Educational Experience Project
Empowering Educators to Shape the Future of Learning at ECU City
The Educational Experience (EdEx) team makes up one of the many streams of project-based work to support the full commissioning of ECU City opening in Semester 1 2026.
ECU City positions ECU as a global leader in higher education. This state-of-the-art campus is an ambitious and innovative educational centrepiece, designed to drive transformational change in higher education through contemporary learning spaces and emerging technologies infused with culture, creativity, and the activation of community.
The ECU City EdEx team supports this ambition. Our purpose is to cultivate positive, productive relationships to transform teaching and enrich learning. We work alongside our colleagues to inspire educator and learner agency through curiosity, confidence, connection, and engagement. At its core, we explore together how staff teach and how students learn by intentionally integrating pedagogical practices, spaces, and technologies.
Image Left: ECU City is located at the heart of the Perth CBD. Opening in semester one, 2026.
The EdEx team achieves this purpose through the co-design of dynamic and pragmatic professional learning experiences for staff that foster reflective practice, personal growth and intentional teaching. By strengthening inclusive, innovative, and future-ready educators and learning environments, together we:
- Integrate authentic active learning experiences,
- Leverage digital tools, emerging technologies and AV infrastructure,
- Reframe learning spaces as flexible and adaptable, and
- Support sustainable growth, diverse communities and personalised learning.
Professional Learning Program
Just as no two students learn the same way, the professional learning program recognises that no two educators teach, assess, design curriculum, or support learning the same.
The professional learning program is grounded in authenticity, drawing on the lived experiences of our educators, situated within Pilot Spaces at Joondalup and Mount Lawley campuses. The Pilot Spaces are replicas of the Learning Spaces and Digital Learning Spaces at ECU City. The Pilot Spaces provide a safe and progressive learning environment to ideate, practice, and refine the diverse and dynamic ways teaching and learning can happen at ECU City.
Co-facilitating the professional learning program in the Pilot Spaces aims to:
- Support staff confidence and capabilities to design inclusive and equitable learning experiences.
- Boost staff and student self-efficacy to authentically engage in active learning experiences across spaces and modes.
- Harness digital tools and emerging technologies to create consistent, personalised learning experiences for diverse learners.
- Optimise AV and spatial design to shape innovative, accessible and future-ready learning environments.
- Collaborate with colleagues to design educational experiences that foster sustainable and distinctive growth in everyday teaching and learning practices.
The EdEx team has several professional learning community initiatives in place, with more in progress, including:
- Informal, hands-on practice sessions where colleague’s drop-in to build confidence and skill with the technologies and spaces
- Timetabled teaching in the Pilot Spaces for immersive teaching and learning that provide educators and learners with authentic experiences centred on the convergence of active learning, technologies and spatial design, situated within the unique context of that unit
- Range of professional learning initiatives (group-based learning)
- Range of interactive, multimodal resources (self-paced learning)
- Communications and good practice stories (whole-of-institution reach)
- Pilot Space Champions
- Student voice initiatives…and more
In practical terms, the program will evolve and grow in response to our staff’s (and students’) emergent professional learning needs and the broader Curriculum Transformation Program.
About Our Spaces
The design of ECU City teaching spaces reimagines and transforms how learning and teaching happen. These innovative learning environments purposefully integrate pedagogy, space and technology to create inclusive, flexible and technology-rich learning contexts. Moving beyond traditional classrooms, the Learning Space supports learner interaction, growth and autonomy, while the Digital Learning Space enables multimodal collaboration, experimentation, and curation through interactive digital tools. But don’t just take our word for it; explore the Pilot Spaces for yourself and discover first impressions from ECU educators. The Pilot Spaces replicate ECU City’s innovative learning environments, empowering educators as learning designers to foster active, learning-centred experiences that enhance engagement, creativity and meaningful connections.
A key innovation is fostering inclusion and access through learning partnerships. The Pilot Spaces are designed to support diverse needs, featuring Voice Uplift speakers in the ceiling to ensure clear audio projection to all corners of the room. Every space includes a height-adjustable student table(s) and a facilitator bench to support accessibility. Throughout 2025, the EdEx team will continue to collaborate with staff and students, refining and ideating how to best leverage technology, spatial design and pedagogical practices to foster a deeper sense of belonging within ECU’s diverse learning community.
Building confidence in the pilot spaces takes effort and practice. This sentiment was best captured through a staff member’s reflection:
Using these [pilot] learning spaces feels like learning to ride a bike. A bit wobbly at first but getting steadier as I use it.
The EdEx team supports colleagues as they personalise how and why these dynamic innovative learning environments can help them achieve their teaching and learning goals.
Engagement in the many professional learning opportunities in the Pilot Spaces enables staff and students to build confidence and steadiness in their teaching and learning practices.
How this project aligns with our broader organisational mission, goals and initiatives
ECU’s purpose is to transform lives and enrich society. The EdEx team takes inspiration from this, cultivating positive and productive relationships to transform teaching and enrich learning. In concert with supporting individual and collective growth, the EdEx goal aligns with ECU’s Strategic Plan 2022-2026, in particular,
Goal 1: Deliver an exceptional student experience for success in work and life
Goal 4: Empowering the talent and potential of our staff
Goal 5: Securing our future
In addition to helping achieve our ECU City Campus ambitions, the work of the EdEx team integrates and supports two other ECU flagships: the whole-of-institution Curriculum Transformation Program and the student internships and employability agenda.
Curriculum Transformation
The expansive professional learning program outlined above seeds and aligns with the Curriculum Transformation Program, providing many scaffolded opportunities to practice, apply, reflect on, and refine how daily teaching practices enable successful pursuits in curriculum, assessment, and the student learning experience.
Student Internships
The EdEx team is proud of its role in supporting student-paid internships. Student interns will work closely with the team, developing their talents, skills and career horizons while exploring innovative and equitable approaches to teaching, learning, technology, learning modes and spatial interactions.
Learn more and be part of the journey!
If you are an ECU staff member, find out more about the Educational Experience project by clicking below.
