Lisa Jacka

Associate Professor Lisa Jacka is an Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Southern Queensland with over 20 years of experience in Higher Education across a number of Australian Universities. Her outstanding contribution to higher education scholarship of teaching and learning was recognised with acceptance as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2019. As an academic, she has contributed to integrating technology for Early Childhood, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education. She has been an innovator in online education, with a focus on engaging learners utilising emerging technologies. She was awarded a Vice-Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence in Student Engagement for innovative design and delivery of online learning experiences that facilitate education students’ readiness to teach in learning environments of the future in 2015. Her PhD research investigated virtual worlds in teacher education to promote innovative pedagogy. The study provided the basis for her sole-authored book Using Virtual Worlds in Educational Settings: Making Learning Real. Most recently she has published an open-source book with her colleague Dr Julie Lindsay called HyFlex Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Educational Innovation.

What Will the Student Profile Look Like in the Future?
I will bring an Australian perspective to our discussion on the evolving student profile, drawing from our unique educational landscape where distance learning has long been a necessity rather than an innovation. Australia's experience with geographically dispersed learners has taught us that asynchronous online experiences aren't just supplementary to traditional education but they're fundamental to developing the self-directed, digitally fluent learners of the future. I believe tomorrow's students will be characterised by their ability to seamlessly navigate between synchronous collaboration and independent, asynchronous learning journeys. From an Australian context, where students often balance work, family, and study across vast distances and time zones, I'll explore how asynchronous learning environments are providing flexibility in learning modalities with particular emphasis on well-designed asynchronous experiences that integrates AI.