New grants for innovative research in education

Macquarie University will receive more $820,000 in new funding to lead five projects, out of a total of only 25 awarded nationally, under the Higher Education Innovation Program (HEIP).

The scheme, which aims to maintain and enhance innovation in, or the quality of, higher education in Australia, often involves collaboration between universities and other education partners.

Macquarie University’s successful projects include:

Teaching environmental science

Dean of the Division of Environmental and Life Sciences at Macquarie, Professor Elizabeth Deane, will lead two separate projects to break down barriers in the teaching of environmental science and environmental management in Australia. The first aims to develop a lifelong learning pathway from TAFE to university for domestic and international students and a handbook to facilitate the process, while the second will establish a student exchange program between the leading universities in environmental education - Macquarie, Newcastle, Griffith, Murdoch, Flinders and La Trobe.

For more information contact elizabeth.deane@mq.edu.au

Education for special access students

Another project focuses on a new approach to meeting the lifelong educational needs of students with special access needs - Macquarie Customised Accessibility Services (M-CAS). The grant will help expand M-CAS from a small pilot to a scale where it can offer services to all Australian universities, and progressively to other educational sectors and to commercial and offshore clients. M-CAS works on the principles of focusing on curriculum needs, lessening the cognitive load of the learner and customising learning experiences and materials to meet individual needs, while maintaining the academic integrity of their course.

For more information visit http://www.cfl.mq.edu.au/mcas/

Academic leadership program

The Institute for Higher Education Research and Development (IHERD) at Macquarie will begin the first stage of a collaborative research and development project with Flinders University into academic leadership. The project will firstly develop a theory of academic leadership and management in relation to teaching, and then produce guidelines and strategies for support, enhancement and succession planning.

For more information visit http://www.aces.mq.edu.au/iherd_home.asp

New e-learning lab

The final project will involve the establishment of an Australian learning technology Co-Laboratory with the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL). The Co-Lab will provide a collaborative environment and resource base for Australian content developers and system designers to access and contribute to the latest international developments in e-learning and research systems.

Given ADL has been charged with coordinating the US government approach to distributed learning environments, joining this initiative will advantage Australia in competing for business in the provision of education and training services for an expanding market facilitated by the Australia United States Free Trade Agreement.

For more information on the Higher Education Innovation Program (HEIP) visit

www.dest.gov.au/highered/programmes/heip.htm