HEDx

Danny Liu of the University of Sydney argues that AI makes us question not only how, but why we teach. He joins a panel that includes Susan Zhang of La Trobe, Phil Laufenberg of Macquarie and Jason Lodge of UQ. They answer questions from Sam Jacob CEO of Collarts that drive at the heart of where AI is taking tertiary education. Sam summarises a day of HEDx experts in one minute to demonstrate the Collarts manifesto of how creativity is a powerful difference, that comes from being inclusive by choice, in telling stories that change the world.

Lev Gonick is CIO of the most innovative university in the US at Arizona State. He outlines the part technology has played in the 20+ year of transformation that created a global entrepreneurial pioneer from a party-town college in the desert. In this fireside chat with Manuela Franceschini of Adobe, he reflects on what he wished he had known at the start of their journey and what his dreams of the impossible are now. He says universities like his, driven by access and public service, owe it to their graduating students to equip them for a new AI economy. He shares how their experience is guiding Shainal Kavar as CIO in Australia's AI-first La Trobe University.

Theo Farrell as Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University has a vision for agentic AI to serve the lifecycle needs of all students. Why this would solve student complaints is outlined by Sarah Bendall as Student Ombudsman sharing data from the first 2 months of the office. It needs a stable platform of data made interoperable by sector defined data standards as argued by Gemma Cadby of ACSES and Charlsey Pearce of MortarCAPS. Will Stubley of Year13 illustrates how this is already in place for students choosing personalised school to work pathways.

Dr Tim Renick of Georgia State and George Williams VC at Western Sydney are two pioneering leaders and champions of student success on the global stage. They share thoughts and perspectives from the stage at HEDx in Melbourne in a fireside chat with Veronica Pritchard of the Queensland Commitment at UQ. It argues for us getting out of our comfort zones and using AI to overcome process barriers, letting staff do human work to help students in distress. It is followed by an update from the AI in HE project where Michael Henderson of Monash and Margaret Bearman share updates of what students think of it being AI or teachers giving feedback on their learning.

Melinda Cilento as CEO of CEDA leads the national conversation for a shared plan towards Progress 2050. It has pillars of productivity and innovation and the knowledge and skills our future workforce need. In this fireside chat with Patrick Kidd CEO of the Future Skills Organisation she questions if higher education is changing fast enough and keeping up with the world around it. It provides a backdrop to a panel discussion involving Megan Lilly of Jobs and Skills Australia, Sally Curtain of Bendigo Kangan Institute, Yasminka Nemet of Microsoft and Colin Gneil of LinkedIn to explore how we can keep up with the speed of change in skills needs in an Age of AI and how a harmonised tertiary sector will help.

John Dewar of KordaMentha leads a panel of public and private university leaders re-examining strategies in the light of opportunities with AI. Pascale Quester VC of Swinburne, Andrew Parfitt VC of UTS, Dan Cockerell CEO of Torrens and Jessica Vanderlelie DVC at Deakin reflect on how AI gives a chance to learn how to be a disruptor, and regain social licence before those seeking to disrupt us, take advantage first. They argue AI is a game changer strategic opportunity and experimentation in changing the way we do things is a chance not to be missed to avoid our Kodak moment.

In this discussion, Paul LeBlanc, the former president of Southern New Hampshire University, dives into the transformative role of AI in higher education. He highlights how institutions can adopt AI to enhance online learning and better prepare students for future workforce demands. LeBlanc emphasizes the need for universities to promote accessibility and equity while integrating ethical AI practices. Additionally, he addresses the evolving societal roles of education, arguing for a balance between technology and essential human qualities in caregiving and teaching.

Professor Danny Liu of University of Sydney built the award-winning Cogniti.ai to enhance student learning in higher education. In this interview with Katie Ford of partner Microsoft and I, he outlines how and why it was built, and how it can be used for active experimentation with AI. He likens it to allowing stunt doubles for those exploring AI experiments in student learning. He describes the importance of setting the culture, rules, access, familiarity and trust in the collaboration we need within and between institutions to stay ahead of the curve of technology advancements. He sees promise in AI helping change higher education for good.

Charlsey Pearce is CEO of MortarCAPS Data Standard. She joins Michael Burgess, formerly of Western Sydney University, and I to describe a new data standard developed to give consistent meaning and understanding to how we all define and use data on the student journey. Financial services and banking would find it impossible to provide service and use FinTech without consistent and interoperable financial data standards. The potential for much more effective data, systems and service for students and higher education needs an interoperable data standard for student journeys.

A/Prof May Lim Sok Mui is Assistant Provost of Applied Learning at Singapore Institute of Technology. She pioneers a coaching approach to competency-based education in Singapore's fifth and most distinct university from a new campus in Punggol. She leads work into the Skills Future Singapore lifelong learning collaboration between providers, government and industry. Shortly before leaving for a global study tour to UNESCO and EU partners she joined an episode with Patrick Kidd CEO of Future Skills Organisation and I to reflect on the move to a skills agenda so vital for global lifelong learning and a strong theme at the forthcoming HEDx conference on April 2nd.