Shirley Alexander: So, in a way Iím going to be talking about a localised response to
what we think is the future.
And, in an earlier tweet, Yousef [inaudible] said ëWho's the fortune teller here today?í
And probably in a way that's been a job that I have been trying to fulfil for the last
couple of years.
So, Iím just going to talk through some of the thinking behind a lot of the activities
that have been going on at UTS.
Now, Gilly mentioned the enormous interest and activity going on around the world in
terms of MOOCs, and this is a very nice summary I think, of where things are at the moment.
And, I talk about this often and there was a time about a year ago, when I could use
the same slides for a few weeks or a few months, but at the moment I have to change my slides
every day because there's always something new happening.
So, you can see here the three big MOOCs ñ Coursera, Udacity and edX, and very well-known
Khan Academy.
But what this illustrates very well I think, is the enormous, not only interest in MOOCs,
but the enormous amounts of funding that are being thrown into these developments.
If you look up here, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are pouring money into edX,
into the Khan Academy and so on.
So, it's a very interesting diagram.
Google has been giving money to the Khan Academy, the University of Pennsylvania Caltech, and
there are some institutions in America such as San Jose University that are now asking
their students to take some of the MOOCs from Udacity and then count them as credit towards
their degree, because they can't arm supply education at the level that people are wanting
it.
So, itís a real tipping point going on in this particular area, and politicians of course
are also extremely interested in this as a way of saving money.
They won't say that, but to a politician free online education looks like a windfall.
And weíve heard that the government is trying to find $12 billion in lost tax revenue.
Tony Abbott has appointed Alan Tudge to chair the committee to advise him on how Australia
can take advantage of what's happening in the online world.
So, it's a very, very critical time to higher education and really important that weíre
having this discussion today.
So, as you know, UTS is in the middle of spending $1 billion on its campus redevelopment, right
at a time when there is enormous interest in online education.
But to me a lot of the discussion so far has been what you might call ëprovider captureí.
Itís been about what we can produce, and not enough about what students think about
that.
So, in order to be a fortune teller, one of the things thatís really important in my
role is to listen to what students say, and there is no one student voice.
However, having read students feedback in a whole range of surveys in the course experience
questionnaire, the student satisfaction survey, and listen to students when they talk to me,
these are the kinds of things that they say.
They say that they want really engaging, interactive face-to-face classes, and they also want podcasts
of them.
They want more face-to-face time with academics.
They want more feedback and they want faster turnaround.
When there are casual academics employed to teach their tutorials, they want them to be
paid more so they can go to all the lectures.
They want faster turnaround on email and questions as opposed on UTS online.
And they want more office hours.
So, Iíve yet to read any more than about one or two students asking for completely
online education, and yet if you read everything thatís been written about MOOCs, you would
think that there was a great demand for it.
So, it's really, we can produce this, but our big question is really, ëWhat do students
want?í The challenge is that to implement what we do now, plus technology versions of
it, would cost enormous dollars that we just don't have.
So, we have to make some hard decisions about how we fulfil studentsí needs and ensure
that they learn what it is that we want them to learn.
So, what is our approach to teaching and learning, and it's absolutely based on the UTS model
of learning which was rolled out quite a few years ago, that really basing what we are
doing on learning itself.
So, there are three, in case you missed this, when the awkward panel was about to come.
The UTS model is based on practice oriented education, to equip them for professional
practice in a global workplace, and learning that is research inspired.
So, the kinds of ways in which we can expose students to professional practice range from
work based learning, internships, practicums, volunteer activities, field trips, simulations,
and so on.
And so, that's what we've been basing all our thinking on.
As you know, we're building a number of buildings, two of which are the Engineering and IT building
and the Dr Chau Chak Wing building.
And this presented an unprecedented opportunity to redesign learning through the redesign
of learning spaces.
And, weíre going to be moving into those two new buildings next year, and therefore
we've had a project called ëLearning 2014í, to ensure that we are changing around our
approach to learning, in time to fit into those new buildings in the way in which they
were designed.
So, Gilly, in one of her early slides, had a continuum.
On one side of the continuum was completely face-to-face.
On the other side was completely online - and we are in the middle.
So, weíre adopting an approach to learning, which is the seamless integration of online
and face-to-face.
But the big question is, ëHow do we actually choose the best mix of online and face-to-face?í
Now, Paul started out today talking about whether this was a farewell to learning, but
I would like to call this the ëLearning Springí, because what I'm hoping that we can do is
rather than talking about how we teach, is to really get the conversation back to the
how students actually learn.
ëWhat do students need to do in order to learn?í and then base our decisions on the
kinds of tools and technologies and strategies, based on what it is that students need to
do in order to learn.
And thatís what it actually looks like, but I want to unpack it and go back to back to
the beginning of what students need to do in order to learn - so bring the conversation
back to learning.
So, here we have a student with particular learning goals, which is usually to get their
degree.
But the first thing they need to do in order to learn is to get access to ideas and the
content of learning.
And, so what might that look like in an integrated, face-to-face, and online world?
Well, students might come onto campus, they might be lucky enough to have a class in the
tower, or they might be in the new Chau Chak Wing building, or the new Engineering and
IT building, and they might also go to our physical library.
They might go to a class ñ a small class or a large class.
But they will also be using a combination of iTunes, YouTube, Ted-Ed videos and open
education resources, in order to access that content.
That of itself is not enough for high-quality learning to occur.
Students also need opportunities to make sense of the ideas that theyíve accessed, test
out their ideas, and often that happens through performing some kind of action.
So, what that might be is having a conversation with a mentor in industry.
It might be doing an experiment in a laboratory, in other faculties that might be building
a model ñ itís actually doing something with the content.
And it might be having work placement in industry, and it might also be travelling, either hopefully
overseas.
That's a suitcase there [with a global?] on it in case you don't recognise it.
But, action without feedback is not a very satisfactory learning experience.
So, students need opportunities to gain feedback on what their current thinking is, and that
can happen via groups, which are either face-to-face or online.
It can happen with just a conversation with a tutor.
It can happen on Facebook, and it can happen on Twitter.
And then finally, students need to reflect on what they're in what theyíre initial thoughts
were, what they did, what the feedback was, and how all of that has changed their current
thinking about a particular area.
So, they can do that by just sitting alone and contemplating.
It can happen via, from writing a blog, which is a reflective piece.
It can happen by using other computer tools, and it can happen in group work reflection
on group activities.
So, that's the whole range of learning experiences that students might have, but again the choice
of whether it's a face-to-face experience or something that happens online, is purely
based on what it is that they need to do in order to learn.
And Gilly mentioned the idea that academics job is not necessarily to stand up and teach
ñ that's a part of it, but probably the most important role of an academic in the future
is going to be the design of these kinds of experiences.
So, have we taken these ideas in the design of the interiors of the new buildings.
Much of the focus has been on the exterior of the building, but I've been really involved
in the design of the interiors of the building.
So, we want to take advantage of learning experiences like ëflipped learningí, and
this is one of the large collaborative theatres that are being rolled out.
They can be used to give a lecture, but they can also be used to get students into small
groups within that large class, so they do something to make sense of what it is that
they've heard - so that's the ëflipped learningí component.
Our Faculty of Engineering is already doing quite a lot in terms of remote laboratories,
where students are able to log on and conduct an experiment online and see the results.
Our Faculty of Health is making wonderful use of quite high-tech mannequins so that
students can engage in simulations, so they try out particular patient care and they see
the outcomes.
So, there's the action and the feedback all facilitated through technology.
And, weíve had enormous success with peer learning.
So, those of you, and I know Georgina is here today, our U:Pass is being rolled out across
the University, and the grades of the students who attend those is much higher than those
who donít, and the failure rate is reduced.
So, that we know that students working in teams is a very good learning outcome, and
because of that we've put enormous effort into designing rooms and spaces just for students
to undertake group work.
And, it's interesting that we were alerted to the need to do this, and provide more opportunities
for that group work from the student satisfaction survey in 2007, where students highlighted
areas to do group work as being very high on importance, but very low on performance.
And Iím pleased to say that as a result of all the work was done for the last couple
of years, it still rated as high in importance, but it is now rated as high on performance
- so weíve met those student needs.
And, Tim Laurence whoís now at INSEARCH actually led the first group that worked on those.
And, finally I just wanted to talk about the graduate attributes, which I don't really
have time to go into in great detail, but we are putting an enormous investment into
ensuring that weíre rolling out graduate attributes - the kinds of soft skills that
we hear from industry all the time that are really important for students once they graduate.
It's not enough for them to have a body of knowledge - they have to also have these these
graduate attributes to go with them.
And, it is very difficult for students to practice those graduate attributes online.
And, Iím just taking one example in the Faculty of Law, and that that is the attribute of
being a good communicator.
And, as everyone else is doing across the university, theyíre looking at different
levels - so the basic, intermediate, and advanced.
So, to be an advance communicator in the Faculty of Law, you need to be able to engage in mooting
and oral court advocacy.
Something that you really can't do easily online, but for which we have very specialised
facilities at UTS, so the students can in a face-to-face environment, practice that
in as realistic an environment as possible.
So, that's a very brief 10 to 15 minute overview of the way in which we have already been thinking
about the future of teaching and learning at UTS.
Itís underpinned by the UTS model of learning, and supported through the enormous amount
of work going on in terms of graduate attributes, and through the redesign of our teaching and
learning spaces.
Thank you.
[Applause]