The Game Makers @ Curtin is an exciting, hands-on, family-focused event designed to spark creativity, collaboration, and curiosity in the next generation of digital storytellers and designers.

Over two dynamic days, parent-child teams (one child aged 11–15 and one parent or guardian) will explore the art and science of game creation through a series of immersive workshops, creative challenges, and collaborative design sessions.

Presented by Dean Learning Futures, Jonathan Pillai, Participants engage with game creation tools like Scratch, Twine, and Construct, learn coding basics, and collaborate on prototyping and peer feedback, blending creative learning with insights into digital creativity and career pathways.

Program Overview

The event features two themed days Game Design and Building & Prototyping, introducing participants to both the creative and technical sides of game development:

• Day 1: Game Design Foundations
  • Interactive talks from industry speakers and Curtin experts on game mechanics, narrative design, and the developmental benefits of play.
  • Guided brainstorming and storyboarding sessions to help participants craft compelling worlds and characters.
  • Exploration of how games can be used as powerful tools for storytelling, education, and positive change.
• Day 2: Building & Prototyping
  • Hands-on creation using beginner-friendly tools like Scratch, Twine, and Construct.
  • Introduction to basic coding, digital design, and user experience principles.
  • Collaborative peer feedback and mini-showcase where teams share their playable prototypes.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will:

• Gain an understanding of core game design principles, from concept to prototype.
• Develop skills in creative problem-solving, storytelling, coding, and digital literacy.
• Discover how gaming intersects with careers in digital media, design, software development, and creative industries.
• Strengthen communication and teamwork through the unique parent-child collaboration model.

The Game Makers @Curtin reflects Curtin University’s commitment to fostering future-focused, interdisciplinary learning experiences. It empowers young learners to see themselves not just as players, but as creators and innovators shaping the digital worlds of tomorrow.

By blending play, creativity, and education, the event provides families with a meaningful opportunity to engage in digital creation together, while offering a glimpse into pathways within Curtin’s Humanities and Digital Futures programs.

To find out more about our Faculty of Humanities Outreach challenges contact:

humanities-futures@curtin.edu.au

November 7, 2024

Note: As a journalism educator, my perspective is tilted towards my field, but the insights can be generalised to other fields.

The EduTECH 2024 Conference, August 13 to 14, was weird in the way that big conferences are. A flurry of corporate hustle, while amazing people rush through condensed versions of years of research in back-to-back sessions. Through the glaze of overwhelm that inevitably sets in, I got the message. Something needs to change. We need to change. We need to go beyond tolerating AI use or regarding it just as a form of cheating to be deterred and detected. We need to lean in and mandate the use of it.

The message came from people who have spent time with the issue at the highest levels: We need to be producing graduates who are comfortable with AI, fluent in understanding its strengths and weaknesses, and who can safely and ethically deploy it as a tool.

The people making these calls included Professor Rose Luckin, one of the founders of the UK-based Institute for Ethical AI in Education and an author of some of its key documents.

And Professor Philip Dawson from Deakin University, who was involved in writing a document published by the Tertiary Standards Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) in late 2023 called Assessment Reform for the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

Apparently ‘experience with AI’ is the new tech-kid skill employers say they are going to be looking for in graduate employees.

So, “mandate it,” the experts say.

The revolution’s here

But this raises a flurry of questions in me: What would we use it for, specifically? How much time do I have to test or practice putting it to that use (whatever I come up with) before I can teach and assess that use of it?

And what about the very real problem that while I am teaching at a university I am not “out there” in industry, doing it for real, so how can I speak with authenticity about the way it is being used?

Last week, the Poynter Institute advertised a short course via four webinars for $649 called Level Up: AI for Journalists to help journalists, and maybe educators, “get the lay of the land” via “weekly hands-on, expert-guided tours of AI tools they can immediately begin implementing in their work”..

Courses like this may be part of the solution but, more broadly, its existence speaks to there being a widespread need to get up to speed because the revolution’s here.

Perhaps one of the ways to understand the task ahead is to break it down into parts, or types of AI, or use cases. This might make it easier to start spooning it into our courses.

Maybe breaking it up into:

• How are journalists using it in industry?
• How should we be using it as educators in our work?
• And how are we teaching students about AI, as a transformer of work practices, industries, and culture more broadly?

On the first point, as well as teaching how it is being used, we need to talk about what it is not acceptable to use it for and why. The obvious issue is that there are trust problems. It sometimes gets things wrong, so how can we teach students to verify its outputs? How can we assess their verification work?

There are also core skills that journalists need to have, in order to be able to assess whether an AI assistant is doing a good job or not. Our students need to learn what good journalism is so they can recognise it when they see it and call out bad journalism, by AIs and other people.

Our challenge is to make sure we can assess their ability to recognise good journalism, even when AI assistants have been used to do some of the tasks that went into creating the content.

Our new AI colleagues

Then there is the teaching side of the issue, because the potential productivity advances mean we will be expected to be using it. To put it bluntly, our workloads are likely to increase because of the expectation that AI will make us able to do some things faster.

So, we need to ponder how we can use it to develop our teaching materials, develop materials for use in assessments and to help us to mark the assessments.

I have mixed feelings about doing this because deep down it feels a bit like cheating, but this is the kind of feeling we are being challenged to get over. Using an AI to do parts of a task is not cheating, if you still have control over the whole task.

My other problem at this juncture was imagining what tasks I could outsource to an AI assistant. My days are about teaching and assessing certain specific things and helping students with specific questions. I couldn’t see how generic AI assistant answers could be helpful with that.

I raised this question with a Google staffer at EduTECH and he wrote my question into Google’s AI Gemini which promptly wrote a list of the ways it could help a journalism educator. These are the things we need to delve into, unpack and test drive.

Rethinking assessment

All well and good, but do I need extra ideas at this point? I have courses that I’m teaching, activities scheduled for each week, assessments that have been refined over years. I’m not starting from scratch.

Deakin’s Professor Phillip Dawson was thought-provoking on this front. He said we need to look at what our students need to be able to do in a world where AI assistance is ubiquitous, and that our assessments need to prepare them for this world.

A wall-sized poster outside the Google room threw down the challenge of thinking into this, quoting a teacher/blogger known as the Fearful Biologist asking: “If AI can do it, why would I ask the student to do it instead?”

Dawson argued that because AI can now do much of what we have previously assessed, we need to reconsider both what and how we assess.

It is a topic he has given a good deal of thought to, as one of the authors of a 2023 TEQSA position paper on assessment reform.

The authors of the eight-page document call AI “an urgent catalyst for change” but say there is considerable expertise, based on evidence, theory and practice, about how to design assessments for a digital world, which includes artificial intelligence.

They acknowledge that generative AI use may make it hard to assess students’ personal learning attainment, but argue that as AI use is becoming more common and more difficult to assess, there is a need to reconsider the nature of our assessments in relation to generative AI.

They also said there is little value in ignoring AI or implementing bans, calling these approaches oversimplifications. They also warned against setting restrictions that could not be enforced, as that damages the validity of the assessment. Therefore, while some assessment tasks need to be secured against AI use, in others AI use is to be expected and accepted.

Their counterargument to over-restriction was that “forming trustworthy judgements about student learning in a time of AI requires multiple, inclusive and contextualised approaches to assessment.”

Specifically, they called for assessments that “encourage students to critically analyse AI’s role in, and value for, work and study, aligned with disciplinary or professional values”.

They also argued that assessment should aim to engage students in learning via partnerships between teachers and students, in which students participate in feedback.

This notion quelled any fears I had about AI threatening my job. It seems that the way to tackle AI is to have teachers and assessors who actually know their students, what they are working on, how they are working and what they are learning. This seems like a move against the ‘massive’ class model that was being spruiked a few years ago, and towards a more intimate and boutique educational experience. Together students, teachers and AI assistants will do interesting things, and I am looking forward to finding out what that is like.

Professor Shelley Kinash from Universal Higher Education, a new start-up private tertiary college, explained that as a new institution with new courses, they had been able to build in consideration of AI from the ground up. Therefore, all of their assessments were taking AI assistance into consideration. She said UHE had two types of assessments in their courses. The first type asked students to use Gen AI to start answering the question (write base code/or a draft answer, then debug or ramp it up, and submit it along with a reflection of what they did and why. The second type asked students to draft an answer, polish it with AI and submit it with a reflection on the whole process.

This sweeping approach is more prescriptive than Dawson’s reference to many and varied types of assessments, and counter to his conclusion that not all assessments of disciplinary outcomes should be substituted with assessments of AI use or critique of its outcomes, but Kinash said it suited the courses UHE is offering.

The kids will get there first

The room next to the one where these discussions about AI and the tertiary sector were underway had a cool big screen stage set up, pumped up music and a bunch of cheerful Google staff handing out lollies and conference novelty gifts. It was good to pop into for a change of pace.

Several of the presenters on the Google stage were teachers from Google Reference Schools: Schools that have early access to new Google teaching tools, so that they can pop into conferences like this and talk about the cool ways they are using Gemini AI, Google Vids and other tools from the Google Workspace with their grade fives, grade threes, grade ones.

The tools were cool. Grade fives were using templates to make videos that integrated footage, still images, text, voiceovers and background music. Grade ones were painstakingly spelling out words letter by letter to an AI assistant called Thea who congratulated them with tireless enthusiasm and corrected them when they stumbled. Thea also offered to send the teacher a summary of words the class stumbled over, and some activities that would help the class master the missing skills.

It’s worth noting that Google is not alone in the high-tech/coding/AI classroom space. Grok Academy and Khan Academy are also there, along with a host of other providers who filled the exhibition hall pitching their teaching aids to the thousands of teachers in attendance.

The week I was watching these wonders, the Australian and WA Governments jointly announced that they are co-funding an AI in education pilot program to reduce teacher workloads in WA.

Their statement says: “The $4.7 million initiative will use AI at eight WA schools to reduce lesson planning time so teachers can spend more time in the classroom and less time doing admin.”

The initiative is informed by the Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools, and the language is all about “workload reduction”, which sounds suspiciously like payroll reduction to me, but the upshot is that it won’t be long before the students in our tertiary classes are people who’ve been working with AI for most of their lives.

What is HI?

The third point is one that UK Professor Rose Lucken drove home.

She said that while we are busy exploring and learning about what AI can do, we will concurrently be refining our understanding of human intelligence (HI) and how it differs from AI.

She said there is so much that people can do that we don’t yet really appreciate: “Embodiment matters: We are complex living, feeling beings. Feeling matters and it is something AI can’t do.”

With decades of experience in this field behind her, she forecast immense change in all fields of human endeavour and stressed the importance of caution and vigilance as we proceed through these turbulent times. This is why talking about it in humanities classes is important.

She worries about AI being advertised as “effortless”. She said the drive by corporations to commercialise and monetise AI would see people being encouraged to simply off-load tasks and that if we do this too fast and too willingly, it may result in widespread skill loss. She cited examples of this already having happened with some skills, and wondered if the effect of more widespread skill loss would be AI dependency.

She also worries that we will overestimate what AI can do and says that working together is the way forward. She said that while she is broadly optimistic, failing to pay enough attention as monetised AI swoops through our culture could have dire consequences.

The Learning Futures Challenge is a challenge-based unit that invites students to explore topical issues and design and prototype innovative solutions for the future of learning. Over five days, students worked in interdisciplinary teams to explore real-world problems and reimagine what education could look like in an evolving digital and social landscape. 

This year’s challenge was supported by leading industry partners including Viewport XR, OMG and Adobe, who mentored teams throughout the week. These collaborations gave students unique insight into current industry practices, emerging technologies and the expectations of future learners. 

A Week of Creativity and Purpose 

The showcase on Monday featured a series of student presentations, where each team pitched their concepts to a panel of staff, industry representatives and fellow peers. The ideas demonstrated a clear commitment to human-centred design, with many focusing on accessibility, mental health, personalisation and technology-enhanced learning. 

Speaking at the event, Professor Richard Blythe, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Humanities, praised the depth of thinking and innovation shown across all teams. 

“The Learning Futures Challenge creates a space where students are not only encouraged to think differently but to take ownership of the future. What we saw this week was thoughtful, brave and human. These students aren’t just responding to change, they are leading it.” 
 

Jonathan Pillai, Dean of Learning Futures, reflected on the unique learning environment the challenge creates. 

“This unit is a rare opportunity for students to work in multidisciplinary teams and to creatively respond to problems that matter with a human-centred design approach. We provided students the opportunity to frame the problems from their voice and authentically speak into the challenges of education as learners today. As a result, we have witnessed some powerful and innovative outcomes which truly challenge and envision a better future for education. In this short span of a week, it has amazed me and many others, to see how this challenge has inspired students and the future of education here in Curtin.” 

Project Highlights: Flow State and Vizora 

Two standout concepts received particular attention for their originality, execution and relevance to current educational needs. 

Flow State is a personalised wellbeing companion app designed to support students through their academic journey. Using AI and cross-device tracking, the app helps users monitor their study patterns, mood and mental health. In addition to personalised insights and real-time suggestions, Flow State also gives educators a broader view of student wellbeing, helping them provide more targeted and empathetic support. With a calming design and an emphasis on care, the app is both functional and deeply reflective of student needs. 

Vizora is a smart browser extension that transforms passive lecture viewing into interactive learning experiences. When watching an online lecture, students can pause the video and prompt Vizora to break down a concept using visuals, simplified explanations and guided exercises. By integrating with existing learning environments, Vizora aims to make complex topics more accessible and encourage active learning, especially in online and hybrid classrooms. 

A Glimpse Into the Future 

While Flow State and Vizora were highlights, every project presented during the showcase reflected a strong understanding of both user experience and systemic change. Teams embraced bold ideas, whether through immersive XR environments, AI integration or emotionally intelligent design. 

As the showcase came to a close, Richard Blythe reminded attendees that the future of education depends on this kind of student-led exploration. 

“If we want education to be more meaningful, more human and more impactful, then we need to invite students into the conversation about how it’s designed. The Learning Futures Challenge does just that.” 

Jonathan Pillai added that the work done during the week goes beyond the unit itself. 

“This experience is not just about designing a solution. It’s about learning how to work with others, how to ask better questions and how to stay curious about what learning can be.” 

The 2025 Learning Futures Challenge highlighted the role students can play in shaping the future of education. It also reaffirmed the importance of collaboration across faculties, industries and disciplines to create learning that is responsive, inclusive and ready for what comes next. 

Learning Futures Challenge Highlight Video

Diary Room Highlights

Upcoming Learning Futures Challenges

To learn more about upcoming Learning Futures Challenges, please contact humanities-futures@curtin.edu.au

Collaborate with industry professionals, academic mentors, and peers from diverse disciplines as you research, develop, and pitch innovative ideas that address real-world educational challenges. This is your opportunity to create cutting-edge solutions and make a tangible impact on the future of education.

By taking part, you’ll:

• Gain valuable industry experience
• Expand your professional network
• Earn 25 credit points towards your Curtin University degree

The program includes:

• Online pre-learning from mid-June
• One week of intensive face-to-face learning from July 7
• A final showcase event on July 14

Expressions of interest are now open – don’t miss your chance to be at the forefront of educational innovation!

The Academic Innovation Champions program aimed to elevate student-teacher collaboration through innovative educational practices. By emphasising digital fluency, agility, and adaptability, the program equipped students with essential skills to meet the evolving demands of tomorrow’s workforce.

Each project undertaken by the academic participants was crafted to align with strategic learning outcomes, including enhanced student engagement through interactive tools, increased collaboration among peers, personalised learning experiences facilitated by AI recommendations and analytics, and improved accessibility for remote or hybrid learning environments.

The program’s impact extended beyond theoretical innovation, directly enhancing the learning experiences of students and staff across various disciplines within the University. An enhancement in student engagement and participation was observed during the program, as well as a marked improvement in the quality of interactions facilitated by these technological interventions.

As the Faculty of Humanities continues to champion academic innovation, the legacy of the 2024 Academic Innovation Champions program serves as a testament to the digital projects and learning and teaching teams’ focus and commitment to pioneering educational excellence and preparing students for success in our current dynamic, global landscape.

Videography: Digital Projects Team, Faculty of Humanities  
Director, Digital Innovation and Learning: Matt Reed  
Dean Learning and Teaching: Associate Professor Nicole Slatter  
Director, Centre for Learning Enterprise & Partnership Engagement Learning Partnerships: Chandra Sundareswaran  

Curtin University Students Innovate for Disability Sector in Accessibility Challenge

Curtin University students have joined forces to address critical challenges in the disability sector, developing innovative solutions during the first-ever Faculty of Humanities Learning Futures Accessibility Challenge. This week-long, intensive program brought together 40 students with leaders from academia, the community, and industry to tackle real-world accessibility problems and drive change.

The challenge featured inspiring presentations from renowned figures, including Paralympian Elizabeth Wright, performance artist Julia Hales, and disability rights advocate Senator Jordon Steele-John. Their insights set the tone for a week of creative problem-solving and collaboration.

Curtin University’s Dean of Learning Futures, Professor Darren Bryant, highlighted the challenge’s focus on using disability solutions as a catalyst for innovation.

“The Learning Futures Accessibility Challenge was designed to inspire students to think outside the box, identifying and addressing real-world issues that impact people with disabilities. It served as a masterclass in navigating complex challenges and encouraged students to use their skills to contribute to a more accessible and inclusive society,” Professor Bryant said.

Dr. Gwyneth Peaty from Curtin’s Faculty of Humanities praised the collaborative spirit that defined the challenge.

“The Accessibility Challenge brought together a diverse range of talents, united by a common goal: to make a positive impact. It’s our collective responsibility to build an inclusive community, and it was inspiring to see how students from different faculties worked together to address the unique needs of people with disabilities,” Dr. Peaty said.

Throughout the challenge, students worked in teams to develop solutions aligned with the four ‘Pillars for Change’ from the State Disability Strategy 2020-2030:

• Participate and contribute
• Inclusive communities
• Living well
• Rights and equity

The innovative solutions presented included a podcast celebrating diverse stories, the creation of multi-sensory rooms at universities, tools to enhance inclusivity in art galleries and museums, and an accessible housing app.

The Accessibility Challenge also benefited from the support of key industry partners, including Ability WA, the Department of Communities, the Centre for Inclusive Design, Developmental Disability WA, and People with Disability’s Australia.

2024 Accessibility Challenge Gallery

Running from 8 July to 15 July, the Learning Futures Accessibility Challenge marked a significant step forward in fostering innovation and inclusivity at Curtin University. This initiative not only empowered students to address pressing issues in the disability sector but also underscored the university’s commitment to creating a more equitable and accessible future for all.

In the captivating season finale, “Episode 6: Envisioning the AI-Powered Future of Education,” we peer into a surprising workforce landscape shaped by technological evolution.

From the printing press to the internet, each innovation defied predictions of total dominance. Today, AI stands at the forefront, poised to transform education and employment. Gen Z, embracing the gig economy, seeks dynamic work experiences. Universities must adapt assessment methods beyond traditional papers, recognizing diverse learning paths.

The vision? Personalized, one-on-one AI tutors that understand our unique learning styles, guiding us toward a smarter, more informed future. As we navigate this AI-powered horizon, education becomes a dynamic journey, and the role of technology expands beyond the classroom. 

This series features experts from across Curtin University and beyond including Academic Integrity Advisor Associate Professor Lesley Sefcik, WA Data Science Innovation Hub Director Alex Jenkins, Journalism Lecturer Dr Glynn Greensmith, LinkedIn Head of Public Sector Becky Tyler, John Curtin Gallery Director Associate Professor Susanna Castleden, Animation and Game Design Lecturer Jonathan Pillai, Chief Information Officer Jason Cowie and Dean, Sustainable Futures Professor Josh Byrne.

“Navigating the Digital World” is a collaborative production created by staff from Curtin’s Faculty of Humanities, Learning Partnerships and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic’s office.

Curtin’s AI in Research Group (CAIR) is helping Curtin researchers harness the power of artificial intelligence.

In the episode titled “Leveraging AI Capabilities at Curtin,” we explore how the next generation entering the workforce is uniquely positioned to drive industry change. The focus lies in equipping students with ethical AI skills, ensuring they lead the way in an AI-dominated workplace.

Curtin University emphasizes responsible AI use, aiming to empower students to navigate administrative policies and find educational resources seamlessly. An envisioned AI assistant on the Curtin intranet would guide students, offering personalized advice and assisting with assignments, deadlines, and fees.

Exciting opportunities for challenge-based learning in sustainability fields await students, fostering critical thinking and creative reflectiveness. As Curtin embraces AI, it aims to build a future where technology serves both intellect and emotion, shaping well-rounded professionals. 

This series features experts from across Curtin University and beyond including Academic Integrity Advisor Associate Professor Lesley Sefcik, WA Data Science Innovation Hub Director Alex Jenkins, Journalism Lecturer Dr Glynn Greensmith, LinkedIn Head of Public Sector Becky Tyler, John Curtin Gallery Director Associate Professor Susanna Castleden, Animation and Game Design Lecturer Jonathan Pillai, Chief Information Officer Jason Cowie and Dean, Sustainable Futures Professor Josh Byrne.

“Navigating the Digital World” is a collaborative production created by staff from Curtin’s Faculty of Humanities, Learning Partnerships and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic’s office.

Curtin’s AI in Research Group (CAIR) is helping Curtin researchers harness the power of artificial intelligence.

“Addressing AI Bias and Ethics Concerns,” delves into the delicate balance between trust and caution in the realm of artificial intelligence.

While AI’s high accuracy instils confidence, the 1% margin of error can have profound consequences, especially when human lives or critical decisions are at stake. Ethical considerations extend to accessibility, ensuring that all students have equal access to AI technologies.

Privacy and data protection become paramount as AI systems learn more about our lives. As we navigate this landscape, responsible use of AI and critical awareness are essential for a thriving society. 

This series features experts from across Curtin University and beyond including Academic Integrity Advisor Associate Professor Lesley Sefcik, WA Data Science Innovation Hub Director Alex Jenkins, Journalism Lecturer Dr Glynn Greensmith, LinkedIn Head of Public Sector Becky Tyler, John Curtin Gallery Director Associate Professor Susanna Castleden, Animation and Game Design Lecturer Jonathan Pillai, Chief Information Officer Jason Cowie and Dean, Sustainable Futures Professor Josh Byrne.

“Navigating the Digital World” is a collaborative production created by staff from Curtin’s Faculty of Humanities, Learning Partnerships and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic’s office.

Curtin’s AI in Research Group (CAIR) is helping Curtin researchers harness the power of artificial intelligence.

In the third episode of “Navigating the Digital World,” titled “Developing Critical Thinking on AI-Generated Media,” we explore the profound implications of truth and the role of critical thinking in an AI-driven era. Academic integrity, honesty, and fairness take centre stage as students learn to discern between genuine work and AI-generated content.

The episode emphasizes the need to assess information from diverse sources, including Gen AI, peer-reviewed literature, colleagues, and teachers. Critical thinking becomes a powerful tool to navigate the digital landscape, encouraging students to slow down, question, and analyse the flood of images and information. As we embark on this shared journey, understanding AI’s potential and maintaining authenticity are paramount for a thriving civil society. 

This series features experts from across Curtin University and beyond including Academic Integrity Advisor Associate Professor Lesley Sefcik, WA Data Science Innovation Hub Director Alex Jenkins, Journalism Lecturer Dr Glynn Greensmith, LinkedIn Head of Public Sector Becky Tyler, John Curtin Gallery Director Associate Professor Susanna Castleden, Animation and Game Design Lecturer Jonathan Pillai, Chief Information Officer Jason Cowie and Dean, Sustainable Futures Professor Josh Byrne.

“Navigating the Digital World” is a collaborative production created by staff from Curtin’s Faculty of Humanities, Learning Partnerships and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic’s office.

Curtin’s AI in Research Group (CAIR) is helping Curtin researchers harness the power of artificial intelligence.