The history of Deakin Centre for Academic Development: Celebrating 30 years of sector-leading digital education
In the beginning, for universities in particular, the internet’s obvious potential for information sharing was inspiring. Unfortunately, that potential was frustrated by the lack of a nationally networked Internet Service Provider (ISP) infrastructure. To address these challenges, in 1989 the Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee established the Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNet).
The DCAD offices in the newly opened Woolstores campus in Geelong, 1997
To ensure it was positioned to take full advantage of the rapidly improving computer mediated communication that would develop as the AARNet expanded, in 1994 Deakin University established the Deakin Centre for Academic Development (DCAD). DCAD launched to provide services which supported, enriched and extended the University’s core academic activities in teaching, learning and research. It worked closely with Information Technology Services and the Course Development Centre to develop and deliver new and more user- friendly computer-mediated learning programs. It was partly guided by reports like the 1994 Use of Technology by Deakin Students report, prepared by the Course Delivery Advisory Sub- Committee. That report was based on two student surveys delivered in 1992/93. The surveys sought to understand how many students owned or had access to technologies that enhanced both on-campus and off-campus studies.
Pg. 27. Survey Report: Use of Technology by Deakin Students, August 1994
The report provides a valuable snapshot of the computer-based student learning experience at the time. One of the report’s findings was that most students surveyed (79.2%) indicated they had no access to a modem. (Sidenote: 95.8% of students had an audio cassette player!) For the fortunate few who did have access to a modem, the most common speed was 2400bps. A black and white text-only 80-page PDF file (the average length of a unit guide) is around 3000KB = 3,000,000 bytes. At 2400bps, that’s going to take a little over 20 minutes to transfer.
In 1990 Deakin University joined the information “superhighway” through an AARNet supplied Cisco 7206 router.
Practical outcomes began to appear in 1991, when Deakin released a text-based interface to provide menu access to various applications and electronic services to support teaching and learning in the Master of Distance Education program. Known as TEAS (Tutorial and Electronic Access System), it provided dial-in and network access to electronic mail, bulletin boards, the Deakin Library catalogue, and to an online book-ordering service. TEAS was a text-based system housed on a central Unix computer and accessed via terminal emulation software. Because of the inherent user-unfriendliness of these early mail and bulletin board systems, and the occasional unreliability of network connections, few disciplinary areas made its use compulsory.
The off-campus guide for 1991 outlines the sorts of technical hurdles students were faced with:
Pg. 111. 1991 Deakin University Off-Campus Guide. Equipment/Costs. Graduate Diploma of Computing
The Information Technology Strategic Plan for Learning & Teaching – Future Directions for Flexible Learning-Teaching and Information Technology at Deakin was prepared by DCAD in May 1996 and is a call to arms. It urges Deakin to prepare for the possibility that, by the year 2000, most Deakin students will need to have ready access to computing equipment and software to study.
In 1995 Deakin University was awarded University of the Year in the field of Outstanding Technology in Education. Technology in Education was central to DCAD’s remit, and the award can be seen as an acknowledgement of the team’s innovative and sector-leading work in the field.
A presentation by DCAD explaining Deakin Interchange. 1997. Geelong Woolstores campus
One of the resources designed to meet the challenges flagged in the 1994 report was Deakin Interchange. Deakin Interchange aimed to streamline computer mediated communication by rolling features such as email, information search and retrieval, bulletin board and computer conferencing into one suite of tools. The system was launched in 1995 to 45 students and by 1998, was being used by 18,000. However, as usage grew, so did the frustration many experienced trying to use the system. In March of 1996, records show that about 48% of all service calls logged through the Information Technology Services helpdesk related to problems with Deakin Interchange; the most common issues were connecting to the Deakin modem banks, logging into servers and the incompatibility of some operating systems with the software.
The 1998 Digital Learning Toolkit launch page
In 1998, the program was replaced by the iconic CD-ROM Deakin Learning Toolkits. The CD- ROM format could contain information and documentation whilst also providing hotlinks to connect the student to a raft of external resources such as the library catalogue and course websites. Thanks to a resilient and ongoing commitment to ensure students are well-resourced and fully supported, DCAD, through a range of ever-evolving methods, designed digital delivery workflows and discovery layers that can still be recognised in the interfaces students use today.
In 2000 DCAD, together with the Office of Flexible Learning and the Learning Resourcing Services, relaunched as Learning Services. The new unit was a further strengthening of the University’s commitment to maintaining a dominant national and international position in distance education, flexible learning and the development and use of educational technology. Like so many Deakin initiatives, it benefitted from, and carried on from, the work done by those teams that preceded it.