An Introduction to Learning and Teaching at ECU From our DVCE, Professor Rowena Harper

About Learning and Teaching at ECU

Part of ECU’s vision is to lead the sector in the educational experience, and to achieve that we are committed to every student’s success. We are incredibly proud to have achieved five stars for teaching quality for seventeen straight years in the Good Universities Guide, and to be the top public university in Australia for the overall undergraduate and postgraduate student experience (QILT SES 2023). To sustain that, ECU’s Strategic Plan 2022-2026 outlines the following goal:

We will continue to deliver contemporary learning experiences and personalised support to provide agile responses to the changing needs and expectations of our students, graduates, industry and communities.

In 2024, a challenge for all universities is that these needs and expectations are changing more rapidly than ever before. This is particularly in response to artificial intelligence (AI), the Australian Universities Accord, and – in Australia at least – a product of the evolving and increasingly complex nature of university students’ lives.

Curriculum Transformation

ECU’s Curriculum Transformation Program confronts these challenges. It asks what higher education should look like now to ensure it is contemporary, inclusive, equitable and scalable. From 2025-2028 it will implement an ECU approach to programmatic learning, in line with the TEQSA guidance in assessment reform for the age of artificial intelligence. As part of that it will also incorporate the productive, ethical, and critical use of AI in all courses.

In evolving ECU’s courses in response to AI, the program provides a critical opportunity to intentionally consider how curriculum, assessment, and teaching practice support participation and success for students from equity groups. Transforming our courses also provides an opportunity to address the issues that students tell us are impacting their lives the most: the environment, mental health, and the cost of living.

ECU City

ECU City will be home to 10,000 students and staff when it opens in Semester One, 2026. Including Business and Law, Emerging Technologies, Broadcasting and Digital Journalism, the WA Academy of Performing Arts, Kurongkurl Katitjin, Arts and Creative Industries, and the WA Screen Academy, the campus represents a collision of creativity, technology and business.

For learning and teaching, the campus is designed around the vision of ‘active learning at scale’. All learning spaces – whether low tech and highly flexible, or digitally enabled with the latest hardware and software – were designed using a pedagogy-first approach. They intentionally support active learning by individuals and small and large groups, both formally in our teaching spaces, and informally throughout the diversity of study spaces distributed around the campus.

I am particularly excited about Kaarlak, which translates from Noongar to ‘home’ in English. This two-level learning precinct at the heart of the campus on floors four and five will house our Library Collection and Services, Learning Support, Career Service, e-Lab and more. I look forward to sharing more about this space and other innovative student support spaces in the coming months.

What’s Coming Next?

Like all learning and teaching initiatives at ECU, these projects are highly collaborative. I am therefore keen to share stories from across our academic and professional areas about how they have been leading and supporting different aspects of these significant pieces of work.

We have also brought a strong focus on student engagement to these projects, so you can expect to hear more from our students about what they are seeking in their courses and their campuses.