Showing posts with label degree design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label degree design. Show all posts

Friday, May 9, 2025

Redefining the Australian Degree

Greetings from the Professional Standards Board of the Australian Computer Society (ACS), meeting in Adelaide. I jokingly told some academic colleagues that I was at a meeting to redesign the Australian degree. This is a slight exaggeration. Professional bodies, such as ACS, set accreditation standards. Universities and other educational bodies can choose to be accredited, but to do so must meet the requirements. As a result what professional standards are set influences what is in degrees. A current, and ongoing issue, is the balance between practical skills for immediate use, and what will be needed over a career. Another is how to improve, and formally recognise, learning which takes place outside the institution. 

Some other issues are AI Adoption, and Digital Skills (such as DigComp 2.0). Also hanging over everything is cyber security.

ps: In terms of how moden meetings are run, while all the broad are physically present, we still have video conferencing running, for some staff giving presentations from offices in other cities. Even though I am in the room, I found it useful to join the video conference (with no sound), so I can see presentations up close on my laptop. 

Friday, October 24, 2014

Designing University Degrees

Last night at a professional association meeting I was asked by a member about their study options at university. Today I find myself at a meeting discussing the design of degrees. One thing that strikes me is the need for flexibility. I am a student in a program which offers almost all courses in three terms each year. Compared to this, in more conventional programs courses are only offered once a year.