Published 20 March 2023
The Pro Vice-Chancellor Education & Student Experience (PVCESE) Portfolio was reorganised in 2021 around four thematic but interconnected pillars: Education, Experience, Wellbeing and Educational Innovation. The Innovation Pillar drives educational technology innovations across UNSW’s physical and digital learning environments.
The Innovation Pillar’s mission is to reimagine, improve, and uncomplicate the student and staff experience at UNSW.
Educational Innovation teams are proud to share highlights in their 2022 Annual Report*. The report showcases Pillar projects throughout 2022, which were underpinned by significant collaborative efforts between staff and students across UNSW’s faculties, schools and divisions.
It details Educational Innovation’s contributions to enhancing the staff and student experience in line with key themes emerging from the Vice-Chancellor’s Student Experience working groups, including:
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Improving student experience by leveraging data to better support students, enabling students to take exams using their own devices and creating a better user experience within courses in the Moodle LMS.
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Supporting people and community by offering education technology training, as well as helping make on-campus study spaces more comfortable and functional.
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Simplifying and upgrading university systems by developing a new vision to simplify and improve our digital learning environments and ensuring that Moodle functions at optimal performance for staff and students.
The report also situates the Pillar’s projects, services and initiatives within the themes of the forthcoming Education Technology for the Future Strategy, launching soon, such as prioritising flexibility and choice in learning modes, simplifying and improving the education technology experience and increasing awareness of the potential for big data in education.
Reflecting on Educational Innovation’s purpose, Prof. Simon McIntyre, Director of Educational Innovation says, “Today, digital experience is becoming increasingly intertwined with how we navigate and make meaning of our physical world and interactions. In an institution as large as UNSW, emerging technologies have the potential to simplify and personalise what can sometimes be a complex university experience.”
One of the new initiatives launched last year was the Learning Analytics and Intelligence project, which seeks to leverage data insights to improve the staff and student experience. The institution-wide rollout of significant multi-year projects including Digital Assessment, Moodle Enhance and Hybrid Learning also continued throughout 2022. The Innovation Pillar's human-centred approach aims to ensure that the UNSW community can play critical roles in driving forward the Pillar's strategic direction for the years to come.
“By placing the needs and experiences of students and staff at the centre of our design process, our Pillar aims to create a more intuitive, streamlined, and personalised digital and physical learning ecosystem that better supports the needs of everyone on campus”, says Prof. Simon McIntyre.
The Innovation teams give heartfelt thanks to all the academic staff, professional staff and students across UNSW who have contributed to their projects and initiatives throughout 2022. By taking part in pilots and offering feedback through participation in surveys and focus groups, you have been instrumental in determining what the student experience will look like in the years to come.
UNSW staff can visit the PVCESE Innovation Pillar SharePoint site to keep up to date with current projects and the services on offer.
If you have questions about the annual report or the Innovation Pillar generally, please contact Prof. Simon McIntyre, Director, Educational Innovation.
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This article was written by Emily Chandler, Senior Education Designer, Educational Experience
*Amended Re-upload of Report (26 April 2023)