Congratulations! Dr Jess Lees graduates from CRADLE

1 December 2025

Dr Jess Lees completes her PhD journey with CRADLE

Jess’s thesis title is Exploring How Digital Technology Features in the Teaching of Physical Examination Practice for Health Professional Students. Jess studied her PhD in partnership with the University of Copenhagen. She was supervised by CRADLE’s Professor Margaret Bearman, Deakin’s Professor Linda Sweet, and Professor Torsten Risor of the University of Copenhagen.

Jess graduated in September 2025 and is now working as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne.

We asked Jess to describe the focus of her thesis and provide some reflections and highlights of her study experience.

What was the aim of your research?

This research investigated how clinical educators navigate the integration of digital technologies while teaching the embodied, touch-based practices of physical examination. As health care continues to embrace digital transformation, educators are increasingly expected to incorporate new technologies into their teaching without compromising the sensory, relational, and embodied dimensions of clinical skills. The research comprises three interconnected studies:

1. an integrative review examining the role of digital technologies in clinical teaching;
2. qualitative interviews exploring how educators manage the interplay between digital and hands-on approaches; and
3. a theoretically informed analysis using the lens of body pedagogics to interpret how bodily knowledge is transmitted in contemporary teaching.

Findings revealed that digital tools, such as ultrasound, simulation, and online resources, are now embedded in clinical educators’ everyday practice. Yet, educators often hold conflicting beliefs about whether these tools enhance or erode students’ learning of touch.

This research challenges binary perspectives and demonstrates that digital and embodied pedagogies can coexist and complement one another. It proposes practical strategies for integrating technologies in ways that preserve and even enhance embodied learning. The work contributes to growing scholarship on embodied education, offering insights for curriculum designers and clinical educators navigating the evolving terrain of health professions education.

What were your publications?

• An integrative review to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between physical examination, learning and technology in the context of health professional student clerkships. Perspectives on Medical Education. Read article

• Comprehensive data collection with interviews of clinical educators to investigate the current perspectives and practices used in teaching physical examination. Advances in Health Sciences Education. Read article

• A qualitative interpretive analysis of in-depth interviews with clinical educators. BMC Medical Education. Read article

Any highlights from your PhD journey?

My PhD journey was a profoundly transformative experience, both personally and professionally. The opportunity to learn from Margaret, Linda, and Torsten helped me discover my passion for health professions education (HPE) and find my place within it. A major highlight was engaging with body pedagogics as a theoretical lens to explore how clinical educators teach embodied practices, particularly touch, within an increasingly digital healthcare landscape. This framing gave me language for my felt sense of bodily learning and allowed me to examine nuanced, often overlooked aspects of physical examination pedagogy.

Conducting qualitative interviews with experienced clinical educators was an incredibly rich process. Their stories expanded my appreciation for the complexities of embodied teaching. Another major milestone was having the opportunity to publish in Q1 HPE journals to share the scholarly contribution of my work. Presenting at the ANZAHPE conferences in 2024 and 2025 was also a privilege, offering space to share findings, refine ideas through feedback, and connect with a welcoming academic community.

Ultimately, the PhD has shaped my identity as a qualitative HPE researcher and deepened my commitment to inclusive, embodied, and future-focused education.

Where to from here?

Since graduating, I’ve continued to build my academic career in health professions education through both research and teaching. I’ve contributed to several Faculty-wide initiatives focused on feedback literacy, inclusive assessment, and trauma-informed curriculum design for peer physical examination. Currently, I work as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne. In this role, I lead curriculum development and inclusive teaching initiatives while supporting student learning across physiotherapy programs. I also hold a postdoctoral research fellowship within the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, where I collaborate on feedback projects across the Faculty.

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References

• Lees, J., Bearman, M., Risǿr, T., & Sweet, L. (2023). Technology Complements Physical Examination and Facilitates Skills Development among Health Sciences Clerkship Students: An Integrative Literature Review. Perspectives on Medical Education, 2(1), 109–119. https://doi.org/10.5334/pme.903

• Lees, J., Risǿr, T., Sweet, L., & Bearman, M. (2025). Digital technology in physical examination teaching: clinical educators’ perspectives and current practices. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 30(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-024-10401-8

• Lees, J., Risǿr, T., Sweet, L., & Bearman, M. (2025). Integrating digital technologies into teaching embodied knowledge in the context of physical examination. Medical Education, 59(7), 719-728. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.15599