Future-Focused Learning: ECU’s Curriculum Transformation Program

In today’s rapidly evolving educational landscape, universities face a pivotal challenge: how do we prepare students for a world shaped by artificial intelligence, global complexity, and the shifting realities of modern life? At Edith Cowan University (ECU), we are addressing this challenge through our Curriculum Transformation Program (CTP)—a forward-looking, institution-wide initiative that reimagines how learning is designed, delivered, and assessed. The program places students, staff, and the future of education at the heart of its vision.

Why We’re Transforming

The higher education sector is undergoing seismic shifts, driven by technological disruption, evolving student expectations, and broader societal change. A big part of this transformation is the rise of generative AI, which is fundamentally altering how students engage with – and what they learn from – curriculum and assessment. Traditional models of evaluation, often reliant on written submissions and individual tasks, are increasingly vulnerable to automation. This allows students to bypass the learning that used to be an assumed outcome of preparing an assignment.

At the same time, the profile of the university student is changing. Many are balancing study with employment, caregiving responsibilities, and financial pressures, making flexibility and relevance essential. Students are not only seeking knowledge, but they’re also looking for practical skills, work readiness, and ethical engagement with the world around them. Feedback from ECU’s own student surveys highlights a desire for courses that connect theory to practice, support diverse learning needs, and reflect contemporary values such as inclusion, sustainability, and social justice.

These pressures are not unique to ECU. National policy directions, including the Australian Universities Accord, and sector-wide guidance from TEQSA on assessment reform in the age of AI, have called for a rethinking of curriculum and pedagogy. The Accord emphasises the need for scalable, equitable, and high-quality education, while TEQSA advocates for assessment approaches that are inclusive, contextualised, and resilient to technological disruption.

What Is Programmatic Learning?

Programmatic learning is a whole-of-course approach that replaces fragmented unit-based models with coherent, integrated learning journeys. Every unit contributes to the development of Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs), which reflect four key graduate capabilities:

• Global orientation
• Social justice
• Employability
• Life-long learning

Rather than relying on isolated assessments and grades, students will engage in authentic learning experiences, receive ongoing feedback, and curate evidence of their development and growth. This model empowers students to take ownership of their learning and supports staff to focus on impactful teaching.

Courses and Units: What’s Changing

One of the most significant shifts in ECU’s Curriculum Transformation Program is how courses and units are structured. Traditionally, courses have been made up of standalone units, each with its own assessments and learning outcomes. While this allowed for flexibility, it often meant that students experienced their learning in disconnected pieces, with limited clarity on how each unit contributed to their overall development.

Under the new model, courses will be designed as coherent learning journeys. Each course will explicitly develop four key graduate capabilities: global awareness, social justice, employability, and lifelong learning. These will be embedded in the Course Learning Outcomes, which guide the entire course structure.

To support this, ECU is introducing two new types of units:

• Learning Units will focus on developing knowledge, skills and dispositions through activities and regular feedback. These units won’t include assessments or numerical Instead, students will receive guidance and support to build evidence of their own learning.
• Assessment Units are where students will integrate and apply their learning from the Learning Units, and assess students’ development of the Course Learning Outcomes. These units will use numerical grades or pass/fail and will occur at key stages in the course. They’re designed to ensure students are developing all the capabilities needed to be successful in the course and after graduation.

When it comes to electives, students will choose from a range of options, but it will be made clear how these are aligned with the course’s learning outcomes. This ensures that, no matter what a student chooses, it contributes meaningfully to their development in the course.

Courses will also include structured progression, with clear expectations at each stage. Students will need to demonstrate their development of the Course Learning Outcomes to move forward, and ultimately to graduate. This helps students feel confident that they’re meeting all the outcomes that employers expect from graduates of their course, and creates a more cohesive and supportive learning environment.

Finally, ECU is refining its Unit learning modes as part of ensuring quality and consistency across all modes. Units will be available either on-campus, online, or in mixed-mode, in which a purposeful mix of online and on-campus engagement is designed by the Unit Coordinator, as appropriate for the Unit. Work-integrated Learning will also form two additional learning modes, recognising the growing importance of workplace learning.

Supporting Diverse Learners

The Curriculum Transformation Program (CTP) is built on a strong foundation of equity, inclusion, and accessibility. It recognises the diverse realities of contemporary students and aims to create a learning environment where all can succeed.

Key drivers include:

• Work and caregiving responsibilities: Many students balance study with employment or family care. The CTP requires that course teams intentionally design course structures and learning modes for their cohort of students.
• Demand for flexibility: With over 60% of ECU students studying at least one unit online, the transformation ensures consistent, high-quality experiences across all learning
• Financial pressures: Rising living costs and limited student income mean that it’s essential that we maximise the time we have with students through opportunities for student engagement.
• Values-driven learning: Students increasingly seek education that reflects ethical, inclusive, and socially relevant themes—now embedded in course design and learning outcomes.

By redesigning courses to be inclusive, accessible, coherent and consistent, ECU is creating a more equitable and supportive environment for all learners.

Aligning with National Priorities

The CTP aligns closely with the Australian Universities Accord, which calls for expanded access, improved outcomes for equity groups, and scalable, high-quality education. It also supports compliance with the Higher Education Standards Framework, particularly in:

• Course coherence: Ensuring every unit contributes meaningfully to Course Learning Outcomes.
• Assessment integrity: Adopting programmatic assessment to support trustworthy evaluation.
• Graduate readiness: Embedding capabilities that prepare students for ethical, employable, and lifelong learning.

Through this transformation, ECU is reaffirming its role as a relevant, trusted, and future-focused institution.

Looking Ahead

The Curriculum Transformation Program is more than a policy; it’s a cultural shift. It challenges us to rethink what it means to teach, to learn, and to graduate in the 21st century.

With 18 pilot courses underway in 2025, ECU is leading the way in future-focused education. The CTP represents a bold step towards a more coherent, inclusive, and future-ready model of higher education. By reimagining how learning is structured, assessed, and supported, the program positions ECU at the forefront of educational innovation—preparing graduates not just to succeed in a changing world, but to thrive and lead within it.

More detailed information about the transformation will be released progressively as the program evolves and we look forward to sharing this important journey with you.