Educational Innovation is a central team within the DVC (Education and Students) Portfolio at the University of Sydney which collaborates with the University’s staff, affiliates, and networks to support and develop great teaching as the foundation of transformative education.
The team works to champion new approaches in education, and to provide holistic, creative, and proactive support for all aspects of teaching at the University, through:
- leadership to inspire change and innovation, including strategic vision, governance, learning space development, and seeking new opportunities to put innovation into action
- pedagogical guidance, assistance and support, including educational technology, systems, policy, programs, quality assurance, co-creating learning materials and resources with faculty/school partners and students, and designing for diversity
- building relationships, fostering networks, and nurturing communities of practice, including consultation and collaboration with academic and professional staff, faculty/school partners, cross-institutionally, and with students
- professional learning and development for pedagogical practice, including accredited award programs, continuing professional development, and help with award applications
- recognition and awards, including fellowship of Advance HE, education grants, and showcasing innovative practice through events and the Teaching@Sydney online resource
- making available enabling technologies in partnership with ICT, including enterprise educational technologies such as Canvas, SRES, Mentimeter, H5P, Cogniti, and more
The team loves working with collaborators to imagine innovative ways to enhance teaching and learning, and to co-create the practical steps to implement good ideas.
Please look over our programs, services, and events and get in touch!
Our team
The Educational Innovation team is an enthusiastic and caring team of academics, professional staff, and integrated practitioners, all with diverse skills, experience, and expertise in the field of education.
Vardaan Anand
Junior Learning Technologist
Vardaan is a full-stack developer for the Cogniti AI platform. With a background in Computer Science & Computational Data Science, he is passionate about leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance education, focusing on scalable, ethical, and innovative solutions that improve teaching effectiveness and student learning experiences.
William Ashraf
Academic Director Student Digital
Professor Ashraf provides leadership for educational support technology, strategy development, delivery, leadership and governance oversight for digital and online learning, including non-award courses and microcredentials. He is also the DVC Education portfolio lead for Digital Sydney.
Aaron Baird
Educational Design Manger (Acting)
Aaron has a background in philosophy. He is enthusiastic about working with teaching teams to identify and remove barriers to student engagement in learning.
Kimberly Baskin
Educational Design Manager
Pamela Brañas
Educational Designer
Pam is interested in learning design professional communities. She aims to advance collaborative innovation in education through inclusive teaching solutions.
Adam Bridgeman
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning)
Adam leads the University’s support for enhancing the learning experience for students through the development of collaborative and interactive teaching styles and the technologies that support and enable them.
Nikki Briones
Educational Design Manager
Nikki has a background in learning and development and specialises in piloting technology initiatives and leading diverse teams to create engaging online courses, including MOOCs and micro-credentials.
Zoe Britton-Harper
Educational Design Support Officer
Andrew Carfax-Foster
Senior Administration Officer
Andrew leverages an eclectic background in the liminal space between visual communication, architectural design, and educational technology to craft digitally authentic learning experiences.
Alex Chapman
Educational Design Manager
Alex enjoys working with colleagues and students to explore how technology can make learning more engaging and inclusive. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience leading digital initiatives to create supportive, connected, and innovative educational environments.
Samantha Clarke
Senior Lecturer
Sam trained as a geologist and now focuses on building educators’ capacity and improving learning experiences through enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as fostering connections through educational technologies.
Matthew Clemson
Senior Lecturer
Matt has a background in biochemistry and molecular biology. He is an academic developer, unit coordinator in the Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education) and is working on the AI and Assessment and Cogniti AI strategic initiatives.
Kria Coleman
Educational Designer
Kria has a background in Social Science, Education with three decades of teaching experience in a variety of educational settings. She is passionate about innovative approaches to classroom pedagogies, assessment design, and collaborative learning.
Ella Collins-White
Educational Designer
Ella works on designing for diversity and is an award-winning teacher, receiving commendations for cultivating a practice of inclusive and collaborative learning. She draws on these experiences and expertise in rhetoric, writing and communication to inform her design strategies.
Drew Cosgrove
Learning Technologist
Drew creates inclusive, scalable digital learning environments that support academics and students in the effective and ethical use of generative AI. He draws on experience in education, software architecture, accessibility, and human-centered design to deliver practical, sustainable solutions.
Laura Crocco
Educational Designer
Laura has a background in music, and learning, behavioural, and movement sciences. She is passionate about improving higher education curriculum with evidence-informed approaches, and supporting teachers in fostering best practices for learning in clear and practical ways.
Rob Crow
Educational Designer
Rob is an Educational Designer with a background in audio production, supporting academic staff to create inclusive, multimedia-rich learning experiences..
Becky Denham
Educational Design Manager
Becky has background in English language teaching, teacher training and international development. She loves working with teachers and students as partners to improve the learning experience for all students.
Gosia Dossegger
Educational Designer
Gosia is experienced in delivering complex end-to-end online learning solutions. She has a collaborative nature and is passionate about creating authentic and impactful designs that help people learn.
Jen Fletcher
Senior Lecturer
Jessica Frawley
Senior Lecturer
Jess has a disciplinary background in human centered design. She is the Director of the Sydney Educational Fellowship Program that promotes the recognition of all university educators. Jess facilitates the institutional approach to Students as Partners.
Tim Harland
Learning Media Producer
Tim enjoys the challenge of creating high-quality educational media and loves collaborating with a diverse range of professional and academic staff from across the university.
Jennie Hill
Senior Administrative Officer
Jennie has a wide-ranging background from equine science to fine art and has now turned her attention to all things admin and enjoys providing support to the team.
Kirsty Holmes
Educational Designer
Kirsty has a background in journalism with a keen interest in co-designing educational media for blended learning environments and meaningful use of technology in education.
Leon Huang
Educational Designer
Leon specialises in Learning Management System administration and likes to problem solve, design and develop engaging learning experiences with technologies.
Sarah Humphreys
Educational Design Manager
Sarah is a passionate advocate for inclusive education and loves to explore alternative ways for diverse learners to reach the same end goal. She applies a Universal Design for Learning mindset to everything that she does.
Jon Hunter
Manager, Educational Media
Jon is passionate about film making, electronic art, music and audio production. He enjoys collaborating with staff and exploring ways to enhance the media we use to support teaching.
Eszter Kalman
Academic Developer
Eszter has a background in neuroscientist and focuses on building Communities of Practice for educators, enabling technology-enhanced learning, and growing fellows through the AdvanceHE program.
Sharon Kitching
Educational Designer
Sharon is interested in how people understand the interface between learning and technologies.
Marianna Koulias
Senior Manager
With a background in learning space and online course design and development, Marianna leads educational technology delivery and support for the team.
Karolina Kulczynska-Le Breton
Manager, Post Bachelor Programs and Partnerships
Karolina has a background ranging from languages and linguistics to higher education and business management. As part of the EI team, she manages the suite of PG Online programs in collaboration with an external partner, 2U.
Monique Laura
Educational Designer
Monique has a background as a French teacher and support academics to deliver better learning experiences for all students through learning technologies.
Alice Li
Educational Design Support Officer
Alice supports strategic educational projects and the Assessment and AI project.
Danny Liu
Academic Developer
Danny is a molecular biologist by training, programmer by night, researcher and academic developer by day, and educator at heart.
Bianka Malecka
Senior Lecturer (Academic Development)
Bianka has a background in Education, TESOL and American Lit. Drawing on over 20 years of experience in diverse educational settings, she is committed to enhancing student and educator learning by connecting research, practice and digital innovation.
Anna Nguyen
Educational Designer
Anna has a background in Information Technology, Education, and Law. She is interested in creating educational content, policy compliance and catering to diversity in the generative AI era.
Ruby Nguyen
Senior Lecturer (Academic Development)
Ruby specialises in generative AI across curriculum, assessment, and research. With a background in film, visual arts, and education, she leads initiatives that support inclusive, creative, tech-informed pedagogies for educators and students across the University.
Brodie Nielsen
Senior Program Officer
Brodie is passionate about all things students, whether it be equity or incorporating student voice into teaching and learning. He currently manages Educational Innovation’s student partners and provides project support to our Transition program.
Helen Parker
Senior Lecturer
Helen’s background is in nutrition/dietetics and exercise science. After spending 10 years teaching and guiding first-year students through their inaugural semester at USYD, Helen is currently a member of the academic developer team, supporting educators by teaching into the MPLF and Graduate Certificate in Education.
Samantha Poulos
Educational Designer
Drawing on their expertise in feminist literary theory and experience as a tertiary educator, Samantha works on the Designing for Diversity project and aims to develop creative, inclusive, and safe spaces for all.
Jenna Roberts
Educational Designer
Jenna is an excellent collaborator, an all-rounder who contributes to supporting SRES, the AI and Assessment project and supports educators to improve their learning environments.
Rosemary Saul
Educational Designer
Rosie has a background in trade publishing editing. She is an advocate for universal accessibility and inclusivity in both online and offline learning spaces.
Roman Tantiongco
Educational Designer
Roman has a background in librarianship. He is passionate about information/digital literacy skills and learning space design.
Alix Thoeming
Educational Design Manager
Alix is a theoretical archaeologist turned tertiary education professional. Among her responsibilities are coordinating the Modular Professional Learning Framework and managing strategic initiatives related to student transition to University.
Ruth Weeks
Senior Manager
Ruth has a background in English language teaching and teacher training and now leads the learning design team.
alessandra wollaston
Educational Designer
alessandra is a creative thinker who loves to collaborate on ideas and action for transformative education. alessandra’s background includes art direction/design, facilitation, NFP governance, and teaching.
Mary Wright
Professor of Educational Scholarship
Professor Mary Wright focuses on the Horizon Educator programme and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Her full bio can be found here.
Jesse Xu
Educational Designer
Jesse combines expertise in pharmacology, medical technologies, and creative tech to enhance student digital literacy. He leverages academic makerspaces, digital fabrication, and generative AI to foster future-ready skills and innovative learning in higher education.
Pippa Yeoman
Academic Developer
Pippa is an educational ethnographer who is passionate about integrating instructional and architectural design to create learning spaces that are welcoming and purposeful for all.