The Future Curtin Experience: Amy’s story
Innovation is more than creativity; it’s about bringing great ideas into reality.At Curtin, we believe in the ability of ordinary people to make extraordinary things happen. We believe that people who bring ideas to reality can make the world a better place.
So, what will our future feel like?
This is Amy’s story,
It’s 6am on Monday and Amy is up early with a full day of classes ahead, followed by hockey training and then her shift at the local café,starting at 6.30pm.
First things first - Amyuses her tech-band to login to her Curtin portal where she connects with Janice, her virtual support assistant and all round lifesaver, who helps her get organised for the day with the latest news about weather and traffic conditions as well as reminders about upcoming exams and assignments, suggestions on study groups and 3-d training scenarios available for her to fine tune her practical skills.
The year is 2025 and Amy’s approach to study and the qualifications she hopes to gain are quite different to what many of us experienced. Instead of choosing a course from a list of available undergraduate degrees, Amy researched the most valued skills needed by a successful manager and organisational leader and married those with her creative nature, strengths in communication, media technology and interests in social and cultural evolution.She built her own path through the curriculum aided by Janice and Curtin’s online handbook, MyCourseMap.
Amy set the foundations for her future starting with her first year out of school, working four days a week as an assistant in a major construction company, while completing a number of free online courses and serious challenges through Curtin Onlinewhich earned her a series of badgesin personal, team and community leadership, culture and heritage, communication and interpersonal skills. Some of her experiences wereformally assessed and gained her credits toward Certificates in Business Communication and Leadership and advanced standing when she enrolled.
With some money saved and a practical understanding of cultural and communication issues within a large organisation, Amy decided it was time tobegin study full time.
Before enrolling Amy took a tour of CurtinLive – a virtual duplicateof the campus and its global community- and a digital home base for everything Curtin has to offer from virtual workplaces, studios, classrooms, libraries, conferences and networking events to research projects, chat rooms, study groups and business incubators.
With more than a million members from all over the world students like Amy can tap into the expertise of business and industry leaders, teaching academics, and researchers, as well as past and present students.
After connecting on CurtinLivewith a course and career counsellor, Amy enrolled in four introductory units in business, marketing, transmedia communication and population activation. She’ll join an online study group for extra support when ever she wants while doing most of her units face-to-face, mostly because she loves the vibe on campus. It’s a huge place, a city in its own right, with a light rail and cafes, markets, cinema, shops, restaurants and bars all within a cool, environmentally “green” sustainable campus! There’s even a man-made river running through the middle that is the campus fresh water supply. Adding to the vibe, Greater Curtin is an incubator for some of the best minds and most innovative business ideas in Australia with people from all over the globe drawn here to be part of this global future.
Curtin’s world leading researchers were part of the design team, along with teaching academics and properties specialists, responsible for creating the original Greater Curtin Master Plan more than a decade ago. They continue as an innovation team constantly connected to the Greater Curtin global community who together create and refine our future story.
Because Curtin haspartner campuses all over the world and a network of organisations linked to work integrated learning and community leadership programs,Amy can choose to spend some time studying pretty much anywhere in the world for an immersive cultural learning experience. The construction company Amy works for now is one of Curtin’s international Work Integrated Learning partners and they have agreed to provide mentorship and supervised part-time and vacation work so Amy can apply her skills in a practical work environment.
Monday and Wednesday Amy has a pretty full in-class schedule; she works at Buildit Constructions on Tuesday’s and her group meet on CurtinLive at least twice a week to work on their transmedia marketing campaign assignment.
The responsive digital experience at Curtin helps Amy stay in touch with a range of support programs and extracurricular activities that ensure she gets the best and most relevant education possible to help her achieve her career goals. It’s just the beginning of what Amy knows will be a lifelong relationship with Curtin and learning.
Turns out, there has been a pretty heavy storm overnight and some roads are blocked with detours being setup which could cause traffic delays. Her first class is at 8am in building 410, a high tech education facility set up for collaborative synchronous learning across multiple time zones within the Asia Pacific region.
Janice, her Oasis generated personal assistant, suggests that Amy join the marketing workshop through CurtinLive. Using the 3-D headset she purchased from UniTech, Amy will be able to join the discussion and participate in activities without physically leaving home. More than half this class are remote students who take part using this 3d virtual reality technology.
Janice also offers to book a rehearsal with CurtinLive Toastmasters in preparation for her upcoming presentation on body language and communication and suggests Amy log in for a live streaming of US transmedia expert Jeff Gomez’ seminar on population activation and social disadvantage.
It’s Curtin’s learning analytics program that makes Janice such a useful assistant. This program stores information about Amy’s study progress and personal interests and matches it against opportunities on campus, whether it’s changes to hockey training times or a meeting of the Media and Art Design Association, a leadership workshop or a study group meeting, or social and networking events.
Learning analytics is really useful for our academic staff too. It provides quick and ready insights into trouble spots within the curriculum where students might need extra attention and which areas can be worked through more quickly.
Amy’ssuccess story really comes down to one very special group of people –Curtin’s staff , the soul of the university. Amy and her friends and family are continuously astounded by the passion and ingenuity staff share with her.
Change can be a challenge, and at Curtin we listen, respond by designing with people in mind, and continually review and refine because we recogniseCurtin’s future is constantly evolving. We need people who are curious, persistent, and ambitious. Peoplewho are willing to try new things without fearing failure, who can find patterns, and create connections: These are the game changers who will shape our future and make tomorrow better.