This week I attended the, grandly titled, Inaugural National Learning and Teaching Forum being held in Melbourne. It was an interesting experience. It was not a large forum by any means but the list of speakers was impressive, including Professors from many universities and many senior academic managers. The first day really focussed on quality and standards while the second day was mostly around learning spaces, virtual and physical.
For me the highlight has been the keynote on day two given by Dr Paul Kim who is the Chief Technology Officer of the School of Education at Stanford University (as an aside, how refreshing is to see an academic who is also a Chief Technology Officer for an academic organisation. If only we were more open to this idea in Australia.). This was an inspiring presentation about the rapidly evolving global higher education environment. It was the only presentation that really talked about some of the things that I see as being big issues in higher education at the moment. Specifically, online learning, mobility and the rise of new higher education providers. It was a beacon of inspiration amidst much that was somewhat disappointing.
