Professor Michael Cowling is an award-winning technology strategist and communicator. As a leader in educational technology for decades, he is committed to fostering thoughtfulness in technology for students, educators and the general public. He is currently an Associate Professor in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at CQUniversity Australia where he teaches in complex educational settings across six metropolitan/regional campuses, face to face and online, leads STEM Education research in the Centre for Research in Equity & Advancement of Teaching & Education, and through The CREATE Lab drives engagement and outreach around technology and education.
Michael was the 2020 recipient of the Universities Australia AAUT Award for Teaching Excellence (Physical Sciences), as well as an AAUT Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Excellence in 2016, and several internal Teaching & Learning Excellence awards at CQUniverisity. He also won the CQUniversity Opal Award for Excellence in Engagement (Learning & Teaching) in 2019. He is an Advance Queensland Community Digital Champion, and an Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) Community Fellow, as well as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).
As a volunteer, Professor Cowling is currently Vice-President of ASCILITE, and Senior Editor – Educational Technology for the Journal of University Learning & Teaching Practice (JULTP). He is Chairperson of the School Council at Coomera Rivers State School, and serves on the P&C Association Executive for Foxwell State Secondary College, as well as an executive member of the ImmerseHigh association, which delivers a Virtual Reality Storytelling competition in South-East Queensland.
Michael believes strongly in the power of outreach and engagement. His Queensland Government workshop series ‘Weaving Technology into the Fabric of the Classroom’ has trained hundreds of educators about innovative technology, and in the CSIRO-supported ‘Professor Tech’ program he has presented to students in over a dozen K-12 schools. His own higher education students, as well as hundreds of school teachers, and tens of thousands of students from kindergarten to doctoral level have learned directly and indirectly from him, benefitting from his mantra of ‘pedagogy before technology’ and his commitment to technology enhancing the student educational experience.