Broadband and the Impact on Education
Broadband has the potential to radically transform the educational landscape. Coupled with access to the Internet, it has the potential to decrease the time it takes to learn a subject, increase grade point averages, increase course completion rates and, particularly important for Australia, provide rural and regional Australia with access to the same teaching resources as metropolitan areas, particularly important given the chronic shortage of teaching resources experienced. However educational institutions, particularly universities, are highly complex organisations with geographically dispersed campuses, culturally diverse stakeholders, multiple interfaces to the external world, and a multiplicity of different discipline-specific users. At the same time universities have a commitment to deliver a meaningful learning experience to their students. How can a university such as the University of Wollongong, which has a very strong commitment to student engagement and experience, still deliver on this promise while delivering courses over a broadband network? This presentation considers what overseas experience can teach us and then focuses on four case studies developed at the University of Wollongong. In four completely different disciplinary areas, broadband is anticipated to radically transform the program content and delivery mechanisms of courses, ultimately impacting not just the educational experience, but the culture of the community, the quality of healthcare, and the economic development of the Illawarra region and beyond.
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Elizabeth Eastland's Biography
Ms Elizabeth Eastland was appointed Director of Commercial Research and Innovation & Technology Transfer in August 2010. In this capacity she is responsible for the Innovation Strategy at the University including contract research negotiation, business development, Cooperative Research Centres, Technology Transfer, IP strategy, and the Innovation Ecosystem.
Prior to this she was the Vice President, Strategy and Business Development with the Optics Group, Alcatel HQ, Paris, and before this General Manager, Space & Strategic Marketing with Alcatel Australia.
Elizabeth has twenty years’ experience in telecommunications Research and Development, Technical Management, Business Development, M&A and Strategic Planning, and during that time has held Senior Executive roles with Alcatel, Optus, Optus Vision, GEC Plessey and NorTel Australia and research roles at Bell Northern Research in Research Triangle Park, USA and Nun’s Island, Canada.
Elizabeth has a BA in Computer Science and Creative Writing, with Distinction from Concordia University, Montreal, and received her Executive MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management, UNSW, winning both the Alumni Scholarship and Alumni Prize. She has been the recipient of a number of awards including being Alcatel Corporate Executive in 2001 and 2002, Top 100 business women in Australia, Business Class Magazine, Dec/Jan 1999, recipient of the AGSM Alumni Prize in 1999 and the AGSM Alumni Scholarship 1998 from UNSW.
Elizabeth is currently completing her PhD in Film and Digital Arts at the Sydney College of the Arts, Sydney University. She was awarded the Academic Achievement Award (dux), from the National Art School in 2010 where she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts. She has won many awards and been in several exhibitions. She was also Gold Medallist at the Canadian Tae Kwondo Championships in 1982 and 1983 and Silver Medallist at the Pan American Tae Kwondo Championships, Ecuador in1984.
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