UNSW Education Festival 2024

悉尼新南威尔士大学 's Education Festival, our annual symposium on pedagogical challenges, trends and innovations, just keeps getting better. EduFest 2024 featured a stellar program of 13 sessions over seven days that brought together hundreds of UNSW’s learning and teaching staff to learn from each other and grow as educators.

I was delighted to see our focus on student belonging and wellbeing shine through in the program, as these are at the heart of effective pedagogy. Engaging students, genuinely caring about their progress, ensuring they feel connected to peer networks and the University are essential foundations for a successful education.

While our Faculties and dedicated education teams were invited to propose presentations of their own creation for the festival, the synergies in their abstracts demonstrated that the commitment to supporting students throughout their learning journey runs deep. Nearly half of the EduFest program was dedicated to enhancing student inclusion, engagement, belonging and success. UNSW’s student-centred approach to teaching and learning was consistently on display and generated excellent discussion.

We know that a strong sense of belonging is a critical success factor that starts before a student begins their university experience and necessarily includes curricular, co-curricular and extracurricular activities during their time at uni. We conducted our first student belonging survey in 2024 and that’s informing many of our strategic initiatives this year and beyond. That’s why UNSW is implementing programs like our First Year Festival and the Our Great Mates program. Our Great Mates pairs senior students with newcomers before they even arrive on campus, offering a friendly guide to help answer all the questions new students have before they come to O-Week. Meanwhile, our Find Your Five initiative, powered by our AI chatbot Scout, helps identify five relevant communities (from our 400+ clubs, societies and volunteer opportunities) tailored to a student’s studies, culture and interests so they can connect with the communities that matter most to them – from Day One.

Of course, learning and teaching environments and technology are inextricably linked to the student learning experience. What the pandemic wrought in terms of possibilities and expectations for multi-modal educational models continues to push the frontiers of educational design and delivery.

Generative AI is perhaps the most talked about emerging technology in higher education at the moment: its impact on assessment in particular. At UNSW, we are investigating ways we can integrate AI into our teaching and learning culture, viewing generative AI as a tool with immense potential if used carefully and thoughtfully.

Our Director AI Strategy Education, Professor Alex Steel is leading the development of our ‘AI in Education Action Plan’. We are already supporting our staff and students to become AI–literate with a range of modules and resources. We’re developing a range of chatbots to help our students succeed both inside and outside the classroom: helping them to find their way around campus, to better understand their class materials, and to help with complex tasks like coding and maths. We’re also revising our assessment and curriculum – making sure that our mix of assessment across our degrees both assures learning but also provides multiple opportunities to develop the skills needed to use AI in responsible ways.

The festival finale was a wonderful culmination of ideas, including a panel discussion hosted by Pro Vice-Chancellor Education, Professor Christine Mathies . Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education & Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison began by heralding the Education Impact Pathway of the forthcoming UNSW Strategy: Progress for All: “Through accessible education, empower current and future generations.”

We know that education is transformative for our students, but also for everyone they will have an impact on during their lives and careers.

We want to empower every person who seeks an education with UNSW to fulfil their learning aspirations and to realise their potential, and we want to support those committed to having a positive impact on society. We want to ensure our graduates have future-focused skills and knowledge that sets them up for rewarding, fulfilling lives, careers and impact.

Societal impact and the centrality of Indigenous knowledges; employability and entrepreneurialism; accessible, flexible, learner-centred educational design; diversity, inclusion and student experience – these are just a handful of the principles that underpin our objectives for the future of learning and teaching at UNSW.

EduFest was fertile ground for cultivating ideas and sharing experiences like the ones I’ve mentioned here. It was certainly a fitting way to celebrate 75 years of education at UNSW – and to set our sights on transformative education for the next 10 years and beyond.

I had the honour of joining the festival finale to present awards to some of our most outstanding educators, education professionals and student leaders. These accolades included the UNSW Teaching Awards, VC’s Research Supervision Awards, Students’ Choice Awards, PASS Leaders Awards, and recognition of a Citation in the Australian Awards for University Teaching. UNSW really does have an extraordinary teaching and learning community. It’s a privilege as VC to be able to spend time with such people at wonderful events like EduFest. (See award winners in the large group photo.)

I am utterly grateful for all the work my education colleagues do to provide an excellent educational experience for students at UNSW, and for their commitment to professional development and collegiality.

Thanks to Professor Sarah Maddison, Professor Tini Mathies and our PVC Education colleagues for bringing the UNSW learning and teaching community together for this most excellent event. A special thank you to keynote speaker Professor Sally Kift , President of the Australian Learning & Teaching Fellows.

Congratulations to all the presenters and panellists who inspired thinking and shared their knowledge and experiences. EduFest 2024 was a blast!

#UNSWEducation #UNSWEduFest #StudentExperience #HigherEducation #ProgressForAll

Apple D. Dorota Wierzbica Laura Nierengarten Remi Hatsumi Himani Chugh AFHEA