$6m boost for e-learning

Two UNSW projects to revolutionise biomedical training and boost the number of students studying science and engineering have been awarded $6.2 million in federal NBN funding.

The NBN-Enabled Education and Skills Services Program funding includes $3.3 million for the Biomedical Education Skills and Training Network (BEST) to deploy next generation virtual learning tools for medical and nursing training across Australia.

Using the Smart Sparrow adaptive e-leaning platform developed at UNSW, resources will include a virtual dissecting room, laboratory and patient clinic, a national medical image bank and a diagnostic case book.

Head of the School of Medical Sciences Professor Nick Hawkins says he’s keen that the technology, which has been used at UNSW for some time, is made more broadly available to students around Australia.

"It's very exciting. It will potentially transform the way that we teach biomedicine and it's a challenge for us as educators to make the best use we can of these emerging technologies," he says.

Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans says the project will connect more than 35,000 people in senior secondary schools and universities as well as professional training bodies.

Dr Carol Oliver also received $2.9 million from the NBN to build on her Pathways to Space Program. The grant is for a project titled, Education 20:20 - Enabling learning in science, engineering and mathematics, which is designed to address the decline in science and engineering uptake, using the capabilities of the NBN to link users from anywhere in Australia to educators, researchers, engineers and scientists.

Dr Oliver, a Senior Research Fellow with the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, will lead an already well-established partnership with the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and the University of Sydney.

“I am excited to have the chance to engage students, teachers and the public with science and engineering research. There is good evidence that school science has little resemblance to real science,” Dr Oliver says.

Media contacts: Louise Williams, UNSW Media, 0407 061 209; Bob Beale, UNSW science media liaison 0411 705 435