What do today’s “content creators” want from a university education? Not the traditional experience, UNE’s Executive Principal of Student Experience, Professor Shelley Kinash, learned at the SXSW conference in Sydney recently.

SXSW (South By South West), which started and continues to hold a huge annual conference in Austin, Texas, has been described as a “World Fair for creatives”. Professor Kinash attended the Sydney SXSW outreach conference as a guest speaker for Canada House – she is a native of Canada – which held a forum on “The Future of Education”. The event addressed a global audience of innovators in the fields of gaming, film, media and business.

“Traditional university is not what they want,” she reports. “If we want these creators as students, then there is an expected vibe.” Prof. Kinash listed elements of the experience that the creator class are looking for as:

• New Tech – Universities need to stay ahead of the curve revealing and innovating technologies that will transform industry. University graduates are expected to lead because they have learned applications which their new employers don’t yet have.
• Invisible Administration – Systems like applying, enrolling, accessing course resources, submitting assessment and retrieving grades cannot be clunky. These processes need to be so efficient that they require no effort.
• Enabled – In many schools, students are wearing VR devices and having fully immersive educational experiences. Skill development adapts to student levels. AI is encouraged as a tool, like past generations used calculators. These students come to university expecting more sophistication in learning technologies.
• Learning Integrated Work – Mature-aged students who have already entered the workforce expect flexibility. They want interactivity online at times which work for them. They want the form and content of their studies to accommodate and enhance their work. When they do take time off work, such as for intensive study, they expect the experience to feel like an excellent conference or retreat.

“In summary,” Prof. Kinash says, “tradition and mediocrity is not enough. Technology has transformed our lives and today’s students expect that universities are also innovators, leading education and industry”.

Image: Professor Shelley Kinash at SXSW with other panellists in the Canada House “Future of Education” session.