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Are we having fun yet ?
The necessity of fun and personalised learning at university in 2021 .
Stuart Middleton interviewed by Wade Zaglas
In contrast to previous academic years , it ’ s doubtful many would have described their 2020 university year as ‘ fun ’. Perhaps ‘ challenging ’ or even ‘ stressful ’ would be more likely descriptors .
But as the 2021 academic year begins , it seems likely university staff and students will face the same sorts of challenges . However , whatever the conditions may be , Dr Stuart Middleton , Senior Lecturer in Strategy at the University of Queensland Business School , believes we must bring the fun back to university and motivate and engage students .
Middleton was recently awarded the Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management ‘ Innovative Management Educator of the Year ’ award for 2020 .
For him , ensuring fun and engagement on campus in 2021 will be critical for a generation he describes as facing multiple challenges – demographic , the blurring of public and private worlds and , of course , the COVID-19 pandemic .
He also underscores the importance of connections on campus , as well as using technology for personalisation , not efficiency .
CR : Do you think 2020 was devoid of fun in many universities ? SM : 2020 might have worked well for individual students . So being based in Brisbane , if I ’ m a student who is on the Gold Coast , has a relatively full-time job , with some fairly significant social commitments , I think 2020 probably worked all right for you with the ability to be able to really personalise your study and get online when you wanted to study .
I think though we can look at COVID as part of a larger trend which challenges the funding and education for Gen Z , the group of 23 ’ s and under . They grew up in the shadow of the global financial crisis , so they ’ ve been challenged financially , and I think COVID is actually requiring this group to shoulder a burden in a way that perhaps we haven ’ t seen with other young generations , even since World War II .
Look at the disproportionate impacts of COVID in terms of loss : casual jobs , enormous government debt , which they ’ re probably not going to see the back of for a very long time . There ’ s potential for some major inflationary pressures coming about in the economy , and then the ongoing tax burden that they ’ re going to face means that they can ’ t remake society in their own image as the baby boomers did post-WWII .
They are about 30 per cent of the global population and about 20 per cent of the Australian population , and one in two of them are expected to get degrees . So those demographic trends are there , but then you get the technological trends on top of that , which are blurring the public and the private . And I think , quite often , that can be unforgiving for them .
I think there ’ s the pressure that goes with growing up in that sort of environment of the public and the private becoming so similar and blurred , on top of all the demographic challenges , on top of what COVID actually thrust on top of this generation . And they ’ re shouldering that burden incredibly well . But when I think of 2020 being devoid of fun at university , it ’ s one of a number of contextual factors which is jeopardising the ability of this generation to have fun and take some real joy from their learning .
Do you think that 2020 had an impact on their performance in any way academically or socially ? I ’ d like to think that universities were very understanding in a performance
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