The CIC story has reached the last page. A new story begins…
UTS Connected Intelligence Centre launched 1stAugust 2014. Two years ago, we marked CIC’s 10th Birthday, but yesterday this chapter came to a close. This amazing team has had the privilege of 12 years’ funding from the university as a research-active innovation centre within the VP/DVC Academic’s Education Portfolio. Our thanks to Shirley Alexander for conceiving CIC, and Kylie Readman who continued to recognise our work.
However, all good things come to an end. CIC’s Director Simon Buckingham Shum will return to his substantive position as an academic, moving to a new academic home accompanied by his PhD students — and as you’ll see, not just any home…
CIC made its mark in UTS and well beyond. A very partial snapshot includes:
- Launching the Master of Data Science & Innovation, the transdisciplinary data science program that CIC coordinated from 2015-18. The Victorian Blackfriars building that was our home for many years became a very special incubator of the next generation of data scientists now embedded in diverse sectors.
- Instant writing feedback since 2016 using the pre-GenAI technologies of the day, and the world’s first feedback on reflective writing.
- Customised feedback emails addressed to each student by name, in a cohort of possibly hundreds, tailored to what they had accomplished (e.g., in the last week), their goals (e.g., grade aspirations), or their learning pathway.
- Teamwork analytics augmenting our healthcare simulation wards with analytics that sense who’s doing what and where in team exercises.
- Multiple LLM-powered applications for educators, students and researchers, developed in close partnership with our professional technology, analytics and AI colleagues.
- All of them pedagogically-grounded tools, deployed in our degree programs, with empirical evaluations. Rigorous research, using rigorous methods, published in the leading journals and conferences that put UTS on the international research and practice map in Learning Analytics and AI in Education.
- Pioneered the use of Deliberative Democracy for student/staff consultation on AI/EdTech Ethics
- Listening not only to educators on the challenges and opportunities of GenAI, but also to the diversity of student voices
- PhD alumni who’ve conducted Design-Based Research in partnership with faculties to develop co-design approaches, iterate next generation feedback tools, and advance conceptual frameworks and methods.
- …and so much more, documented on this website.
To all the students, academics, and professional staff who’ve been part of the CIC journey — your dedication, expertise and teamwork made the magic happen — Thank You! CIC has been a significant chapter in many lives 🙂
And now the page is turning, and we embark on the next adventure. Simon and his PhD students are receiving a warm welcome from the Transdisciplinary School which will enable our ongoing research-informed innovation, and forge connections with new colleagues and partners — “Transdisciplinarity is… when great minds don’t think alike”.
For those interested, Simon has shared a more detailed reflection on the journey in his personal blog. And if you wish, do please share a CIC memory/reflection…