Innovation and online learning appear to be intrinsically linked in the current tertiary education climate.  But what does it mean to innovate?  More specially, how can we innovate when the word itself is equally likely to fill us with a sense of pressure, as it is a sense of opportunity?

I believe Dr KC Chan, Senior Lecturer in Information Systems, is an innovator, although I’m not sure if he’d use this same descriptor.  KC has identified a need: he needs a way to share information and resources between PhD students whilst also developing a sense of community and belonging.  KC has also identified a technology that may address this need: Microsoft Teams. 

KC is currently working on a Digital Initiative, part of the TechDems program, to design this Teams environment.  What’s exciting is that together we have identified that a pedagogically sound approach to drive our exploration of Teams is Students as Partners.  In this way, KC’s students will be given the opportunity, and thus the agency, to be part of designing their own space.  We haven’t created the space yet – we haven’t trialled it – we don’t even know if it will work – but this joint exploration  is what, for me, it means to innovate.

If you’d like support to innovate, if you’ve identified a need or opportunity within your course or learning platform, contact us to become involved in a digital initiative.

Katrina Cutcliffe