Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
UOW runs a wide range of public events and activities to make research more accessible to the wider community. From TEDxUWollongong, the Big Ideas Festival, Uni in the Brewery to Three Minute Thesis, UOW hosts a variety of research-focused events each year. The Big Ideas Festival attracted over 600 people from the Wollongong community to the University in 2019 and 538 viewed the event via Facebook live stream.
Our outreach and school programs start working with students in high school and on to vocational pathways or university, to ensure their successful journey through higher education. Connection with these students enables their transition and success at university, by providing peer support and coaching, mentoring and academic skill-building.
Find out more about the Outreach and Schools ProgramsEarly Start’s Research conducts world class, evidence-based research that drives government policy, and assists industry professionals and the broader public in making informed educational decisions for policy and practice. The institutes’ research aims to overcome disadvantage and impact the lives of children, youth, and families.
Find out more about Early Start ResearchThe Future Makers research team is engaging a community of ‘makers’ from high school students and primary teachers, to entrepreneurs through to retired steelworkers. The space brings a community of makers together offering an engaging learning experience centred around STEM education, recycling and sustainability. The research project is evaluating whether ‘making’ activities can enhance STEM education by encouraging interest and improving outcomes.
Read more about Future MakersFuture Makers project is looking really at the interaction between people and technology. The technology is around new types new ways of making things like 3D printers, computer-based design and so on. But it’s really about humans interact, people interact with that technology that's critically important. So that's why it's important in our research team we have a interdisciplinary mix of of researchers involved.
One of the main goals of the research that we're working towards is sustainability of makerspaces. Not only can they be used to develop new products but that we can repair and recycle the existing parts that are broken or create new parts from old things and this contributes to the whole overall project as we're looking at the impact of makerspaces on society.
We work on the education component of phe project. The overarching goal is to understand the way that that young people and children and teachers work in makerspaces but we really looking for particularly is opportunities to enable STEM knowledges but what are the barriers in the space and understanding this is really important for developing educational programs that build STEM knowledges and knowledges around science and technology for all students. We have noticed how people see the way they can use things in here in the existing world and then we are looking at ways where people can imagine future scenarios and try to think about how the technologies and the materials in here we use in that future scenario. ?
How can we build on that legacy of making? How can we kind of engage those communities and bring them into the space? So how can we connect to those sort of older cultures of making maintenance repair into some of the newer ideas that are coming out around making? At the moment I'm working with Dr Louise Smith from ASHRI and we're working together with the Blue Haven Care home down in Kiama. So some of what we've been doing is working with the residents and selves with the canteens and families using arts based methods and making things so that they can think or carefully about what it means to be at home and about memory for the residents.
We bring people together with different backgrounds and get them to work collaboratively but also with access to sophisticated making equipment, to help them bring their ideas to reality, to do the prototyping and to take that technology to the benefit of the community as quickly as possible.
Established in 1989, Science Space is the only dedicated science experience in NSW and is a place where anyone, young and old, can come and see how science and technology discoveries have become reality. It is a place to be inspired about what the future holds and is founded upon the principles of education, hands-on learning and accessibility.
Visit the Science Space website
Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) provide a learning atmosphere which differs from the traditional tutorial environment. Hundreds of staff from dozens of institutions around the Australasian region have benefited from training and assistance delivered by PASS@UOW. Over 30,000 students have participated in PASS and evidence shows that a student that attends attains higher marks and is less likely to fail or withdraw from a subject.
Need help? You've got it. At UOW you can find a wide range of free academic support and services. Looking for subject specific help? Want to improve your grades? Attending PASS regularly can help increase your grade.
PASS offers free one-hour weekly peer assisted study sessions that helped consolidate content covered in your lectures and tutorials. PASS sessions are facilitated by trained, senior students who have excelled in the subject. It's also a great space to meet like-minded people in your course. Running from week two to the end of session you can enroll in PASS via SOLS or if there’s room just turn up. Everyone is welcome and it's never too late to start. You can attend pass at any point during the semester.
Some sessions are even offered online if you can't make it to campus. To find out more and view the timetable visit the pass website. Good luck with your studies and see you at pass.
A collaboration between UOW and the NSW Department of Education, the Leading Through Culture Program is embedded with cultural knowledge and activities, whilst also fostering leadership capabilities through engaging in UOW faculty workshops. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Year 9 students across selected In2Uni high schools are invited to participate in a 2 day on-campus cultural leadership program. Students complete the program by using the concept of design thinking to take part in a collaborative Leadership Action Project within their school community.
The iAccelerate educate ‘Activate’ program encourages start-ups to align their purpose with the Global Goals. The ‘Introduction to Sustainable Development Goals’ modules led by facilitator Dr Belinda Gibbons, introduces start-ups to UN SDG resources to identify ways in which a start-up’s value proposition aligns with the UN SDGs. iAccelerate has had interest from Global Honours Program students and resident philosophy students who are interested particularly in the SDG module of the overall Activate program.
The aim of the Koori Aspirations Program is to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students in the South Western Sydney, Southern Highlands and Wollongong regions to build their awareness of, and aspirations towards higher education and other post school options. By participating in the Koori Aspirations Program, students will be equipped to make improved career and pathway decisions to prepare them for life beyond school.
Learning Labs is designed for motivated and passionate learners who are performing excellently in their area of interest. Learning Labs offers workshops during the school holidays covering a range of interest areas. Workshops are challenging, as well as fun, and are a place where students can meet like-minded peers.
UOW researchers are contributing to world-first research to understand the impact of digital technology on children. The results of this research will benefit parents and inform improvements to children’s health and education policy. It brings together expertise from six Australian universities, along with 33 academic and industry partner organisations from Australia, Europe, Asia and America.
