert, J., Abadla, R., & Tauseef, S. M. (2019). Design and testing of a virtual reality enabled experience that enhances engagement and simulates empathy for historical events and characters. In 26th IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces VR 2019 Proceedings (pp. 868-869). JAPAN, Osaka: IEEE.
DOI Scopus18 WoS8
2018 Abadia, R., Calvert, J., & Tauseef, S. M. (2018). Salient features of an effective immersive non-collaborative virtual reality learning environment. In ACM International conference proceeding series (pp. 268-274). US: ACM Press.
DOI Scopus17 WoS10
2017 Abadia, R. (2017). Digital media user experience research and strategy for parents with poor literacy skills of pre-school children from disadvantaged communities. In J. Johnston (Ed.), EdMedia 2017 (pp. 99-108). US: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
2011 Abadia, R., Stranieri, A., Quinn, A., & Seifollahi, S. (2011). Real-time processing of data from patient biodevices. In K. Butler-Henderson, & T. Sahama (Eds.), HIKM '11: Proceedings of the fourth Australasian workshop on health informatics and knowledge management Vol. 120 (pp. 25-30). Australia: ACM.
2002 Reyes, R. L., & Sison, R. C. (2002). Using case-based reasoning approach in planning instructional activities. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics Vol. 2417 (pp. 502-511). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
DOI Scopus2
2002 Reyes, R. L., & Sison, R. C. (2002). Case retrieval in CBR-Tutor. In Proceedings International Conference on Computers in Education Icce 2002 Vol. 1 (pp. 879-883). IEEE Comput. Soc.
DOI Scopus3
1998 Reyes, R. L., Apostol, R., Kua, T., Mendoza, R., & Tan, C. A. (1998). GURU: A self-extending tutor model for Pascal programming. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics Vol. 1452 (pp. 614). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
DOI
1998 Reyes, R. L. (1998). A domain theory extension of a student modeling system for pascal programming. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics Vol. 1452 (pp. 324-333). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
DOI Scopus1

National Grants

Context-Free Grammar-Driven Course-Tailored GenAI for Adaptive Learning and Student Engagement with Pedagogical Integrity in Higher Education, Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Inc, 01/07/2025 - 30/06/2026

National Government Grants

Chief investigator, Data Ethics in Educational Ai: A Comparative Framework for Australia-Korea Collaboration. Australian Korean Foundation Grant .UniSA Co-investigators: Gosia Ludwichoswska-Alluigi (co-lead), Neil Bretana, Reid Honan, Srecko Jocsimovic; Flinders University: Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos; Changwon National University: Par Jaeuhun; Inje University: Lee Eun Hua. (EOI submitted, waiting for results) - 2025

Chief Investigator, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Software Engineering Research Labs. Funded by Advanced Research Institute in Computing, De La Salle University Research Coordinating Office, ASEAN Universities Network and Department of Science and Technology, Philippines (~AU$28,000). Investigators: Prof Raymund Sison, Dr Conrado Ruiz, Christine Gocolay, Carlo Galvey, Eden Ordona (1996-2003)

University Grants (2021-present)

Chief Investigator, EngageAI:Using Persuasive AI to Improve Student Engagement in Digitally Enhanced Learning Environments. Teaching and Learning Development Grant, UniSA (~$25000). Co-investigators: Gosia Ludwichoswska-Alluigi (co-lead),  Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos,  Neil Bretana, Reid Honan. (2024-)

Technology Equipment Grant (Additional servers to increase access to applications for online students) ~$41000 (2024)

Co-investigator, Perceptions and Adoptions of (Generative) Artificial Intelligence in Online Learning: The Case of the Large Language Model ChatGPT. UniSA Online Research Seed Grant ($5000). Co-investigator: Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos (lead) (2023- 2024)

Chief Investigator, Unlocking the Digital Potential of Construction Management Using Virtual Reality.  Research seed funding for Women, Australian Centre for Interactive and Virtual Environment. Investigators: Dr Shokry Abdelaal, Dr Thilini Jayawickrama, and Mr Jonathan Fritsch  (2023- present)

Chief Investigator, Enhancing Online Experiential Learning using Virtual Reality .UniSA Online Research Seed Grant. Investigators: Dr Shokry Abdelaal, Dr Thilini Jayawickrama and Mr Jonathan Fritsch.

Programs I'm associated with

  •  Bachelor of Data Analytics
  • Bachelor of Information Technology
  • Bachelor of Software Engineering
  • Bachelor of Computer Science

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor A framework to break barriers to gender equality in construction organisations by adapting to human-centric digital transformation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Wlisarage Fernando
2024 Co-Supervisor Mapping Educational Materials and Assessment for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Era: Adapting to AI Writing Tools Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Rafiq A B M Islam

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