[LINK] Future for Au uni education .. hybrid study and Indonesia?

[Tom Worthington]

On 7/4/21 5:55 pm, Stephen Loosley wrote:

> ... Chris Ducket (ZDNet) frequently quotes ...  John Dewar ...
> https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-la-trobe-is-changing-with-large-lecture-halls-consigned-to-the-past/
>
> "Those very large lecture theatres ... going to stand empty now ...

We will still have a few very large lecture theaters at universities, 
but they will be multipurpose.

In 2015, I attended computer education conferences in Hong Kong and 
Cambridge. Both venues were sports halls, which at the press of a button 
converted to lecture theaters. So I suggested ANU get some. 
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2016/07/anu-new-residential-halls.html 


ANU demolished its Manning Clark lecture theater complex and replaced it 
with a building having two of these multipurpose rooms in 2019. At the 
same time ANU build a teaching building full of flat floor classrooms. 
As the furniture is on wheels, they can be reconfigured quickly for 
different teaching styles. It turns out this also enables them to be 
easily reconfigured for social distancing. 
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2019/03/how-to-blend-and-flip-course-for.html

> ... government that is ideologically hostile to
> publicly funding the institutions ...

 From the foundation of Australia's first university, academics have 
been expected to provide tangible outcomes in return for funding, with 
economic development from research, and graduates for the workforce.

Just publishing research papers doesn't produce economic outcomes and 
old fashioned degrees are not the best way to get a job, so universities 
will have to do things differently. Universities can train researchers 
to get their discoveries to market quicker and provide qualifications in 
smaller packets.

> The result has been universities turning to industry to pick up the
> shortfall. ...

The first time I visited Cambridge (UK), I was stuck by how everyone, 
from the VC down, was on the hustle to get industry funding. 
http://tomw.net.au/nt/uk.html#CAMBRIDGE

I suggested Canberra adopt that approach. http://tomw.net.au/nt/arcadia.html

Some of this is reflected in the creation of the Canberra Innovation 
Network, next to ANU. 
https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2015/04/designing-innovation-course-part-3.html#cbb

ps: These are my own views, not necessarily those of the ANU.


-- 
Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP IP3P http://www.tomw.net.au
+61(0)419496150
TomW Communications Pty Ltd. PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Prof. Standards Legislation

Honorary Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University
https://cecs.anu.edu.au/research/profile/tom-worthington