Virtual learning environments and science experiments conducted through web browsers are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Australia's first centre of leadership in educational innovation at UQ.
The University of Queensland's new Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology (CEIT) opens today (November 20), positioning UQ at the forefront of research into teaching and learning technologies to be disseminated to universities around the world.
From remote online laboratories where students and educators are provided with unlimited access to iLab experiments, to lecture browsers that allow students to pinpoint and tag words or phrases from within the audio track of a lecture stream, eliminating hours of searching, the research potential of CEIT is endless.
CEIT's digital innovations are continuations of projects started with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) iCampus Project, a Microsoft/MIT Research and Development (R&D) partnership.
UQ Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) Professor Deborah Terry said UQ was proud to be leading Australia when it came to educational innovation.
"The potential impact of CEIT on teaching and learning worldwide is enormous and at the centre is the intellectual synergy of The University of Queensland's researchers and academics, powering a new digital education age," Professor Terry said.
"UQ has dedicated its resources to keeping the pulse of emerging technologies and will openly share its knowledge with the rest of the world to help produce graduates who are uniquely skilled to fulfill their roles in the emerging workforce.
"The University is already the iLabs Australasian distribution hub. This will be complemented by focused attention on active learning supported by electronic student portfolios and online tutoring systems, which will be among the other key projects to be undertaken at CEIT."
The centre's research is not limited to schools and tertiary institutions, with community groups, industry and government also having access to the technology, while students will work on projects.
CEIT founding director UQ Professor Phil Long, who comes to the University from MIT, will be instrumental in creating access to the latest research on technology-assisted teaching and learning, assisted by UQ iCampus co-ordinator Dr Mark Schulz as the centre's Associate Director.
Professor Long said he aimed to develop a cohort of CEIT Fellows – UQ staff in different disciplines seconded to the centre to explore opportunities to develop and integrate digital technologies in their areas of interest.
"For example, we are looking at working collaboratively with the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) to study the brain functions that go on in a student's mind while they learn," he said.
"Also, we aim to have an active external visiting scholars program that will bring people from around the world with expertise in digital technologies and learning to UQ."
Professor Long said the new outlook did not mean the death of the lecture, rather CEIT would re-examine what was most effectively expressed face-to-face versus what could be done through using other means.
"This includes studying how to make research tools more widely available to students so they can practise being a part of the disciplinary communities they are studying, working with comparable resources that are a part of the laboratories or other academic workspaces of their academic staff," he said.
"There are too many large enrolment courses confronting hardworking academic staff; what technology can enable us to do is provide more intimate technologically mediated learning activities in a cost-effective way."
CEIT Official Launch 2.30pm - 2.50pm
WHERE: UQ General Purpose North 4 (GPN4) main auditorium, Bldg 14, corner of Campbell Road and University Drive, St Lucia Campus.
Media: Professor Phil Long (07 3365 9131, 0401 675 539) or Eliza Plant at UQ Communications (07 3365 2619)
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