Evolved learning
for the new reality

The University of Queensland will embark on a multimillion-dollar investment over the next five years to transform the student experience, with the aim of setting a new global standard in higher education while creating graduates who are ready for the new-world workplace.

UQ already holds a place among the world’s Top 50 universities, and this initiative will further assist students to acquire the knowledge, skills and intellectual flexibility needed to compete in rapidly evolving workplaces.

UQ’s Acting Provost and Senior Vice-President Professor Joanne Wright says the new Student Strategy is about developing a way of thinking that will help students create change, both in themselves and in the world around them.

The student-centred initiative has been developed through consultation with more than 7000 students, along with input from industry, employers, staff and stakeholders.

UQ has recognised four major goals in delivering its vision: game-changing graduates, student-centred flexibility, dynamic people and partnerships, and an integrated learning environment.

“One of the major planks of the strategy is to enhance the way learning is delivered,” says Professor Wright.

“We are very sensitive to the fact that fewer and fewer students are able to study full-time, and that they often graduate with significant debt.

“We want to ease the burden of debt and accommodate flexible study patterns through a more extensive use of the calendar year, intensive teaching blocks and technology-enhanced learning.

“We also know that students want more work-integrated learning and to be mentored by people with industry and business experience. We will be working hard with our extensive alumni base and industry connections to increase these opportunities for our students.”

Professor Wright says the key partners in UQ’s new Student Strategy will be students themselves.

“Students need to be self-motivated, active agents prepared to take responsibility for their own learning and to act as entrepreneurs of their own careers,” she says.

“UQ attracts many of the brightest students nationally and internationally, and their talent and potential is UQ’s greatest asset.”

To learn more visit student-strategy.uq.edu.au

Extraordinary technological change is revolutionising the way society lives, works, communicates and pursues new ideas.

As such, UQ is encouraging and teaching students to embrace new ideas, and harness new sources of growth to deliver the next wave of economic prosperity in Australia.

A major goal of UQ’s new Student Strategy is to produce graduates with intellectual capital, leadership skills and an innovative mindset to build meaningful networks, agile careers and creative solutions.

The strategy fuses disciplinary knowledge and expertise with a range of extension options and experiences that focus on professional and digital competencies, innovation, employability and enterprise.

Campus-based idea incubators and accelerators, like UQ’s IdeaHub, foster the entrepreneurial capability and enterprising activity of students, staff and alumni through well-connected networks.

IdeaHub is piloted by Executive Dean of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, Professor Simon Biggs.

Professor Biggs says IdeaHub provides students with an early-stage introduction into the world of innovation and entrepreneurship.

“IdeaHub operates at the intersection of world-leading research, entrepreneurial behaviours, design innovation and industry to build a more innovative and entrepreneurial student community,” he says.

Through IdeaHub, students learn the tactics and methods needed to build relevant products and services that can lead to new ventures.

Over a period of six weeks, teams of students, alumni and successful entrepreneurs form organically around ideas through a process of pitching and critique. Team topics and membership change as ideas are challenged and refined through workshops on topics such as ideation and research, prototyping, and market testing.

First-year Business Management student Andrew Walker is passionate about business, entrepreneurship and graphic design.

He says he applied for the IdeaHub this year because he thought it would be an opportunity to access great resources, as well as network and discuss other business ventures with like-minded people.

“Seminars were especially valuable to those students lucky enough to have their ideas critiqued and workshopped by some experienced presenters,” he says.

“Every week we learned new skills that we were able to apply directly to our start-ups. The seminar presented on ‘The Art of Pitching’ was incredibly worthwhile to all students as pitching is a very important skill for every entrepreneur to master.

“Through the IdeaHub, I was fortunate enough to meet my current business partners at GekCo. Systems, where I am now fulfilling one of my career dreams as the Branding, Marketing Manager and Web Developer of the company.”

Mr Walker says another one of the many benefits of the IdeaHub is that as a first-year student, he has met new friends who share the same entrepreneurial interests and goals.

“Many of these friends, especially the third- and fourth-year students, have been able to mentor me and help guide my ideas in the right direction.”

As part of its goal of producing game-changing graduates, UQ also focuses on supporting more students to develop workplace awareness, workplace skills and industry acumen by expanding work-integrated learning and student employability programs across the University.

Today’s university students face some of the most uncertain and shifting work prospects of any time in history. Many are learning in fields where their future job doesn’t yet exist.

It’s no surprise that they are increasingly interested in trading in traditional career paths for more innovative, entrepreneurial futures, including creating their own jobs.

UQ’s future students will be career changers and promotion seekers who want to balance a fulfilling work life with parenthood, global mobility, and ongoing personal and professional development.

A major goal of UQ’s Student Strategy is therefore to provide a flexible environment that supports and services all students, meets their priorities and expectations, and personalises their learning experiences. The strategy aims to shift the teaching focus to a blend of high-impact active learning on campus and flexible online delivery, feedback and study options.

As part of this, UQ is empowering a transition towards more ‘flipped classrooms’, also known as blended learning, where the traditional model of learning is turned on its head.

Instead of large lecture halls with one educator and a room full of students consuming knowledge, students can first learn about core concepts independently through videos, recorded lectures, quizzes, and readings.

This model frees up on-campus time for richer, active learning sessions where students develop their understanding and critical thinking skills with experts in the field, learn to ask the right questions and apply their knowledge to practical and challenging situations.

Associate Professor Carl Reidsema, Director of Teaching and Learning (Engineering), has led the successful development of the flipped classroom model for more than 1200 students in first-year engineering design course ‘ENGG1200 – Engineering Modelling and Problem Solving’.

Dr Reidsema says the motivation for this approach was a drop in lecture attendance, driven by the increased availability of recorded lectures.

“We are moving towards a more coherent engineering program curriculum,” says Dr Reidsema.

“This means that each semester we will have three theory-type courses and one ‘application’ course.

“These courses will be problem-oriented rather than content-oriented, and students will have the opportunity to use their conceptual understanding to solve the type of authentic problems that engineers are confronted with in industry.

“UQ has made great strides in improving its use of technology to support student learning and has invested heavily in supporting academic innovation in this area with a wide range of eLearning tools and systems.

“Employers understand the importance of providing students with authentic hands-on design and problem-solving experiences in order to develop skills and attitudes, which are critical and can be difficult to develop from within a university setting.”

Dr Kelly Matthews, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education at UQ’s Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation, believes passionately in involving students in their own education.

Leading a national ‘Students as Partners’ fellowship, she is exploring how student–staff partnerships are transforming the university learning experience, with initial findings
showing such collaborations are mutually beneficial.

“Student–staff partnerships provide both parties with greater insights into the other’s experience,” Dr Matthews explains.

“For example, students gain new understandings of why academics set assignments and the expected learning outcomes, allowing them to better articulate what they learned – key for employment – and see how they are learning – central for life-long learning.

“On the flip side, academics find they better understand how their students are learning and the complexities of their lives, which better informs their teaching practices.”

Dr Matthews has experienced first-hand the benefits of collaborating with students, with student fellows assisting her as co-researchers on various fellowship projects and activities.

In May, the students accompanied Dr Matthews to Canada, where they co-facilitated workshops for an international audience on how to develop ‘students as partners’ activities.

Dr Matthews says such opportunities are vital for realising UQ’s goal of creating game-changing graduates.

“My fellowship is about creating those opportunities for students, in partnership with academics and staff, to truly shape teaching and learning at UQ.”

Lucy Mercer-Mapstone, UQ PhD candidate and co-fellow on the Students as Partners fellowship team, was one of the students who accompanied Dr Matthews to Canada, and says such opportunities have both professional and personal benefits.

“Being involved in student–staff partnerships gives students the confidence, support and skills they need to see they can actively contribute something unique and valuable to the teaching and learning process,” she explains.

“That self-efficacy is invaluable in opening up future opportunities in both your professional and personal life.”

The Students as Partners fellowship has inspired a number of student partnership activities, with the aim of developing a University-wide UQ Students as Partners program.

It’s just one of a series of initiatives aimed at fostering a culture that supports innovation, adapts to change, and is shared, valued and enriched by both students and staff – one of the key goals of UQ’s Student Strategy.

Other activities currently underway include supporting academic staff to design and deliver content in new ways; involving more research-focused staff in teaching activities; and pairing students with peer, staff, alumni and industry mentors to support learning across the student lifecycle.

While today’s students expect near-instant online services and the latest in digital technologies, face-to-face communication is still important to them. To support the educational needs and expectations of students, UQ is investing in both physical and digital infrastructure to create an integrated environment that supports high-quality, contemporary learning and social environments.

Future UQ students will have access to a bright new living space that will nurture their academic success and career prospects, thanks to a $251 million student residences project planned at UQ’s St Lucia campus.

As well as offering students an attractive place to live on one of the world’s most beautiful university campuses, the space will provide a home-away-from-home for around 1300 students, with around-the-clock pastoral support and security, and easy access to campus sporting and cultural facilities and regular public transport.

The project, which is expected to be completed at the start of 2020, is just one of a number of infrastructure projects included in UQ’s investment in the evolution of the student experience, intended to create a vibrant, integrated, digitally enabled environment that enhances on-campus learning, community engagement, and student life.

UQ recognises the importance of providing high-quality, multifunctional spaces for students, and will continue to invest in developing these spaces across the campuses.

The UQ Library is a great example of such a space; transformed from the hushed study halls of old into a place where students can study in peace, but also collaborate, socialise, re-energise and feel part of a community. The Library has also partnered with Student Services to offer ‘one-stop-shop’ service points for students, providing both academic support and student advice.

Belinda Hennessy, who is in her final year of a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Commerce degree and juggles
part-time work as a research clerk in a law firm with study, says she appreciates the flexibility of the Library space.

“The library offers areas where I can study and chat with friends, and discuss ideas in a group environment. And if I need quiet time, I can head upstairs and work independently.”

Other projects being considered include a dedicated student building that will provide virtual and face-to-face resources in a central, physical location, and a new building that will promote sustainability while adding a unique and modern feel to the St Lucia campus.

Enhancing the University’s digital infrastructure is another important aspect of the student strategy. Leveraging the latest technologies, UQ is investing in infrastructure that will enhance online service capabilities.

The Future Students project, which consolidates all prospective student information into a single, user-friendly portal for future UQ students, is the first step in many IT projects that will create a simple, engaging, and personalised online experience for students.

The next step is a new portal for current students, which is due to be rolled out in 2017. Designed to reduce complexity and improve the online student experience via an easy-to-use interface, the portal will provide an online hub for students to access personalised study and campus information, such as timetables, course requirements, library loans and study spots.