Modeling a New Teaching Environment at the University of Canberra

The University of Canberra was established as a University in 1990 and has now grown to a population of over 17,000 students from over 100 countries. The campus is situated in the suburb of Bruce in the country’s capital city and was listed in the Times Higher Education 2017 rankings for top 100 young universities.

At the university’s heart are the principles of co-creation and collaboration, offering fresh opportunities for national and international partnerships, transformational research, enriched learning experiences and vibrant commercial and networking activities.

The Challenge

Over the next decade, the University of Canberra’s aim will be to transform the Bruce Campus into an integrated learning community – abolishing the boundaries between the academy, industry and the community, and establishing the University as a showcase for an innovative confluence of living, learning, innovation and entrepreneurship.

In order to prepare for this transformation and provide confidence that their plans are viable, the University needed a way to confirm their assumptions about different space needs in support of changes to teaching and learning practices. Hence a project has been initiated to understand the impact of the desired of pedagogical changes, to understand space needs and identify if there is any shortfall.

The Approach

The University of Canberra has selected EventMAP and New Learning Environments to carry out scenario planning and analysis. EventMAP will be assigned to create an interactive space projection model to help the University clearly see what outcomes were possible with respect to achieving their goals. The model will advise the University on how changes to learning and teaching, research, student experience and staff accommodation could be delivered.