UNSW is partnering with D2L to deliver a more consistent and accessible learning experience for students across the University.
UNSW Sydney has selected D2L Brightspace as its new learning management system (LMS), supporting a multi-year transformation that will enhance learning for more than 80,000 students across undergraduate, postgraduate and lifelong learning programs.
The new platform will help create a more consistent and connected learning experience across the University, making it easier for students to access course materials, engage with learning activities and tools to gauge their own learning progress throughout their studies, while giving educators powerful new tools to support teaching and student success.
Professor Vlado Perkovic, Provost & Acting Vice-Chancellor, said the partnership reflects UNSW's commitment to delivering an outstanding educational experience and preparing graduates to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
"Higher education is changing rapidly. We can see the impact of changing student expectations, new models of education and emerging technologies here in Australia, while globally we are seeing even greater change on the horizon," Prof. Perkovic said. "For UNSW, this meant we needed to take a long-term view of the learning environment we want to create for our future students and educators. We have chosen a partner in D2L whose focus is teaching and learning, and who can work with us to build a modern, flexible platform that can evolve with our community."
Within the learning platform, UNSW will be able to introduce a suite of D2L tools to enable educators to easily create interactive and accessible content, learning analytics to support student success, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence in education.
The implementation phase of the LMS Program will be codesigned with faculties, academics, professional staff and students to inform many important decisions about standards, navigation, course experience, workflows, migration and support. The goal is to ensure the future LMS reflects the needs of different disciplines, teaching approaches and student cohorts across the University.
Professor Sarah Maddison, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education & Student Experience, said the new platform would help ensure UNSW's learning environment keeps pace with the needs of students and educators.
"Our students are entering an increasingly complex world, shaped by rapid technological, and professional and social change. Their learning environment needs to be ready for what comes next," Prof. Maddison said. "We are not simply implementing an off-the-shelf platform. We are designing our future learning environment together with our students and staff. D2L Brightspace gives us the opportunity to create a more consistent, accessible and intuitive digital learning experience for our students, while giving our educators the flexibility and creativity to design and deliver outstanding teaching, now and into the future."
John Baker, President and CEO of D2L, said the partnership would support UNSW's ambitions to deliver world-class learning experiences.
"UNSW has an ambitious vision for transformative education, and we're proud to support that journey," Mr Baker said.
"Together, we will help create engaging and flexible learning experiences, equip educators with innovative tools and explore how responsible AI can enhance teaching and learning."
Dr Chrissy Burns, Chief Information Officer, UNSW Sydney said: "Technology is changing at extraordinary pace, and our learning environment needs to be able to keep pace," Dr Burns said.
"D2L Brightspace gives UNSW a modern, scalable and secure technology foundation, with an architecture that is designed to connect with the broader digital ecosystem and evolve as new capabilities emerge. This is particularly important as we look towards advances in artificial intelligence, learning analytics and new approaches to digital education."
