Global Speakers

Forum Chairperson

Topic: 

Panel Discussion: Where We Go From Here In Transforming Into An Integrated Digital And Virtual Campus?

Peter Thomas is currently director of the organic edtech HaileyburyX in Melbourne, Australia where he is leading the development of a state-of-the-art online global learning environment, establishing Haileybury as a thought leader in emerging technologies for learning including AI, data analytics and interactive platforms, building new industry partnerships and where he created the award-winning educator work system called Agile Learning Design, along with a new world-class microcredentialling framework, both of which were selected as Innovative Schools winners in 2019 and 2020 and for which he was recognized on The Educator Hotlist after 12 months in the industry.

Peter was previously a Professor of Information Management, CTO of the e-commerce arm of a FTSE100 company, has developed multi-million dollar technology research institutes in the UK and Australia and developed and chaired over 20 international research conferences, along with being Editor-in-Chief of a leading international peer-reviewed research journal from SpringerNature. He has created and managed large government-funded and industry-partnered research projects, large and small business units and managed commercial and academic collaborations with countries including China, India and Japan.

Peter was co-founder and executive director of The Leasing Foundation in the City of London, is Creative Director of the Wellcome, Arts Council and Granta-funded Medicine Unboxed programme and has held and holds Visiting Professorial positions at Brunel University, London, Falmouth University, Newcastle University and Beijing Normal University, China where he is Dean for International Projects as part of the International Institute for Big Data in Finance. He was a Senior Visiting Fellow at The University of Melbourne, Australia and was a Fellow of both the IEE and BCS.

He was educated at Leeds, Cambridge and Hull universities and has a bachelor’s degree in literature and linguistics and a PhD in psychology and computer science.

Forum Chairperson

Topic: 

Addressing The Challenges Of Remote Learning

Educational leadership has always been at the heart and centre of Lauren’s professional career. Lauren started her career in Melbourne’s western suburbs and quickly rose to leadership positions in educational innovation and middle years pedagogy. Lauren’s pioneering approaches to the use of educational technology in schools in the late 90s established her as one of the nation’s leaders in this area, being acknowledged as ICTEV’s educator of the year.

Her expertise, dedication and enthusiasm in this area of education led her to (several) leadership roles within the educational technology industry where, always with the learner at the centre, she helped international learning technologies companies grow and develop their products and professional learning for educators.

Lauren recent roles have included Head of Education at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne where she championed the cause for world class pedagogy and continuous learning for those students who were not able to attend school in a traditional setting as well as strengthening partnerships between the student’s school, hospital and family during periods which posed many challenges.

As Director of Digital Learning at Haileybury, Lauren was able to spearhead the effective integration and application of educational technology across the school. Lauren was responsible for overseeing the implementation of online, continuous reporting and feedback through the schools content / learning management system as well as (with her team) rapidly prepare the entire Haileybury school community for the transition to online learning with the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020.

Throughout her career, Lauren has always placed innovative pedagogies at the heart of her leadership, and she is a passionate advocate of supporting engaged, articulate, creative, critical and independent digital learners backed by a modern digital learning curriculum. Empowered by her natural curiosity and thirst for professional learning, Lauren is a leading voice in the Victorian and National educational community through her work with ACEL, Code Like a Girl, Robogals and other organizations who are committed to learning for the future.

Topic: 

Preparing For The Future: Rethinking The Education Delivery Model

Associate Professor, Technology Enhanced Learning in Higher Education, in the Centre for the Study of Higher education (CSHE), University of Melbourne. Thomas has expertise in Qualitative research in technology-enhanced learning, with a focus upon action research, and design-based research methodologies. His specializations include mobile learning, designing mixed reality learning environments, heutagogy (self-regulated learning), communities of practice, and the scholarship of technology enhanced learning. His research portfolio includes over 50 peer reviewed journal articles, 32 book chapters, and over 150 conference proceedings.

Topic: 

Community, Co-Creation, Choice: Playing With(in) The Roles Of Teachers And Students

Dr Adam Brown is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media at Deakin University, creator of the Social Media Stories podcast, maker of the Digital Learning with @digitalzones website and podcast, and co-host of the Our Gamified World web series. He is the author of Judging ‘Privileged’ Jews: Holocaust Ethics, Representation and the ‘Grey Zone’ (Berghahn, 2013) and co-author of Communication, Digital Media and Everyday Life (Oxford UP, 2015). Adam’s interdisciplinary research has spanned Holocaust representation across various genres, women in film, surveillance cinema, mediations of rape, digital children’s television, nonhuman animal ethics, transmedia storytelling and gaming cultures. Adam’s current research and teaching interests centre on digital learning and gamification. Further details can be found on the Digital Zones website and you can connect with Adam on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Topics: 

• The Changing Face Of Technology Enhanced Learning
• Panel Discussion: Where We Go From Here In Transforming Into An Integrated Digital And Virtual Campus?

Professor Sankey is the Director of Learning Transformations at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. He specializes in technology enhanced learning, staff and leadership development, curriculum renewal, online pedagogies, multimodal design, digital, visual and multiliteracies. He has worked in Higher Education for 30+ years and is particularly interested in how constructively aligned and aesthetically enhanced learning environments can better transmit concepts to students, particularly those from diverse backgrounds.

In addition to this role, Michael is the President of the Australasian Council on Open, Distance and e-Learning (ACODE) and is the Director of the ACODE Learning Technologies Leadership Institute. This is a major initiative of ACODE that is run bi-yearly for those aspiring to become leaders in the area of technology enhanced learning.

Topic: 

How UNSW Integrates Chatbot Technology In Creating Learning Communities Supporting Social Learning For Their Students

David Kellermann is a senior lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia. Kellermann specializes in the continuum and computational mechanics of advanced structural materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastics and biological tissue.

He is the course convenor and lecturer for the largest foundational first- and second-year engineering subjects (Engineering Mechanics and the Mechanics of Solids), teaching over 1,000 students each year.

Kellermann has worked as a research fellow at the University of Nottingham UK and a research associate in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (UNSW) ranked 13th in the world. He has worked in applying his models for Boeing Research and Technology, the Composites CRC of Australia, and collegiate researchers around the world.

At UNSW, Kellermann pioneered the development and implementation of new technologies into his teaching practice and is an enthusiastic user of Microsoft Teams. For his efforts, he has received the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

Topic: 

Driven By Data: The Use Of Analytics In Education

Catherine Zhao is an educational psychologist by training. She is currently the Lead of Learning Quality Assurance for the NSW Department of Education. Prior to this role, she has worked in the Higher Education sector with the focus on quality assurance of student experience, technology-enabled learning and teaching, and most recently on the emerging Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Her research interest is at the intersection of learning analytics and neuroscience for education, with the goal of improving design effectiveness to improve personalized learning experience.

Topic: 

Teaching In The New Reality: Using AR And VR To Enhance Learning

With a background in Information Technology and over 20 years teaching experience in the UK, Germany and Australia, Alex Borlenghi has been an advocate for the transformational power of technology in education. Recognized by the Educator magazine as one of the top 40 most influential educators in Australia in 2016 for his work introducing Augmented and Virtual Reality into the classroom, Alex is a passionate believer that these technologies will have an important role the future of education.

In his current role as Head of Digital Learning at Luther College, Croydon, Alex has introduced a Year 9 elective in Augmented and Virtual Reality and has championed the use of these technologies as an educational experience across the curriculum. Alex has presented on the possibilities of using both Augmented and Virtual Reality at conferences nationwide and is the author of The Virtual and Augmented Classroom published in 2017.

Topic: 

How SP Jain School Of Global Management Is Leveraging Its Engaged Learning Online (ELO) Studios Though The Pandemic Across Multiple Campuses, Geographies And Time Zones

Mr Dinakar Bhotta is an Assistant Professor in IT, Finance, Entrepreneurship and an student engagement specialist working in a full-time position at SP Jain School of Global Management, Sydney Campus since 2017.  Prior to this, was a lecturer at University of Southern Queensland, Sydney Education Centre Sydney for 10 years. He has been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate Business, Accounting and IT subjects for over 14 years now. Mr. Dinakar has also worked in India in various Pharmaceutical marketing and sales positions between 2003 and 2007. Although, Mr. Dinakar specialises in emerging technologies including AI, Machine learning, he has vast experience teaching Finance, Accounting and Business subjects and is passionate about student engagement.

Mr Dinakar did his bachelor’s degree from BITS Pilani, Rajasthan, India. He holds three Masters’ Degrees from Australian Universities. He has a Master in Business Administration (International Business), Master in Project Management (Information Technology) and Master in Information Systems (Technology Management) qualification. Apart, he also has a Diploma level qualification in Training and Assessment from TAFE, New South Wales.  Mr. Dinakar Bhotta is currently doing his PhD in the field of health analytics.

In short, Mr Dinakar is a firm believer in hard work, continuous learning and ongoing development. He likes to help others in achieving their goals and objectives, which makes him a great team-player and a visionary leader. He also believes that “short-cuts in life are short-lived and the results of hard work are hard to be replicated”.  He is a firm believer of lifelong learning, self-development, ethics and honesty.

Topic: 

The New Normal – Getting Ready For The Post Pandemic Reality In Education

As the Director, Advancement of Learning and Teaching, at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Professor Shelley Kinash oversees the learning, teaching, assessment and curricular employability components of University-wide student experience and graduate success. As the Chair of the Education Quality Committee (EQC), and a member of Academic Board Executive, she monitors, leads critical discussions and oversees continual improvements to the quality of the educational experience (e.g. First Year Experience). She Chairs the Learning and Teaching Environments Working Party (of EQC), which joins-up learning and teaching with ICT and Enterprise services to progress the ongoing development of digital experience.

Professor Kinash draws-upon the success of her three Category One, National Research Grants (funded through the Australian Government, Office for Learning and Teaching), applying multi-institution research results to lead excellence in student and graduate employability, student experience and student evaluation of courses and teaching. For example, applying the findings of the Graduate Employability Good Practice Guide, which she co-authored, Professor Kinash was the lead author of the USQ-wide Employability Strategy and the accompanying Guide to Implementing the Employability Pillar of the Academic Plan, used by every School University-wide, to foster graduate success, as well as the USQ Demo Course, Career Skills Advantage, requested by USQ International to recruit international students.

As Director, Professor Kinash leads a team of 40 people (academic and professional staff) and oversees a budget of $5 million. She led a major restructure, and leads the resulting Learning and Teaching Unit (LTU) to support a new plan (led by Professor Kinash) for University-wide Academic Development, Digital Learning Innovation and Program and Course Enhancement. The restructure included migrating 17 media-professionals (e.g. graphic designers, coders) into the LTU to co-create excellence in online learning materials and the overall digital student learning experience. Professor Kinash has a h-index of 18, with 1471 total citations. Her top-cited journal paper, presenting research into mobile learning, has been cited 264 times. She is serving a 3-year term on the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (ISSoTL) Convenings Committee.

Topic: 

Educational Continuity Planning: Transitioning From Online Back To Face-To-Face Learning

Dr. Juergen Rudolph have more than 20 years of Higher Education Teaching experience as well as substantial Training and Facilitation experience. His research focus is on Higher Education and his current teaching focus areas (at undergraduate and postgraduate levels) are Knowledge Management, International Management, Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Business Research Methods.

In his role at Kaplan Higher Education Singapore, he is the Head of Research and a Senior Lecturer, as well as a Member of the Academic and Examination Boards. He is also the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching and also serve on additional Editorial Boards and as an Honorary Vice-President (International Research Development and Relations) of the Communication Institute of Greece.

Dr. Juergen has attained four postgraduate degrees: MA and PhD qualifications from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany), an MBA from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA and an M.Ed. from University of Adelaide, Australia. He also holds a Specialist Diploma in Applied Learning and Teaching from Republic Polytechnic, Singapore.

Topic: 

Exploring The Tension Between Assessments And Accreditation In Remote / Online Learning

Amanda is the Deputy Head (Education) of the Accounting Discipline in the UTS Business School and has been teaching accounting for almost two decades, focusing on auditing and assurance. She has won Faculty, University and national recognition for her use of technology to facilitate learning including video interviews to develop employability skills, online platforms for team-based learning and the use of social media to engage students. Amanda is also passionate about helping students learn auditing across the world through her YouTube channel Amanda Loves to Audit, with over 40,000 subscribers and 3.5 million views. Her experiences with large scale academic misconduct that have resulted in the development of a board game to help students better understand academic integrity and driven improvement in processes within her discipline area to support academics in investigating and reporting breaches of academic integrity standards.

Amanda’s expertise in the use of technology in teaching and assessment has been recognized by her selection as a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (MIEExpert) for 2020-21. She is also a member of the Education Board at Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, providing oversight of the professional qualification process for those candidates seeking to become Chartered Accountants.

Topic: 

Social Learning Through Remote Learning

Peter Reimann is Professor in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney where he co-directs the Centre for Research on Learning and Innovation (CRLI). His primary research area is the study of learning with emphases on educational computing, multimedia-based and knowledge-based learning environments, e-learning, and the development of evaluation and assessment methods for the effectiveness of computer-based technologies. Peter is well-known for his work on learning by self-explanation, on augmentation approaches to support computer-mediated group learning, and for his contributions to computer-based analysis of temporal data. His recent book Measuring and visualizing learning in the information-rich classroom has been published by Routledge.

Topic: 

RMIT Case Study: Teaching During COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

Linda is a co-founding member of Guerrilla Knowledge Unit, a transdisciplinary education plug-in that critically explores the conventions of Artificial Intelligence, coding, and algorithmic diversity to develop curated installations that enable young children to experiment with emergent technologies, AI, and coding.

Linda is also a co-founding member of #FEAS Feminist Educators Against Sexism, an arts activist collective that uses irreverence, comedy and arts interventions to challenge and call out sexism in academia.

Linda has an extensive publications record in the areas of philosophies of education, arts and education, experimental methodologies, has also been awarded arts research grants and prizes with international reach and impact, this includes works in 15 exhibitions in Australia, UK, USA, Canada.

Topic: 

Get Immersed: How Swinburne University Adopting XR Continue To Deliver Interactive & Immersive Education Online During Ongoing COVID-19

Ambarish Kulkarni is a mechanical design engineer with a PhD on Development of an EV drivetrain for a small car. He specializes in mechanical design with focus on finite element, virtual and augmented reality. His research focuses on product design and development activities. He is best known for his work on the development of human centered products. He is currently working on design of medical, automotive process/products improvements using virtual and augmented reality tools. His current projects are on electric vehicle drivetrains, battery packaging, bushfire shelter and therapeutic sleep system designs. He is a specialist in using specialized virtual design tools with significant field and industry experience. Further applications of his research have included bio-mechanical modeling and virtual sub-system designs. He was in industrial R&D career and became a full-time academic since 2009. His current role is Senior Lecturer-Computer Aided Engineering, with research projects on development of Bombardier Trams, electric vehicle battery packaging, therapeutic sleep system design and bushfire shelters. His teaching focus is to enhance student engagement and learning through industry best practices (e.g.: Siemens industry 4.0) and recently embedding digital learning environments (DLEs) in his classes, including augmented virtual reality (AVR), finite element analysis (FEA), and 3D printing. He led the creation and delivery of the first Industry 4.0 unit in Australia all , this included the creation of a first of its kind digital twin project based on industry 4.0. Over the course of the class students explored for the first time key concepts in Internet of Things (IoT), AVR tools, mobile applications, product lifecycle management (PLM) and business case studies, which were applied in developing their own digital twin, based on our cyber physical factory. He is a Fellow member of the Institution of Engineers-Australia, member- Society of Automotive Engineers-International and American Society of Mechanical Engineers-USA.

Topics: 

• Synchronous vs Asynchronous Online Learning: Combining The Best Of Both Worlds
• Panel Discussion: Where We Go From Here In Transforming Into An Integrated Digital And Virtual Campus?

Dr Prestridge is known nationally and internationally as an expert in digital pedagogies based on research into the integration of computers in classrooms for over 20 years. Her research intersects the study of pedagogy, online learning and professional development. Due to her extensive collaborations with Distance Education, she was able to support schools, teachers and students during the remote home-schooling period on designing quality teaching and flexible anytime learning opportunities. In 2020, she received national recognition as the top scholar in the field of Teaching and Teacher Education and was independently recognized by the peak education body, AITSL, as the Australian expert in Online Education.

Topic: 

Educational Continuity Planning: Transitioning From Online Back To Face-To-Face Learning

Dr Joseph Crawford is an Academic at the University of Tasmania. Dr Crawford’s primary research interest is leadership and behavioral theory and development, specifically as it relates to higher education, student development, academic development, management, human resource management, organisational behavior, and organisational psychology.

Before joining academia, Joseph worked within education and management roles. Through managerial roles and employment within the private education industry, Joseph developed a well-grounded understanding of practical issues in management and leadership. Joseph undertook his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania with a focus on defining and measuring authentic leader behaviors. Dr Crawford founded a sustainable men’s grooming product company, Fifth Estate Co., and carbon negative gin distillery Negative Distillery, with recognition nationally for his innovative research and development.

Topic: 

Students’ Real Learning Experience From Remote: The Swinburne Experience

Feng Wang is Professor of Chemistry at Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology and Theme Leader of Center for Translational Atomaterials (CTAM) at Swinburne University of Technology (SUT). Feng is a lead theoretical/computational chemist, she has published nearly 200 peer reviewed articles in her career. Feng is Fellow of RACI (2001-) and Fellow of the AIP (2010-).

Professor Wang developed a new 3rd year undergraduate unit CHE30006 “Computational and Advanced Organic Chemistry” for BSc students in 2014. This second semester unit contains 48 hours with 24 hour lectures and 24 hour computer laboratory work with a 40-60% project component. In this unit, the students are learning through doing their projects. Last semester, i.e., Semester 2, 2020 Victorians suffered from the pandemic lockdown and this unit had minimum impact and achieved the largest student number with more impressive student participation rate for unit activities than previous years.

Topic: 

Masterclass: Creating Personalized Teaching And Learning With Learning Analytics

Danny is a molecular biologist by training, programmer by night, researcher and academic developer by day, and educator at heart. A multiple international and national teaching award winner, he works at the confluence of learning analytics, student engagement, educational technology, and professional development and leadership to enhance the student experience. He is currently an Associate Professor in the DVC (Education) Portfolio at the University of Sydney, where he leads academics and staff across the institution in educational innovation, blended and online teaching, and the effective use of learning analytics to improve student learning and experience.

Danny also leads a cross-institutional team that develops and supports a multiple award winning learning analytics platform, the Student Relationship Engagement System, that empowers educators to capture, curate, analyse, and use relevant data to enhance student engagement and foster stronger relationships between students and educators. Currently in use at five Australian universities, the platform is freely available to collaborating institutions.

Topic: 

Student-Centered Approach In Remote Teaching

Vanessa Stafford is the Academic Learning Manager at Kaplan Business School. Through that role, she assists both new and established educators, across their five Australian campuses, to teach in a student-centered way, in workshop-style lessons. She also manages the school’s team of Academic Learning Advisors, giving her a unique insight into students’ learning experiences both within and outside of class.

With an English language teaching background, Vanessa is passionate about student-centered learning that puts the learner and their needs first, before addressing the curriculum. Over her ten years of EALD teaching, she has learned the value in having a diverse classroom, facilitated to allow students to learn from each other as much as from the teacher.

Her Masters of Learning Sciences and Technology, from the University of Sydney, helped her to support her online educators to teach well in the online space. That training became instrumental in allowing her to support her entire teaching facility during 2020. From that experience, she is currently focussing on ensuring student-centered teaching and learning is still being practiced as we continue to offer our students online learning experiences.

In line with the creative endeavor of teaching, Vanessa loves to create music, dance, and design houses. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband, son, and cat.

Topic: 

Enabling Strategies For Digital Tools And Learning Analytics, Which Actively Build Online Learning Engagement

Jennifer Stokes is an award-winning educator, who specializes in digital media and enabling pedagogy. She is a Senior Lecturer who coordinates courses in digital and information literacy at UniSA College, Education Futures (University of South Australia). Her doctorate explores enabling pedagogy, and she received a 2018 Australian Award for University Teaching citation for leadership in this area. Her background in digital media production and her commitment to social inclusion inform an innovative approach to quality digital learning and student engagement.

Topic: 

Next Generation Digital Learning Environments Meets Next Generation Digital Practice And Remote Teaching

A/Prof Marcus O’Donnell is Director Cloud Learning Futures at Deakin University Melbourne where he oversees course renewal and a range of strategic innovation projects. He leads work on CloudFirst approaches to teaching and learning which puts the online experience at the heart of learning design. This included the world first Degrees at FutureLearn Project which saw Deakin become the first university to launch a suite of degrees on a MOOC platform. He has held several roles since joining Deakin in 2016 including Director Digital Learning and Pro Vice-Chancellor Teaching and Learning. Prior to this he was Head, Digital Pedagogies at University of Wollongong and was one of the academic leads on the UOW Curriculum Transformation Project (CTP) an ambitious five-year project to review and transform the curriculum of all UOW degrees. He began his academic career as a lecturer in journalism and then convenor of the journalism program at UOW, following on from a career as a journalist, editor and health and human services consultant. His research interests include multidisciplinary approaches to narrative and storytelling; student wellness, resilience and contemplative education; and learning design and narratives of teaching and learning for a digital world.

Topic: 

Engaging The Online Learner Through Simulated Business Contexts

Dr Mo Kader is a business and commerce professional with over 20 years’ experience in medium and large businesses in Australia and globally. He has worked in private enterprise, research and higher education. He has also established several businesses since 1998. Mo is a visiting Associate Professor of Management and a Senior Lecturer in several universities and higher education providers in Sydney.

Mo was foundational Board member the Australian Society for Training and Development Incorporated. He is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Training and Development. He is a Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute and of the Institute of Leaders and Managers. Mo is a Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM) and Certified Practicing Human Resources Professional (CAHRI). He is an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has served on the national committee of Workers Educational Association. He is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of a higher education institution and has served as Academic Board member and as Governing Council member in two other institutions.

Mo holds a PhD in Biotech Commercialisation, a Master of Science, Bachelor of Science, Master of Business Administration and a Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma in Business Management. He also holds a Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Education.

Topic: 

How Digital Simulations And Serious Gamified Teaching Methodologies Drive Better Learning Experience And Higher Student Engagement In Higher Education – Maximizing Student Support And Outcomes With Simulation Based Learning

Gillian Vesty, Associate Professor in the College of Business, RMIT University, member of CPA Australia, IMA ANZ Chapter, Treasurer Simulation Australasia (SimAust) and Games for Change G4C APAC Board.  Gillian is on the editorial board of Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal and has received grants from the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA, US), International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), HRH Prince of Wales Accounting for Sustainability Project (A4S) and CPA Australia Global Research Funds. With a background career in the healthcare industry, Gillian has a keen interest in hospital funding models and developing games for change. Her award-winning serious games and simulations in management accounting (www.kilgors.com) extend to around 20,000 users globally with a recent development of a serious game of business ethics, “Bogart” (www.cpdaccounting.com).  Her current projects include an international clinical trial using digital gamified technologies to enhance the patient surgical journey and a simulation developed to address the nuances of healthcare funding for students in accounting and digital health.