CIC is 10!
10 years ago today, the UTS Connected Intelligence Centre (CIC) launched. In fact on that day, I was in the air en route London to Sydney, not only to start the new job, but on a pressing mission to find a home and school for the rest of the family, who would land in 6 weeks time! Jenna Price and John made me very welcome in their home, and who better than two wonderful journalists to give me a crash orientation course to life in Sydney and AUS – a special time!
Shirley Alexander, UTS VP/DVC for Education & Students, had brought me over to help think through the implications of the tech revolution de jour — remember Big Data?! — and launch the university’s first transdisciplinary data science program, the Master of Data Science in Innovation (MDSI), inspired by the groundbreaking success of the transdisciplinary Bachelor of Creative Intelligence & Innovation. Given my work in Learning Analytics, the specific challenge was to invent, pilot and scale the use of data and analytics to improve the learning experience, as well as help units across UTS understand the potential of data science to support their work. The most recent account of how we’ve navigated that quest is in Embedding Learning Analytics in a University: Boardroom, Staff Room, Server Room, Classroom. A decade on, we face a new revolution with the explosive arrival of generative AI, which has dominated the last 18 months.
So thank you EVERYONE who has passed through CIC’s doors, who’s walked this last decade with me, plus of course SO MANY colleagues in UTS, and Australia. Apart from thanking Shirley, whose vision underpinned this, I simply dare not start listing you all since I know I will instantly regret missing names. But I do want to extend a special thank you to Gabrielle Gardiner who was here long before I arrived, working with Shirley on the Connected Intelligence Strategy, and from 1 August 2014, was always there supporting, advising, and making stuff happen!
To everyone else — academics, MDSI and PhD students, tech coders and architects, learning designers, strategists, directors, senior leaders, and more — you know who you are! Thank You, it’s been a joy. Here’s to 1st August, 2034 🙂
And thank you everyone for all the kind words on LinkedIn!
