Graeme Jackson�
Faculty, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) has been a recognized leader in e-learning practice and infrastructure for over a decade. Professor Graeme Jackson has been one of the leaders on campus in deploying distributed e-learning and defining new best practices in its application.

Exemplary Transformed Elements

• Part of a distributed, global e-learning enterprise
• Portal-centric infrastructure has enabled reinvention of academic and administrative processes
• Enterprise infrastructure for knowledge management and customer relationship management
• Advanced content management and knowledge management, applied to learning are central to competitive advantage
  
• Faculty member as guide and mentor in aggregation of e-knowledge for learners
  
• Participation in community of reflective practice on e-pedagogy
  
• Faculty member as provider of
  e-knowledge through publishers and marketplaces
  
• e-Knowledge tools enable new approaches to learning object development

Becoming a Global Distributed University. USQ has been a primary participant in the Virtual Colombo Plan (VCP), through which a comprehensive array of distributed e-learning programs has been crafted to serve the needs of the developing world. Over the past five years, hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in this initiative.

USQ’s strategy has been to become a distributed global university, leveraging its virtual and physical resources to create high-quality, convenient, and efficient learning. At any time, USQ-developed learning programs are being offered on-site at USQ campuses in Australia, on-site at USQ satellite campuses or partner institutions/ learning enterprises in Southeast Asia and China, or virtually to individuals and groups anywhere. All students — even those engaged as residential students at a campus location — use e-learning extensively. All campus academic and administrative processes have been reinvented through technology.

Over the years, USQ’s continuous improvement and development as a global leader in distributed learning has been shaped by several interdependent forces: 1) a powerful, transformative vision of “fifth generation distance education;” 2) progressive development of enterprise applications infrastructures, processes, and cultural norms to support the vision; 3) building competencies of staff and faculty through practical experience in cutting-edge distributed learning; 4) operating in the highly competitive Australasian learning marketplace; 5) understanding and acting on the competitive advantage potential of content and knowledge management in learning; and 6) experimenting with tablet computers and other aspects of mobile computing.

Infrastructure to Support Intelligent, Flexible Learning. One of the keys to USQ’s success is its portal-centric infrastructure, which is available to all learners and faculty engaged in USQ learning experiences. USQ calls its model “fifth generation distance education” or an “intelligent, flexible learning model.”