Educational Innovation is a central team within the DVC (Education) 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.
Aaron Baird
Educational Designer
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 (Educational Innovation)
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.
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.
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.
Ricky Connor
Educational Design Manager
Ricky is an educator who has taught in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. He has been involved in the professional development of teachers in those sectors for over 30 years.
Tom Cramond
Educational Designer
Tom has a background in Arts Management, UX Design, Marketing and Photography. He is passionate about creating engaging and authentic learning experiences for students.
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.
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
Acting Manager, Media Team
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.
Michelle Harrison
Educational Design Manager
Michelle has a background in research and information skills development and enjoys finding ways to demonstrate the impact of learning design projects.
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.
LeonHuang
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
Learning Media Produce
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.
Minh Huynh
Educational Designer
Minh has a background in biology and is passionate about building safe, supportive and inclusive learning spaces for students.
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 development and online course design, Marianna leads educational technology delivery and support for the team.
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.
Danny Liu
Academic Developer
Danny is a molecular biologist by training, programmer by night, researcher and academic developer by day, and educator at heart.
Robyn Martin
Academic Developer
Robyn has a background in corporate Leadership and Business but educaton is her calling and always has been.
Benjamin Miller
Academic Developer
Ben lectures in English, looking for ways that technology and excellent teaching design can support diverse students.
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.
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.
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.
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.