Building the Decentralised Web in Canberra

Greetings from the start of Solid 2026 Hackathon: Building the Decentralised Web in Canberra, at the Australian National University. Solid is a standard from the W3C, the people who look after the web. It allows individuals to decide who has access to their data. Solid uses  Personal Online Data Stores (PODS) which hold user data & they can choose who can read it. The problem, as I see it, is what would motivate for-profit companies and government agencies, to use the Solid standard, when their business is based on appropriating user data. Perhaps some of the teams today can come up with some business models to make Solid profitable.

Telstra Mobile Network Failure

Faults reported to DownDetector, on 8 July 2026.

Telstra's mobile phone network failed just before 4 am today. The Australian Science Media Centre (AusSMC) asked for expert comment, so I wrote a couple of paragraphs about it: 

"Telstra's mobile network problems appear to have started just before 4 am today, based on faults reported to DownDetector. The problem peaked just after 6:30 am, with a steady improvement since then.

Apart from consumers' phones, the network is used for transport & mobile payment systems.

It is too early to say what the cause was, but from past experience I expect it was due to a software upgrade which went wrong, not an attack.

One way you can protect yourself at home from such outages is to have phones on different networks.

A widespread long-duration outage, particularly of the Testra network, could be very inconvenient. But it is not going to be catastrophic."

Just as a household can cushion the effects of the loss of one network by having phones on different networks, financial and transport companies can have a backup network programmed into their systems. This will cost a little more, but allow service to continue when one network goes down, for whatever reason." 

AI Teaching People to Assemble Flatpack Furniture and Drones

Greetings from the School of Computing at the Australian National University, where Jiahao Zhan is explaining how videos can automatically be aligned with assembly diagrams. Anyone who has ever tried to put an Ikea flatpack together will under stand the value of this. You have a printed sheet and might even have a video demonstration, but how do they go together? Zhan's software turns the video into a set of step by step instructions. 

Zhan has spent time at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories. As it happens Mitsubishi is building frigates for the Australian navy. Robot assembly could be used to speed construction. More locally, I had a technician in my home this week, trying to work out how to replace the motor in my Mitsubishi air-conditioner. ;-)

Apart from reducing the frustration with DIY, and teaching robots to assemble, this has applications in medical procedures and maintenance of safety critical infrastructure. As an example, in the past a large team of people would spend years producing maintenance training materials for a new aircraft. However, UAVs are now being designed, built and put into use within a few months, and being constantly updated. The operator needs to be able to assemble the UAV from a kit of parts in the field. Deployment can't be held up while instructional videos are produced, but correct assembly is a matter of life and death. 

ps: The seminar also demonstrated the hybrid mode. In addition to a room full of people, there were some on Zoom. At question time it was imply a matter of switching on the audio from the remote participant, so they could ask.

Listening for Teaching

Manisha Khetarpal

It now seems a lifetime ago when I came across Manisha Khetarpal's Microlearning Series of online events for educators, from Canada, during the darkest days of COVID-19. Manisha talked me into presenting a a talk in the series, which grew to a series of five on "Engaging students in the online environment". Manisha's latest venture is "Teaching for Listening" a chapter of the free open e-book Open Education in a Good Way: Rediscovering Together on the Land. 

The book is a collection of articles, which apparently came from an event at Jasper National Park. It is very difficult to work out what exactly this was, from the introduction by Darrion Letendre. However, Manisha' chapter is a lot easier to follow, describing a Listening Continuum Framework, derived from learning with Indigenous colleagues and students. 

Manisha describes intentional listening as a process for "respectful, relational learning environments". While framed for indigenous pedagogy, this could be usefully applied in any classroom, or with online learning. It provides a useful counter to the AI driven rush to push content onto students, and a solution to the problem of students submitting AI generated work. 

This approach is reminiscent of Johnnie Moore's "Unhurried Conversations", as detailed in his book "Unhurried: What's possible beyond busyness?". However, Manisha focuses on education, a rubric is presented with four levels (Not yet, to Consistent), & three criteria (presence; understanding & action; discernment & care). This is useful for taking a abstract idea and turning it into something a teacher can teach and assess. Rather than just measure output rubrics often only measure an individual final product, Manisha suggests assessing student's group learning. These are the "soft skills" which university administrators like to talk about, but academics don't like to tackle. However, combating AI based cheating will remain an impossible challenge if we just try to teach the same old way to assess the same old things.

UNSW Canberra Three Minute Thesis

Greetings from the Canberra round of the UNSW Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. I was one of the judges. As always this is difficult. It is a little like assessing student presentations, but needing a bit more entertainment value. 

Inclusion by design

Lorraine Finlay,
Human Rights Commissioner

Kylie De Courteney,
Managing Director,
NSW Telco Authority

Delighted to be chairing the panel on "Inclusion by design - The new frontier of digital trust" at Tech in Government 2026. The panel is Kylie De Courteney, Managing Director, NSW Telco Authority and Lorraine Finlay, Human Rights Commissioner. 

Chinese Government Endorses Pratice Based Degrees

Reporting in the China Daily, Zou Shuo wrote "Practice-based degree assessments gain traction" (2026-06-16). They report that a class from East China Normal University submitted novels for their master's degrees, while China Agricultural University students submitted fertilizer and produce production plans. This is not that unusual in Australia, particularly at the masters level. As it happens, one of my students undertook a project to design a video learning system. They are now studying for a PhD, while also teaching students using this type of technology. 

Australia has introduced a Vocational Degree which will allow students to study more practical skills at vocational institutes, rather than universities. 

ps: What makes this significant is that the China Daily is an official government newspaper. I visited the HQ of the other official newspaper, the People's Daily, in 2003. 

pps: Curiously, the LinkedIn and Twitter links have swapped labels on the China Daily page: if you place your pointer over the LinkedIn icon it says "Twitter" and for Twitter it says "LinkedIn".

Come and Build the Decentralised Web in Canberra at the Solid 2026 Hackathon

Solid Hackerthon Free Tickets

Just been talking to Jess Moore, who is organizing the Solid 2026 Hackathon. This is a free event anyone can sign up for 14 to 16 July 2026 at the the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) Canberra. This is run by the Australian National University's  Software Innovation Institute.  The Solid protocol (SOcially LInked Data) is a way to have secure data under the control of the owner and has been adopted as a standard by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), based on work by Tim Berners-Lee. As well as protecting personal information, this has application in military and security systems, where sensitive information needs to be provided on a need to know basis. This is particularly difficult when working with allies you don't entirely trust.

Improving Governance in Australian Universities

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has issued a report on Australian National University Financial Management (4 June 2026). The findings (five) and recommendations (three) are remarkably short and readable. This contains useful advice for any Australian university. ANAO found the university's income is not keeping up with its costs, but there is no intimidate financial crisis. It suggests not relying on an increase in international student numbers. ANAO suggest proposals for change come with a business case. 

In my submission to the Higher Education Review, I suggested no radical change was needed to how universities and vocational institutes do educaion in Australia. However universities need to be reminded their primary mission is to provide educated professionals for the workplace, and applied research for industry, supported by fundamental research. Addressing areas of need require universities to fund some programs and defend others, adding and shedding staff. Australia can  double down on the use of online, blended, and mobile learning. This will not only provide a cost effective way to meet domestic needs, but also open up a new international market. AI needs to be incorporated in learning, but as an enabler, & a skill for graduates, but this required no fundamental change to the system.

AI Education in a Box

Rose Luckin, Danny Liu, Sue Keay, & 
Tom Worthington in headphones at EduTech_AU. 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY 4 June 2026  

There was standing room only at EduTech_Au in Sydney today for "Beyond personalisation: Human-centred and equitable learning in the age of AI". Thanks to Danny Liu (University of Sydney), Rose Luckin (UCL Knowledge Lab and Sue Keay (UNSW AI Institute), putting up with my moderating. 

Audience in headphones
at EduTech_Au 2026. 
Photo by Tom Worthington, CC-BY 4 June 2026

Global events company Terrapinn has created a very workable formula for a combined trade-show and multi-stream conference. For EduTech_Au everything is contained in the one exhibition space at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. The trade exhibits are in the center of the floor. Around the sides and back of the space are multiple simultaneous conference presentations. 

As there are so many people in the room, all speaking at once, those attending a presentation have to wear headphones. Each presentation has a separate channel, with headphones lighting up in a color to indicate the channel (like a "silent disco"). A single presenter doesn't need headphones, but a panel does, as one panelist can't hear what another says. This sounds cumbersome, but works well, with sound which is clearer and more intimate, with the usual public address system. 

This system works on a larges scale at EduTech Asia, which I will be experiencing again, first hand, in November. 

Indigenous Education at Edutech Au

Greetings from the Edutech_Au conference at Darling Harbour in Sydney. I a moderating a session on AI and equity tomorrow morning. Today I am wandering around the exhibition. Most interesting is in the back right corner, with three booths from indigenous education organisations (TIPIAC, indigenous Literacy Foundation, Wingaru Education), with an adjacent series of talks.

Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon 2026

Registrations are open for the 2026 Humanitarian Innovation Hackathon at the University of Sydney, 17 to 19 July. Teams of undergraduate students will work world problems. There are prizes, but as with any hackerthon it is about learning to work together. I have volunteered to mentor. This will be my third time mentoring a hackerthon this year.

No Governance Crisis in Australian Universities

Julie Hare writes "It's a governance crisis, but why now precisely?" (The Hare Report, May 31, 2026). But is there a governance crisis? Some universities have very public problems, but only a tiny number. Other public & private organisations fail every day. Companies go into receivership, local government bodies are taken over by an administrator, public officials & private individuals are investigated for corruption. Provided these problems are addressed, no one says there is a "governance problem", just ordinary everyday hubris, incompetence and greed. Universities in Australia are almost all public non profit institutions, so more subject to public scrutiny. Perhaps that is why there seem to be more problems: they are more visible and we are expecting more of universities. 

In the mid 1990s, I looked at how Cambridge University did innovation (Cambridge live from a Double Decker Bus, 1999). In the process I talked to students, staff & leadership. One thing which struck me was that people who worked for the same institution had very different views, & in some cases a deep dislike for, each other. However, the place still worked, perhaps because, not dispute, this.

Australian universities had international students before the Dawkins reforms. However, these were on government scholarships, invited to Australia as part of a cold war hearts and minds campaign. More recently international students became a revenue source for universities, as well as a source of shovel ready migrants. This proved useful for government, offloading some cost of universities onto international students & providing a source of quality overseas workers. Universities failed to treat the international student fees as a windfall and bank the money for future need. 

There is no way to create a governing body for a university which will create harmony & perfect decision making. Be it federal cabinet, a company, or the bowls club, there is always conflict. Traditionally the VC ran the university, & the council grumbled about it. If you have a more active council, there will be more conflict. There is no solution, as such, except to select good people. But more staff & student representatives would be a start. 

COVID-19 and government controls on international student numbers have been challenges to universities. However, these will seem minor compared to shocks to come. In 2016 I warned that conflict in the region could result in most international students having to leave Australia. AI is challenging the way research and educaion are done. This may see the potential of online educaion, to be finally realized. These will require university councils to make difficult, rapid, existential decisions. 

Positive Persuasive LLMs

Dr Siying Hu at City University of Hong Kong talked on "Persuasive Simulations in the LLM Era" at the ANU AI, ML and Friends seminar. They suggested AI could be used in a positive way to counter the negative effects of social media and scammers. The Australian government is planning more support for the long term unemployed. Perhaps this technology could help build their confidence, as well as improving job seeking skills.  

Edutech Asia: What can Australia Learn About AI for Education?

I just paid my registration for EduTech Asia, in Singapore in November. Normally, I just wander around the exhibition and attend random sessions. This time I am on a mission, to find out what we should do with AI in Australian higher education. This is after completing the AI for Higher Education Faculty: Course by the Digital Education Council. The Australian National University paid for the course and prodded me to, reluctantly, do it. As with most learning, it wasn't a pleasant experience, but left me with the conviction there was something to this AI thing. 

CyberPath Occupations Framework Out for Consultation

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has issued a "Call For Feedback: Occupations Framework". The aim is to create a structure for describing cyber work in Australia. 

ANU University House Reopening in August

Marghanita da Cruz & Tom Worthington
at the ANU Celebration of Giving, in the
Great Hall of University House. 24 November 2014

Professor Peter Kanowski, Master of University House, at the Australian National University (ANU), has announced it will reopen in August. The complex, which includes accommodation, meetings rooms, a Great Hall, restaurants, bar and gardens, has been closed since 2020. A hailstorm smashed the roof, along with those of several building on campus. Being a historic older building, restoration has taken a long time. 

I hadn't released how central University House was to the functioning of the institution, until it was closed. In my submission on the AU's draft straggly, I suggesting reopening the building be a top priority. The lack of a venue for senior executives to discuss the running of the university informally may have contributed to recent governance issues. It will also be good to have more of those magical times in the great hall.  

Online Accessibility Course Accessible Online

Tom Worthington's certificate of completion
for the Accessibility Fundamentals course
from Intopia, 18 May 2026

In support of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), the ANU College of Systems and Society invited staff to compete a short Intopia Accessibility fundamentals online course. The course has a similar format to the "AI Literacy for All", from Digital Education Council, which I recently completed. But fortunately, the Intopia course is much, much shorter, and has closed captions, as well as transcripts for the short videos. This gives a brief introduction as to why accessibility is important and how to do it. 

The Sydney Olympics web accessibility case is mentioned in the course. As it happens I was one of the expert witnesses presenting evidence in the case. Not due to my expertise, but I was free, had a suit, & no conflict of interest. ;-)

The Beijing Olympic committee then invited me over to talk about it.  

AI for Higher Education Faculty: Course by the Digital Education Council

After congratulating myself for completing the short course "AI Literacy for All", by the Digital Education Council, I discovered there was another one "Certificate in AI for Higher Education - AI for Faculty", which perhaps I should have done instead. The "All" course was very short and simple, with content I already knew. The Faculty course is much longer (perhaps too long), with more depth (perhaps too much, with much I already knew). 

While providing a good introduction to AI for teaching staff, the course goes into too much detail on pedagogy, policy and projects. Much of this detail is material trained educators, administrators and project managers should already know. If they don't, they are only going to learn enough from a short course like this to get themselves, and their institution, into trouble. 

I suggest flipping the design: present the last section, from Singapore Management University (SMU), first. SMU provide practical techniques which educators could use to improve their teaching and reduce workload. The other material on policy and theory could be built on the back of that (or skipped for those of us already trained in it). As it is, the SMU material appears to be tacked on the end as an afterthought. Also I am still not sure exactly who, or what, the Digital Education Council is: how long has it been around, where is it based?

Synthetic Video Presentations

I had one "Wow!" moment in the course, with one video by Tamas Makany at SMU, about how to use an avatar for a training video. They explained how they used HeyGen software to create a video presentation featuring a synthetic version of themselves. It took a minute to realize that what I was looking at on the video was a an example of what was being discussed: it looked like a video of a real person. 

For several years I have been using text to speech software to create short video slide shows. These have a voice with an Australian male accent, which sounds remarkably like me. This use sa much simpler process than Dr Makany describes. I create a power-point presentation, with the narration for each slide in the notes. An online tool then turns that into a video. Being able to add a synthetic talking head would be useful. Dr. Chris Poskitt, also from SMU, described his use of a tool for adding questions to a presentation, unfortunately I couldn't work out what the tool was. The closed captions on the video were not available in English, which made it difficult. Also course system kept switching to high resolution video, which I kept switching back to low resolution, so my slow home wireless Internet modem could cope better. 

Course No Substitute for Teacher, Policy, or Project Training

The course gives a potted overview of teaching, but anyone teaching should know this stuff. There is an overview of how to do policy. There was a potted introduction on how to run an AI policy. However, as trained educator, I know about teaching and just need to know how to apply AI to this. As an experienced bureaucrat I know how to run policy processes, and don't need to be spoon fed this in an AI course. Similarly, as a certified computer professional I know how to run a project. The overviews of these areas in the course might be enough to give an untrained person the false impression they could do teaching, policy making or IT project management.

This course starts with a potted history of online learning and the application of AI to it. This history is somewhat short sighted, in that it claims online learning starts around the 1980s. I guess there isn't time for anything more detailed, but I am not sure why online learning need to be mentioned at all, as it is a separate topic from AI. You can do online learning without AI, and you can use AI for learning in a classroom. Is the Digital Education Council pushing a specific agenda? 

For me, the most significant insight from the course was the use of exiting learning tools enhanced with AI.  Tools such as drill and practice quizzes (Quizlet), lab simulations and chatbots can be created using AI. This can be done by the students themselves, with teacher guidance. This is an appealing approach, as it takes away some of the tedium creating the content for the tools, while retaining the teacher's oversight. It also involves students actively in their learning. 

More usefully Digital Education Council point to research they have done showing students across the world say they are already using AI. This is a useful wake-up call for educators who just wish AI would go away. But then some claims made I am not so sure about, for example that AI gives students instant feedback and that is a good thing. I am not so sure instant feedback is a good thing. We need to entourage students to think about the topic and the work they have done. If they get instant feedback from an apparently authoritative source, that cuts out reflection. However some of the pedagogy theory in the course is a bit dated, such as use of Bloom's Taxonomy.

The "AI Literacy for All" had videos with transcripts in multiple languages. However, this course appears to only have closed captions in English. This is a problem as I like to speed read through the transcript. Also some of the videos have no accompanying text. 

The course covers more than just Generative AI, including chatbots, which are applicable in education. In 2018 I took part in a workshop at University of Wollongong as part of the IEEE International Conference on Teaching, Assessment, and Learning for Engineering (TALE). Chi-Un Lei, Yuqian Chai, Xiangyu Hou, and Vincent Tam from University of Hong Kong, took us through using IBM Watson Assistant chatbot engine. My chatbot answered questions about an assignment deadline. It parsed the student's request for an extension and said "No". ;-) 

Some of the uses of AI proposed have ethical difficulties, such as an analysis of the student's performance across all courses and on phone calls. Other proposed uses are not new, such as analysis of the student's performance & personalization of lessons. Claims for these have been overstated. In a well design course it is possible to monitor student's performance & provide feedback via the regular assessment. 

Offering students ways to summarize their notes miss the point that the ability to summarize is one of the key ways students learn & is a skill valued by employers. 

No Dogfooding

Something which struck me a little way into my second Digital Education Council course on AI was the lack of dogfooding: that is doing what you advocate others do. That is, these are courses on how AI could be used in education, so where is the use of AI in these courses? 

Despite talking about how AI could be applied, these are very conventional online courses. There is a fixed linear structure: for each module you watch a video, read some readings, write some reflections, do a multiple choice quiz, then move to the next module. The only apparent use of AI is in some of the reflections, where the student is asked to make use of AI for an exercise ,then discuss the results. This is not necessarily a bad thing, this is a proven format for online educaion, which I am comfortable with. But where is the AI powered education DEC talks about, but doesn't do?

Something which adds to the difficulty of using AI, in association with the DEC AI courses, is that copying and pasting has been turned off in some modules. This also makes normal, non-AI study hard. Normally I would copy a question I am asked, then edit that to produce the answer, then paste it back. I would also write the answer in an editor which has spell checking. The AI courses, on my web browser, allow spell checking, but not correction. So I know I have words spelled wrong, but not what the right word is. I have a couple of goes at guessing what the correct spelling is, then give up and leave the misspelled word in. This is demoralizing and insulting for me. 

Western Blokes in Suits Bias

The early videos mostly feature a western males, in dark business suits or dark Silicon Valley expensive casual clothes. The dress standard gets more casual as the course progresses and the range of presenters increases, but there is, only one female presenter. The voices change between videos and I started to wonder if this was all AI generated, until the last more friendly and scruffy professor appeared, surprisingly from Singapore Management University. It would help if there was a more diverse range of presenters, although I must confess I am sitting here in my tweed coat, with tortoise shell glasses on. ;-)

Too Much Stuff

While talking about good education design, the course suffers from a problem common to such modules: too much stuff. The course took me weeks to do, even without the absurdly large number of optional readings. What is the point of offering a short course and then filling it with enough readings for a semester long program? 

While an experienced online student of education (seven years, three qualifications, in two countries), I struggled to keep on at this course, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. Around about the end of module 2, I started to loose the will to live. ;-)

Benefit from More Systematic Approach to Learning Design

Many of the steps recommended for use of AI in education also apply generally. To use the AI you need to know what you are teaching and how you want to assess it. Those steps also are important in education using pencil and paper.

Advertorial?

Some sections of the course described the benefits of particular products in such detail, that this started to sound like a paid advertisement for the product. 

Too Busy

While most of the course videos are slides with talking heads, a few are very busy animated product demonstrations. Text appears, a pointer moves around, windows pop up and disappear. This can be a bit overwhelming.

Weak on Privacy 

While the course repeatedly warns about privacy it demonstrates many tools which are hosted in the cloud in the USA. For institutions in Australia, Europe, and other parts of the world with privacy legislation, this makes them unusable.

Questions Require Knowledge Not in the Course

Several times the multiple choice questions ask about topics I don't remember being in the course. Perhaps I am just not a very attentive student, but perhaps the course was revised, material deleted and the questions not updated. As a student this was disconcerting, but generally I could guess the correct answer, by eliminating all the implausible options.

AI for Transfer Credit

One example which got my attention was AI course transfer credit.  I volunteered to help assess students applications for course credit. Eight long years later, I am still "temporarily" doing this thankless task. ;-)

If AI could be used to help assess course credit that would reduce the drudgery of the task, and as the course points out, improve equity.

Students not concerned about value for money

There are some interesting results from the Digital Education Council's survey of students internationally, although it was a relatively small number of students. What I found surprising was the concern about the value and value for money of their degree was the least of their worries, when it came to AI. Privacy was the top concern, which is not what I expected. A survey of staff had even fewer participants and while views of AI were more for than against, it is likely there is respondent bias in this survey (those keen on AI would be more likely to complete it).

Integrity?

The section of the course on integrity goes far beyond just AI and could be omitted. As an example, fake certificates used for enrollment predates AI by thousands of years. AI didn't cause this problem, even if it makes the problem worse. Solving the problem is not for educators to do.

No document presented by the student can be trusted. In every case you have to check with the institution it clams to be from if they really got those results. Some institutions have difficulty with this. When enrolling in Canada, I proudly presented my digital certificate from ANU. But I was asked for a certified paper copy. I had to pay to have this printed, signed, placed in an envelope, seals placed over the envelope seams, the seals each signed, placed in another envelope and couriered to Canada. This was accepted happily, but was all nonsense, as I could have easily faked it. 

One section of the course cited multiple universities who have decided Turnitin can't detect AI use. This is hardly a revelation, as anyone who has spent a few minutes trying it will see. ANU turned off Turnitin's AI detector on 1 January 2024.

Building AI

The section on building AI was unnecessary, and wrong, in parts. AI is a specialized form of IT and so IT professionals are needed for this. But the course suggests academics can build an AI system themselves, without mentioning of needing competent professionals. This is dangerous advice.

The second option for was for academics to do an AI startup, that is inventing the AI yourself, which is just silly. This is the equivalent of a catering company needing a computer, so soldering one together. While one company once did that 75 years ago, it is not an approach needed today. ;-)

The third option presented was to cooperate with corporations and startups, but without mentioning this is a high risk strategy (about 75% of computer projects fail). The most obvious, low risk, sensible option is not mentioned, which is to simply buy an AI service. There is no need to built it, invent it, collaborate, just buy an already built product. 

As an computer professional, I am often asked for recommendations on software and hardware. My advice is to buy what your friends and colleagues use. What you buy will be more likely to work and when you have problems you can ask people you know for help. The mistake many individuals and organisations make is to buy something new, on the assumption it must be better.

Decentralization

The course warns of the problems of decentralization, with different parts of the university having different approaches to AI, thus confusing the students. In a way this is understating the problem, with different instructors having different approaches: the decentralization goes all the way down to the individual. 

On the other hand decentralization doesn't matter so much to the student, as the university is just one organisation they have to deal with. At one point I was enrolled in two universities and a vocational education college at the same time, each with its own rules and timetables. Students will almost all be working so exposed to at least two sets of AI rules, one of their employer and the other where they are studying.

Guidelines

The section of the course on university guidelines was useful, as it included many examples, including an Australian one. 

Communication

The course got a little silly when it suggested communicating AI policy by email, intranet and web pages. What next, suggest what grade of paper is best for AI posters? ;-)

More seriously, communication of AI policy is important, but is no different than many other polices which need to be communicated. Just as no special strategy is needed for AI project management, none is needed for communications.

Fantasy Future

The last section of the course did not start well, presenting a future, where robotics & AI proves leisure time for the population & more time for students to explore their interests. This future has been predicted for other technological developments applied to learning, from correspondence courses to the Internet. However, they did not take into account the unchanged human nature. Traditional educational institutions have been able to accommodate each technological development, with the students & the community rejecting radical changes to educational delivery.

Despite this, I was most impressed with the last section of the course provided by SMU. Perhaps DEC should have left it to SMU to provide the entire course. But still, much of this was about the processes of education, which anyone teaching at a university should have learning in their basic teacher training (I did). One part I did not like was a 55 minute video. This was an interesting conversation between two experts, but 55 minutes is far, far too long. This should have been broken into smaller chunks.

One curious metaphor used was "hands on the wheel" of AI. My new car is controlled with voice and buttons. There is a steering wheel, but most of the time the car steers itself. That might be a better metaphor for AI in education: I select the destination, the car proposes a route, which I amend as needed then confirm. I then monitor the car's systems, while it dives itself. 

Singapore Education Leadership

Singapore's universities previously provided me with career, and life, changing inspiration. In 2013 I was giving a talk in Singapore on e-learning. One of the audience mentioned Singapore had an e-learning week, after a SARS outbreak, to prepare for future pandemics. As a result I was mentally and technically prepared for the COVID-19 outbreak a decade later. The SMU section of this course may well prove to be a similar pivotal moment in my teaching.

ACRONYMS

The educational acronyms used in the course were getting a bit silly, particularly the ABCDEF framework. What next an alphabet framework? Copilot wrote me one. ;-) 

A–Z Educational Acronym (All Letters in Order)

1. Active
2. Building
3. Curiosity
4. Drives
5. Engaged
6. Focused
7. Growth,
8. Helping
9. Innovative
10. Judgement
11. Kindle
12. Lifelong
13. Mastery.
14. Nurturing
15. Open
16. Problem‑solving
17. Questions
18. Reinforces
19. Skilled
20. Thinking,
21. Uplifting
22. Valuable
23. Wisdom
24. Xpanding
25. Youthful
26. Zeal.

Output

Here is one of the exercises I completed as part of the course. I am still not sure what I was supposed to do with it, as there was nowhere to submit it. This was done with the aid of MS Copiliot:

Learning Activity Brief: Exploring Project Reports with Microsoft Copilot

Learning Goal

Students will develop a clear understanding of the structure, purpose, and quality expectations of professional project reports in computing. By the end of the activity, students should be able to:

• Identify the essential components of a high‑quality computing project report

• Distinguish between technical detail, justification, and reflective analysis

• Evaluate the clarity, coherence, and professionalism of report writing

• Apply these insights to improve their own project reporting practices

Role of AI (Microsoft Copilot)

Students will use Microsoft Copilot as an exploratory and analytical tool. Copilot will support:

• Information gathering — e.g., asking Copilot to explain typical report structures, compare academic vs industry reports, or summarise best‑practice guidelines

• Critical evaluation — e.g., prompting Copilot to critique sample report excerpts or identify weaknesses in clarity, structure, or justification

• Reflection — e.g., asking Copilot how a reader might interpret a section, or what improvements would strengthen a report’s argument

Copilot is not used to generate a full project report. Instead, it acts as a catalyst for discussion, critique, and deeper understanding.

Activity Workflow (1 hour, small groups)

1. Initial Prompting (10 min) Groups ask Copilot to outline what makes an effective computing project report.

2. Deep Dive (20 min) Each group selects one component (e.g., requirements, design rationale, testing, evaluation) and uses Copilot to explore expectations, common pitfalls, and examples.

3. Critical Challenge (15 min) Groups provide Copilot with a short, deliberately flawed excerpt (provided by the instructor) and ask it to critique and suggest improvements.

4. Synthesis (15 min) Groups consolidate their findings into a concise artefact.

Student Product

Each group produces a one‑page “Project Report Quality Guide” that includes:

• A definition of the chosen report component

• Key quality criteria

• Common mistakes students make

• A short example of improved writing based on Copilot’s critique

• A brief reflection on how AI supported (and sometimes limited) their understanding

This product must be written in the students’ own words, with AI‑generated text clearly identified or paraphrased.

Assessment

This activity contributes to formative assessment and may be graded on participation or as a low‑stakes submission. Assessment focuses on:

• Accuracy and clarity of the group’s explanation of their report component

• Depth of analysis in identifying quality criteria and pitfalls

• Critical engagement with AI — evidence that students questioned, validated, or refined Copilot’s output

• Quality of the improved example — demonstrating understanding, not AI‑dependence

• Reflection on the role of AI in academic and professional writing

Rubric criteria can be aligned with:

• Understanding of report conventions

• Critical thinking

• Communication quality

• Responsible AI use 

The New World Order

Greetings from the Australian National University where Professor Amitav Acharya  is talking on his new book "The Once and Future World Order". He argues the world order did not come exclusively from the West. There was a two way interchange. The decline in Western dominance now taking place is not necessarily bad. In particular US dominance was not benign. What comes next doesn't have to be "West versus the rest". 

I suggest Australia would have difficulties comprehend, let alone navigate a word without US dominance. 

Professor Acharya looks far further back to the Hittites for lessons on world order. They signed a treaty with Egypt. Principles such as freedom of the seas are similarly old. He suggests we will have a "multiplex" replace the USA. I looked for a definition and ended up with a movie theater with many screens. Can Australia find a comfortable seat?

PS: I recommend a visit to the Istanbul Museum of The History of Science and Technology in Islam.

Sociotechnical research for global futures

Greetings from the Australian National University where Professor Jessica M. Smith is speaking on "Sociotechnical research for global futures: Thinking with energy, materials, and mining". Professor Smith brings unique experience to the topic having been at a mining an anthropologist from a mining university (the drinks afterwards are sponsored by Rio Tinto). She has worked on bringing social issues to a very technical field. One lesson was that miners who embraced environmental issues can improve the mining process as well as meet social expectations. I see some of this with teams of computer students. L Some assume they just need to work the technical stuff but are surprised this doesn't make their real human clients happy.

Hacks of AI learning platforms pose a bigger challenge

The ABC reported today "Australian educational facilities impacted as 'criminal' hacks Canvas learning platform" (Scout Wallen & Monty Jacka). Fortunately Learning Management Systems (LMS), such as Canvas, don't contain much personal data about the students. They have the names, student numbers & email addresses, but other data about the student is stored in separate systems. There will be the content of the student's assignments and comments posted to discussion boards, but these are usually not very personal. Also there will be messages sent between students and staff, again, these don't contain much personal information. Students often overshare when applying for an assignment extension or regrade, but this is usually handled by a separate administrative system. What is of concern is where AI tools are used to personalize student learning. These will have access to more student data, making them a prime target for hackers.

Beyond personalisation: Human-centred and equitable learning in the age of AI at EDUtech Sydney 4 June

I have accepted an invitation to moderate a panel on "Beyond personalisation: Human-centred and equitable learning in the age of AI" in the Evolving University conference stream at EDUtech in Sydney, 11 am  4 June. 

On the panel are: 

• Sue Keay, Director, UNSW AI Institute
• Danny Liu, Professor of Educational Technologies, The University of Sydney
• Rose Luckin, Professor, UCL Knowledge Lab and Founder, Educate Ventures Research, Educate Ventures Research Limited

ps: The EDUtech_AU organizers have generously provided me with five tickets to give away to academic colleagues. Please let me know if you would like one. Only for people from not for profit educational institutions.

Ideating Australian Higher Education

Professor Quigley at ANU.
Photo by Tom Worthington CCBY, 6 May 2026 

Greetings from the Australian National University where Professor Aaron Quigley as the new Dean of the ANU College of Systems and Society, welcomed entrepreneurs. ANU is hosting Canberra Innovation Network's First Wednesday pitch night. Before the one minute pitches, Professor Quigley invited everyone to comment on the university's draft strategy. 

Here are the comments I have submitted: 

Comments on ANU Draft Strategy

As requested, here are some comments on the "Draft Strategy v1.0, University Strategy", 21 April 2026:  

Answering the questions asked in the document:

* How can we best capture and articulate the distinctive, and complex, contribution that ANU makes to the nation?

I suggest starting from the functions of the ANU, as set by Parliament in legislation. In particular "... in relation to subjects of national importance to Australia ... its national and international roles and to the needs of the Australian Capital Territory and the surrounding region ...".

* How do we attract and support the talent that we need – in students and staff – to maximize the impact that we have through our research and education?

ANU can continue to use the marketing approach of promoting itself as a research intensive university with a national mandate. This sets ANU apart from other Australian universities and most around the world.

However, whatever the marketing says, being good at research doesn't make you good at education (the opposite in fact), so the university needs to ensure it has staff who are trained and formally qualified to teach. We could expand ANU's science communication area to provide training and qualifications in education, so staff and students don't have to obtain this elsewhere. To maximize impact we should expand collaboration with the Canberra Innovation Network, encouraging researchers to train in innovation and offering this as a formal part of degree programs.

* What do we need – in the ways we work, where we focus, or what we do – to be resilient to change from external forces like AI, demographic shifts and climate change?

The ANU should implement nested qualifications, work integrated learning and blended/online options. This will require staff to be trained in new ways of teaching and assessment.

AI is easily addressed, as has been discussed at numerous ANU symposiums. Staff need to be trained in how to use AI and how to teach this to students. Assessment needs to be changed from examination, to project based, with students presenting evidence of consistent long term work, then being questioned on what they have achieved.

Climate change can be addressed in part by ANU offering courses to combat it, such as ICT Sustainability, COMP7310 (Worthington, 2012). One of the techniques outlined in that course can be applied at ANU to reduce its carbon footprint: intensive use of facilities. ANU can increase the use of classrooms and other facilities, by doubling the number of students. This will reduce the carbon emissions, per student.

* What should we fix for our University to work better?

Opening University House should be a priority. The lack of opportunities for senior staff to mix informally at events may have hindered good governance over the last few years. One of the features of a great university, which I noticed when visiting Oxbridge, was the way wide consultation could be informally done. Senior university people need to hear unwelcome messages and it is best to do that is informally (Worthington, 1999).

ANU should call on its in house experts for advice on how to run the university. There should not be a need to call on external consultants, given that ANU staff, including myself, are called on for expert advice by industry and government.

* What’s missing?

The ANU should start from the functions set by the Parliament and devise strategies to achieve those. ANU should not try to find "new ideas" for the future of the university. As the experts at CBRIN point out, innovation is not about new ideas, it is about identifying who the client is, what they need, and providing that. There are many well tested approaches used by universities around the world, which ANU could adopt.

ANU can enhance its reputation by being seen to be addressing current national priorities. These include climate, economics, social and defence issues. ANU plays a significant role in these, but this rarely receives the attention it deserves.

As a postgraduate student of education, I looked at how to provide better learning at a research intensive university (ie: ANU). In studying the history of Australian universities, I found that, from the first, they had two main missions: firstly to provide trained professionals and secondly research for the benefit of society. An act of parliament directs ANU to those same two functions.

References

Worthington, T. (1999). "Cambridge live from a Double Decker Bus" in Net Traveler: Exploring the networked nation (2nd ed.). Australian Computer Society.

Worthington, T. (2012, July). A Green computing professional education course online: Designing and delivering a course in ICT sustainability using Internet and eBooks. In 2012 7th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE) (pp. 263-266). IEEE. Presentation: https://www.tomw.net.au/technology/it/green_computing_professional/

ps: A previous version of this post was titled "Hacking Australian Higher Education". This was in the sense of hacking being about quick innovation. But then there was a hacking attack on Australian universites, so I changed the title to "innovating".

AI Enhancing Scams

Greetings from the "Mekong Update 2026: Cross-cutting challenges in mainland Southeast Asia" at the Australian National University. In a panel on Transnational Crime, David Boyle the Producer of Al Jazeera's "101 East", commented that AI had the potential to expand organised crime's use of scams. 

AI Literacy for All

Just completed the AI Literacy for All certificate* by the Digital Education Council for The Australian National University. When I was first invited to do the course I was skeptical, but despite having been to many training courses, workshops, symposiums & conference presentations on AI, I still learned some things. 

* Keep in mind this is not an AQF qualification. 

Mention the War: German Military History After WWII

Dr Peter Lieb

Greetings from "On Bundeswehr: German military history beyond Hitler" in the War Studies Seminar Series at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University. Dr Peter Lieb, department ‘Military History after 1945’ at the Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the German Armed Forces, introduced the generals who formed the core of the post WWII West German army. Some had questionable pasts, but the nation needed someone to command. These generals went from prisoners to accused of war crimes, to having to take low paid jobs, before being appointed to senior positions during the cold war. Dr Lieb argues the German army had fewer former Nazis than other state institutions as it was a relatively small force, so could choose carefully. 

Dr Markus Pöhlmann, Senior Researcher and Head of Department ‘Expeditionary Operations’ at the Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the German Armed Forces leapt decades to an account of German operations ending in Afghanistan. Germany had more than 5,000 personnel deployed with more than 50 killed. The German embassy was evacuated as Taliban arrived in Kabul. Germany set task force to aid evacuation of German government personnel, later expanded to include German civilians*, and then locals at risk if retribution. Solders at the gates to the airport had to decide who to admit. As well as military in Afghanistan, Germany had personnel in Tashkent. German forces securing the airport of a foreign country was unusual. Dr Markus argues that the withdrawal deserves further study.

* 

* As it happens I took a class at Australian Defence Staff College on how to carry out such an evacuation, along with diplomatic staff and military.

. 

ICT Training Package Update

Greetings from the ICT Training Package Update - Scoping Webinar. There has been criticism of the relevance of education to jobs. The vocational education and training (VET) sector takes this very seriously & are currently reviewing offerings for computing, cyber and other ICT.

The ICT Training Package currently consists of 11 qualifications. The highest is an Advanced Diploma of Information Technology, then there is a Diploma, three Certificate IV in IT, Telecommunications Engineering, Telecommunications Network Design, three Certificate IIIs, & two Certificate IIs. There is also work being done on a vocational degree in IT.

Some issues are a high non-competition rate and a lack of interest in micro-credentials. ICT skills are in demand, shorter vocational courses are supposed to be a good way to deliver this, so what are people not enrolling and not completing? What are the current areas in demand? The universities should be undertaking a process like this. 

One issue which came up was the role of vendor certifications as a substitute for, or complement to, formal qualifications. I see things like Microsoft certification as a complement to formal qualifications, but employers may see certification as preferable. Some VET providers and universities offer training towards vendor certification as part of their courses.

2026 Australian Defence Integrated Investment Program

The Australian Defence Department (which I used to work for) today released a 2026 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program. The strategy includes significant investment in uncrewed systems ("drones"), including the MQ‑28A Ghost Bat collaborative combat aircraft (drone fighter), Ghost Shark underwater vehicle (extra large robot submarine), Speartooth (large robot submarine), Bluebottle surface vessel (robot solar sailing boat), and Large Optionally Crewed Surface Vessels (robot missile ships). Apart from the Large Optionally Crewed Surface Vessels, where there are six planned, each with 32 vertical launch cells, the number and armaments of these drones are not given. 

While the planned $5B sounds like a lot of money for drones, it is relatively modest compared to investments in crewed platforms. Also what is absent from the plan are the land based equivalents of these robot ships and aircraft. In addition most of the funded drone programs are for imported technology, although some will be manufactured in Australia. I suggest Australia needs to invest in the talent and technology to build its own. Drones are relatively cheap to develop, compared to crewed platforms. 

Transport Hackathon Solving My Bus Problem

Greetings from the"ACET Zero-Emission-Transport Hackathon, run by the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) at the University of Canberra today. I am here to mentor teams, but ironically, I  missed the bus on the way here this morning. On a positive note, I told some of the teams about this, and they are working on a solution. The teams have until this afternoon to come up with an idea and pitch it for a share in $10,000. I just slipped out for a coffee at UoC's innovation center next door and saw it is still the office of Instaclustr, a Canberra startup success story.

CBRIN staff are taking the teams through the standard ideation process. This is a key skill which most students miss out on. They may know how to implement something, but not what the customer needs.

Starlink in the Pacific

 Greetings from State of the Pacific, hosted by the Australian National University in Canberra for the next 3 days. Along with political and social issues, there is a session Thursday morning on Starlink's effect on Pacific communications. The conference is free for anyone, in person, or online. The first day's free lunch was very good. 

Also a session on Big Data for Pacific Democracy, on Wednesday. 

Innovation Ecosystems Handbook

Greetings from the launch of the Handbook of Innovation Ecosystems by John Howard at the Canberra Innovation Network's refurbished meeting room. The ACT Chief Minister is on the panel but having to wait for a couple of academics to talk. 

Walsh Bay in Sydney got a mention, as a cultural centre complementing the innovation startups. Those not from Sydney, or Australia, may know it as NCIS Sydney's HQ and features under the credits. 

When the Chief Minister got to talk he nominated Canberra having one less level of government. He mentioned this allowed a special economic zone to be created for the University of Canberra. 

Michelle Jasper asked about the Canberra Innovation Corridor (CIC), which I had never heard of. Apparently this extends from University of Canberra through the city centre to the airport. Canberra was designed on a number of theoretical axes which were made real in the street layout. The CIC might be best manifest in the number 3 airport bus. 

The Chief Minister challenged the audience to find adaptive reuse for Commonwealth Government buildings which are about to be vacant. What occurs to me is Singapore style mixed use, with accommodation for singles, families, the elderly, plus retail, schools, and community services in the one building.

The Chief Minister also asked what government could do with AI. My suggestion is to start by training the staff how to use it. Those most interested will meet like minded individuals at the training and start working on projects. Some of this will be officially endorsed and 8n other cases the public servants will need to form companies.

Parliamentary Inquiry into the rise in the number of Australian university graduates who struggle to find work after graduating

The Australian Senate is inquiring into "The rise in the number of Australian university graduates who struggle to find work after graduating". Normally I would have to compose a short pithy summary into what an inquiry is about. But in this case that is a direct quote from the very short terms of reference. The Senate Education and Employment References Committee has called for submissions by 5 June 2026, aiming to report by 20 November 2026.

The full terms of reference is: 

"The rise in the number of Australian university graduates who struggle to find work after graduating, with particular reference to:

1. the state of the entry-level job market for graduates;
2. the quality of university education in Australia;
3. whether graduates of Australian universities are being taught the skills that employers are looking for;
4. the state of affairs in comparable jurisdictions;
5. the economic, social and psychological effect that this experience has on graduates; and
6. any other related matters" 

Some have taken this as an attack on universities, that they are not teaching the right things. But these seem reasonable questions. The Australian community spend a lot  on universities and need to be sure they are getting their moneys worth. 

As one of those teaching work integrate learning and "soft" skills to students, in accordance with professional accreditation requirements, we have a good story to tell. However, in my submission to a previous inquiry, I suggested universities could offer nested online programs with more work integration. My academic colleagues may not like the idea, but I suggest applying more of the techniques from the Vocational Education sector. This would also improve the economic, social and psychological impact of study, as students could undertake it in smaller, cheaper chunks, mostly while employed.

Improved assessment design can also help reduce the stress of study. I am one of those students who suffers stress in formal paper based examinations. As a result I spent my early university years failing, until I realized I could select courses and programs which did not have exams. This limited my choice, buy I was able to help expand the options in my own designing of courses and setting policies for accreditation for my profession.

Innovating education and health

Greetings from Canberra Innovation Network's First Wednesday Connect. Tonight we are at the Australian Catholic University and the pitches are on education, health, and health education. I don't know if this was curated or just because ACU specialises in education and health.

AI Boosterism in AI Training

I had some spare time so decided to get on with the AI training the Australian National University is encouraging staff to take. This is the usual online training module with some quizzes and exercises. It wasn't too bad, but as I know a bit about the topic, I was up to part 5 of 8 before it started telling me anything I didn't know. 

 At this point I was instructed to get AI to generate a LinkedIn post about AI & personal learning. While the previous modules did have some warnings about checking AI output for incorrect information and hallucinations, it was all a little too positive. At this point I used Copilot to generate the required LinkedIn post. This had only positive points on how AI could help with personal learning. As instructed I refined the result, but on my own initiative by asking for negative as well as positive points. That worked fine, but what struck me was that had I not asked, it would have all been positive.

Here are the negatives added:

"Negative impacts

• Over‑reliance on AI, which can weaken critical thinking and problem‑solving if learners default to AI-generated answers.

• Quality inconsistency, as AI can produce confident but incorrect explanations that mislead learners.

• Equity gaps, where those with better access to technology gain an advantage over those without it.

• Privacy concerns, especially when learning data is used to train models or inform performance decisions.

• Reduced originality, as learners may unintentionally mimic AI-generated patterns rather than developing their own voice or ideas.

These risks highlight the need for thoughtful integration rather than blind adoption."

Securing a sustainable future for Australian universities through mergers

Universities Australia reports in "Critical challenges in Australia’s university sector: securing a sustainable future" that almost two-thirds of university revenue is from student (directly & via government subsidies) and this is falling. At the same time universities have fewer casual staff, thus less scope to quickly cut costs. I suggest it is time for universities to consolidate and professionalize. Teaching can no longer be left as something researchers do in their spare time and for which they need no expertise or qualifications. Also universities can adopt efficient blended learning techniques. The alternative is that students will go elsewhere for their education: to commercial for-profit arms of international universities in Australia, or vocational sector, or abroad, either in person or online. When I wanted to learn about education and there was no suitable program in Australia, I chose to study online abroad, which turned out to be slightly cheaper.

Charles Darwin University Cancelling Plans for a London campus

Charles Darwin University is cancelling plans for a London campus. Perhaps CDU should consider more modest options, along the lines of the University Study Hubs in regional Australian centers. 

CDU London Campus

There has been criticism of Charles Darwin University opening a London campus, but if they can turn a profit in a reasonable time (say 5 years), then good luck to them. An inner city "campus" is a relatively small investment. It is not quads with stone buildings, just a few rooms rented in an office building. 

University College London previously shared the one three story building in Adelaide, with Carnegie Mellon University and Torrens University Australia. Three universities sharing one building is the makings of a TV sitcom. ;-)

CDU is focusing on masters by coursework degrees (which is where the money is), in just two areas: Business Administration & Cyber Security. Their MBA also offers an Educational Leadership stream. CDU is also emphasizing flexibility, as a dual sector institution this is something they know how to do. But it might be the name of the institution which will be its biggest selling point. CDU is named after a famous eminent British scientist, which should go down favorably with British students. Might be best for CDU not to point out the name really comes from a small, insignificant tropical city in northern Australia (Darwin).

And the winner is ... at the Defence Hackerthon

Greetings from the last day of the Australian Defense Tech Hackathon at UNSW Canberra. The wining teams were Crowdshield, a crowd-sourced defence to identify, classify and neutralize unauthorized drone activities, Circinus Corp,with a Low cost integrated standalone platform for remote threat detection and categorisation and HPM Shielding Solutions refining the process for designing EM shielded systems that can be manufactured in small distributed labs. After we had a group photo in the UNSW Canberra indoor drone range (aka basketball court). Appropriately the photo was taken by a drone, when then, appropriately, crashed into the wall. ;-)