(Moderator) We have with us someone who has been involved
in digital learning innovation for more than 20 years
Please welcome the University of Western Australia Pro Vice-Chancellor
of Education Innovation, Gilly Salmon (0:12)
(Applause)
(Gilly Salmon) So I'm going to talk to you about the impossible.
So if you're easily scared, you can leave now or at any time,
that's OK with me.
So I come from the very young country of Australia.
Most of you know I'm not Australian, but I've been living there nearly 5 years now.
Probably another 20 .... except me (check)
But in the young country of Australia, a university that's 100-years old
is very, very, very old.
So, and now, the University of Western Australia is very, very old.
It's a research-intensive, one with the most schools and campuses in the world,
on the mouth of the Swan River, in Western Australia,
and I'm going to show you a 1-minute movie to get a glimpse of our environment
and also our dreams.
So, you need to watch very carefully, because I'm going to talk about
the brief glimpse you get of the buildings because that's where my center is,
the Centre for Education Future.
So, we will move to the movie, please.
(strong-beat music)
(shouts)
(panting)
(narrator) When we start moving forward, the world starts with us.
(strong wind in branches - panting)
(narrator) So chase your dream. It's only impossible until it's done.
[Pursue impossible]
[The University of Western Australia]
(Applause) (Salmon) Thank you. 2:52
We made that movie to try and inspire our students
but we actually found it inspires us even more.
So, right at the beginning you saw some work for
University of Western Australia are true heritage buildings.
And I -- in there, we've put a future's observatory
and a learning design studio, to try and inspire the impossible
in both our faculty members and ultimately our students, to new design.
So, I've got this weird job title,
Pro Vice-Chancellor Education Innovation.
I'm sure when I was appointed, just over 12 months ago,
nobody knew what that meant.
Fortunately, they did allow me to invent it.
While you're listening to me, just to say there's going to be
a bit of a poll at the end.
If you got the My OEB app, you can look it up,
if not, there is a website, there is a link there up,
so that you can take part in the poll in a bit.
Now, I actually think an incredible number of words have been written
about innovation, especially in the scope of educational innovation
and disruptive technology.
And I did a bit of a survey.
i wasn't as knowledgeable as some of those people
that you've just heard speaking,
but it was rather odd that probably one of the very top things
that you can see, was how to promote innovation
in the changing modes of teaching,
which I think is probably one of our biggest challenges of all.
And actually, creating an evidence base for that,
because you all know, in universities, that's the way it goes:
If you haven't got evidence for it, it doesn't exist.
And so, we did a bit of a survey; there were the top universities,
we did some visits as well, in the US as well as other parts in the world.
And everyone, just everyone has still really not got into
achieving true innovation.
And so for me, that's still a bit of a mystery, and I think
it's really rather extraordinary that everyone in education,
all of you, at every level, is trying to do this
and yet most organizations, most institutions
are still striving to reorientate themselves to an innovation culture. 5:46