Universities Australia Higher Education Conference 2014
 
E-Newsletter February 2014
MOOCs, MOOCs, MOOCs
It may be a quaint sounding acronym, but it is one of the phenomena stirring (but not shaking) higher education around the world. Universities Australia’s 2014 Higher Education Conference will certainly be sinking its teeth into everything MOOC by flying in some of the biggest names in the international MOOC-osphere.

And some of those names are Professor Anant Agarwal and Mr Simon Nelson.

Professor Anant Agarwal is the President of edX, a major MOOC platform founded by Harvard University and MIT. Professor Agarwal taught the first edX course on circuits and electronics from MIT, which drew 155,000 students from 162 countries.

Mr Simon Nelson is the CEO of FutureLearn, the first UK-led MOOC platform that is majority owned by the UK's Open University. Prior to FutureLearn, Mr Nelson worked at the BBC for over a decade and oversaw the launch of the corporation’s online radio player, as well as assisting in developing its on-demand service iPlayer.

The presentations by Professor Agarwal and Mr Nelson will form part of the first two plenary sessions of the conference and will give delegates plenty to talk (or should we say tweet, post or blog) about.


Professor Anant Agarwal Mr Simon Nelson

And more MOOCs!
Professor Andrew Vann, Vice-Chancellor and President, Charles Sturt University, is chairing the concurrent session, MOOCs – magnificent, monsters or malediction?, on the afternoon of the first day. He has set up a discussion site for this session and encourages delegates to get involved in the conversation here in the lead up to the conference.
Leaving things to the last minute? We've got your back
With under two weeks to go until the start of our conference we are definitely on the home straight. For those of you who have not had time to register, you will be relieved to know that there is still time.

With plenty of delegates already registered, interest in this year’s conference is stronger than ever. So for those intent on leaving their registrations until the very last minute, we recommend taking five minutes now to lock in your place.

To register online for the 2014 conference – Click here.

To view the full conference program – Click here.
Getting social




With the heavy digital focus of this year’s conference it seems only appropriate to remind delegates that they should tweet until they can’t tweet any more using #UAConf.

But why stop with tweeting. If you fancy yourself a bit of a photographer, don’t forget to use #UAConf when loading your pics to Instagram…. or posts to Facebook and LinkedIn. 

And for the digital aficionados don’t forget about the afternoon sessions on day one of the conference, Social media in corporate communication: shaking not stirring and Digital developments for the digital native – the student perspective.
It's certainly some of our business
As well as having a healthy emphasis on digital teaching and learning, this year’s conference will continue to shine the spotlight on university and business linkages with the session: Work Integrated learning – expanding partnerships with business.

The concurrent session on the afternoon of the first day of the conference, will feature a line-up of speakers working on this all-important initiative. 
The speakers include:
  • Ms Petrina Coventry, Chief Human Resources Officer, Santos 
  • Ms Judie Kay, National Director, Australian Collaborative Education Network
  • Ms Jenny Lambert, Director-Employment, Education and Training, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  • Dr Roslyn Prinsley, National Adviser, Maths and Science Education and Industry, Office of the Chief Scientist; and
  • Ms Lisa Westcott, Director Standards, Office of the DVC (Academic), James Cook University
Also, don’t miss the Press Club Address by Universities Australia’s Chair, Professor Sandra Harding (Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University) and the keynote address by Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb AC.
And in case you missed it... Canberra has a new logo
As you come into Canberra for the last days of summer – where the average temperatures vary between a balmy high of 28.1 and a comfortable low of 13.8 – besides the myriad of new restaurants and cafes that have popped up over the last year, you may also notice that a new brand / logo has graced the capital.

As well as being the airport call-sign for Canberra, it is also stands for “Confident, Bold, Ready.” – just like our conference really!

Watch the official branding video here.
Thanks to our sponsors
Universities Australia thanks our sponsors for their support in bringing this premier conference to light.