Nic Lucas is a founding Director of HealthProfessionalCPD. He has qualifications in pain medicine, clinical epidemiology, and osteopathy, and is a PhD Research Fellow at the Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney.
He is a founding editor of the International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, published by Elsevier, and which is the largest international journal for osteopaths. It is the official journal of the General Osteopathic Council (UK), Australian Osteopathic Association, the Ontario Association of Osteopaths, and is recognised by the British Osteopathic Association.
He has been involved in tertiary and private education for over 15 years and has taught at Universities and colleges in Australia and New Zealand. His main area of teaching and research is musculoskeletal medicine, pain neurobiology, and diagnosis.
Nic adopted online learning and education early in his career as an academic, starting with simply placing notes online in advance of lectures, to enable students to be able to focus on the insights he brought to his lectures, rather than the information. This evolved to include online discussion and tutorial groups and the development of entire online learning modules for Unitec, New Zealand.
I have some strong personal characteristics that explain why I am in the continuing education space
Nic explains further …
“First and foremost, I am dedicated to my own learning. If I’m honest, it’s the reason I get up in the morning. I’m insatiable. Learning is everything to me – because everything we do is a result of our brains experiencing the external world and our internal world, and then making sense of it. For me, learning can sometimes be as enjoyable as the outcome obtained by applying what I’ve learned. I find it euphoric to move from ignorance to competence.
I bring my own learning to life by teaching and sharing what I’ve learned. I thrive on helping other people see and understand what they had not seen or understood before. I am an imagination hunter. Not only do I want to capture peoples’ attention, but also their imaginations.
Because I love to teach and inspire others to engage with information in the same way I do, I really value effective communication. The way that information is presented to me has always had a significant effect on how I understand it, and how I am inspired by it. This is why I am driven to find effective methods to communicate what I’ve learned – to teach and inspire others.
And so this is also why I am involved in online education, which is really just another channel for effective communication. There are critics of online education, and no doubt some of their concerns may have validity.
What I can say, however, after obtaining numerous degrees and participating in many, many ‘live’ workshops, is that many of the best learning experiences I have had, have been online.
Having found satisfaction and enjoyment in learning and teaching, unless I have working toward something, I am left with a sense of discontentment. And this is what drives me to continue applying what I’ve learned in a practical way to effect an outcome or goal. The continual improvement of HealthProfessionalCPD is an example of this, as is the International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine – and many of the other ventures, projects and activities I’m involved in.
I measure myself not on what I learn, think or say, but on what I do. I only feel alive when I’m putting myself through a process of change and activity – even though at times this is stressful and uncertain. I don’t typically wait until everything is “known” before making a decision and taking action. I get bored of high level talks that don’t result in activity. I want to know when I can start – and then I just want to start. I know where I’m headed, because this is something I need to know on a daily basis.”
Learning, teaching, communication, achievement and focus – that’s what I’m about
