Professor Michael A. Cowling

Did you know my very first published piece — "Running with the Digital Natives" in Campus Review way back in 2012 — was arguing that universities needed to find better ways to use technology securely in exams? Happy Throwback Thursday, and here we are 14 years later still having exactly the same conversation! Everything old is new again. ;P

This time it's my former CQUniversity Australia colleague Associate Professor Meena Jha writing in The Conversation Australia + NZ about how students are finding new ways to cheat in the in-person exams universities have returned to post-AI — think AI-enabled smart glasses, miniature spy cameras, and concealed earpieces. Back in 2012 I was worried we weren't using technology enough in exams; now the challenge is that students are using it too much, and in ways that are genuinely hard to detect.

Fourteen years on and we still haven't cracked this one — and I'm not sure we're any closer. What do you think the answer is? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 👇

Unis are going back to in-person exams. But some students are finding new ways to cheat Students have always cheated in exams. But instead of handwritten notes, they might now use AI-enabled glasses.

What hidden gems are sitting in the Apple OS 27 betas right now that most people won’t find for weeks? Happy Wisdom Wednesday — and yes, I know this is really more of a Motivator Monday, but I’m being a little cheeky this week! 😄 I’m sharing the link to /dev/world On Tour below, and ticket sales close THIS FRIDAY so don’t sleep on it!

/dev/world is Australia’s longest running conference for macOS and iOS developers and designers, and this tour edition in Sydney on July 2–3 is shaping up to be the unofficial WWDC debrief party the Australian Apple community didn’t know it needed. I’m particularly looking forward to building real wisdom on all those features that take developers a couple of weeks to dig out of the betas — including tips on making the most of the new Siri AI. The lineup of presenters is seriously impressive.

If you’re an Apple developer, educator, or just deeply embedded in the ecosystem like me, this one is worth the trip to Sydney. Myself and my Hub for Apple Platform Innovation (HAPI) at RMIT colleague Ace will be there on the day and we’d love to connect — come and find us if you’re heading along! Will I see you there? 👇

/dev/world on tour landing in Sydney! /dev/world is Australia's longest running conference for macOS and iOS developers and designers - and we're going on tour for the first time!

Are you heading to Singapore in a couple of weeks for the HERDSA 2026 Conference? Happy Motivator Monday, and I'm excited to share that I'll be presenting at the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Annual Conference at the National University of Singapore, 6–9 July!

I'll be sharing two pieces of work I'm really proud of — scholarship around the development of some novel teaching materials in the Hub for Apple Platform Innovation (HAPI) at RMIT minor here at RMIT University, and the Postcards of Practice project we developed at UNSW Business School in Sydney. Both sit at the heart of something I believe deeply: that great teaching practice doesn't end in the classroom. Scholarship and dissemination are what turn good ideas into lasting contributions to the field, and that's exactly why I make the time to do it.

Re-envisioning higher education for tomorrow's learners is a theme close to my heart, and I can't wait to connect with colleagues from across the region doing the same. If you're going to be there, come and find me — I'd love to chat! Will I see you in Singapore? And have a good week all!

Have you ever picked up your phone for a quick scroll and looked up to find an hour has disappeared? Happy Feel Good Friday, and this week I'm sharing something a little different — a piece I co-wrote with my colleague from RMIT University Dr Dana Mckay for The Conversation Australia + NZ on the five simple tweaks you can make to social media to make it less addictive. Link in the comments below!

I've said a lot on this feed about digital literacy and digital safety over the years, and this piece is very much about putting the rubber on the road — practical, actionable changes anyone can make right now. What makes it extra special is the format: The Conversation's Digital Storytelling Team have produced it with a beautiful scroll-animated interactive style I've never had a piece published in before, and it genuinely brings the content to life in a way words alone can't.

Big tech has been deliberately designing platforms to hook us — and a landmark US court case recently confirmed it. So if you've ever wanted to take back a little control, this one's for you. Have you tried any tweaks like these yourself, and did they work? Let me know in the comments below! Have a great weekend everyone! 😊

The 5 simple tweaks to make social media less addictive Social apps like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are designed to be addictive. What would they look like if we removed the worst features?

Cast your mind back to November 2022, ChatGPT drops, and higher education collectively panics, but we start working and now it’s three years later, so how far have we come? Happy Throwback Thursday, and what a journey it’s been in just a few years: from panic, to policy, to now mapping practice at the grassroots. That’s exactly where we found ourselves last Tuesday at the Generative AI Lab for Education (GAILE) organised RMIT University + Amazon Web Services (AWS) “Imagine” Roundtable!

The message echoed by RMIT Vice-Chancellor Professor Alec Cameron and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Sherman Young in their opening was clear — the real work happens at the practitioner level. In the provocations and panel session I facilitated, Matthew Riddle from CQUniversity Melbourne, Yi-Shan Tsai from Monash University, and Toni Jones from RMIT University each brought that to life brilliantly, sharing what’s already in motion at their institutions and where collaboration is possible.

Lastly, the AI Skills Continuum gave us all a shared language to do exactly that, with a spirited standing table rotation activity to bring it to life. A huge thank you to Victoria Ong at GAILE for pulling it all together so seamlessly, and to Dale Leszczynski for the invitation to run part of the day, events like this don’t happen without people like these two behind the scenes. It’s almost Friday everyone — have a great one! 😊

Happy hump day! For Wisdom Wednesday this week I thought I'd share this awesome visualisation that I recently stumbled across detailing every iPhone ever made and what their specs were, their key features and in particular their size.

What I love about this one (in tune with WW) is just how much knowledge it give in such a small space. A quick scroll through and you've got 20 years of history and super insight into the key march of technology. Plus you get to see how much we've all gotten used to bigger phones over the years, and as someone with an iPhone 3G on my desk at home, I can confirm it feels SO small these days compared to my iPhone 16.

Check it out below and don't forget to try out all the great scroll effects and read all the little details. And whilst you're there, reflect on what your first iPhone was (mine was a 3G!) and how much tech has changed, and feel free to post a comment taking us back in time. And have a good week all! ;)

Every iPhone Ever Made 19 years. 52 models. 2.3 billion sold. The complete visual history of every iPhone, from 2007 to 2026.

What does educational technology look like across Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States? Happy Motivator Monday, and this week I’m excited to share an upcoming event I’m honoured to be part of — Bridging Borders: International Perspectives on Educational Technology and Professional Engagement, hosted by AECT International. Registration link in the comments below!

I’ll be joining colleagues from the Japan Society for Educational Technology (JSET) and the Hong Kong Association for Educational Communications and Technology (HKAECT) to discuss everything from our organisation missions and goals, to AI in educational technology, international collaboration opportunities, and the future of global professional engagement. As President of ASCILITE, connecting our community with peers around the world is something I’m deeply passionate about.

The event runs Thursday June 25 from 9:00–10:00 AM Australian time — so no excuses, it’s a civilised hour! I’d love to see some familiar faces in the virtual room, and have a great week all! 😊

Did anyone else have a big (four day) week? Feel Good Friday feels like a good time to give you an update, since along with being tiring it was also inspiring, and that’s definitely feel good! 🙂

Started of course with the Apple WWDC keynote and our rewatch party, which was fun, and gave us a chance to celebrate Siri AI which I’ll definitely be watching closely! Also installed all the OS 27 betas on some Hub for Apple Platform Innovation (HAPI) at RMIT devices so we can start testing. 🙂

Then into two full days of our Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ASCILITE) mid-year executive meeting in the RMIT University courtrooms (because why not, photo below!), where we talked about all our plans and checked how things are going. ASCILITE definitely feels like it’s firing on all cylinders right now which is exciting, and touch base if you’re keen to know more.

And then finished the week with another ‘Discover Spatial Computing with Apple’ code along session with our Study Abroad partners in the Apple Foundation Program at RMIT learning space. The way we’re going I suspect we’ll easily hit 1000+ people on Apple Vision Pro this year which is super exciting! Plus we get to show off the close relationship between RMIT School of Computing Technologies and Apple which is great.

Plus on top of it all we had a year 10 work experience student, my capstone students finished their term, my minor thesis student handed in his thesis, and my HDR students reached some milestones too! So super busy and definitely time for a rest, although as always good to be pushing that ‘pedagogy before technology’ vision forward! 😉 Have a great weekend all.

Did you catch Apple’s worldwide developer conference (WWDC) keynote this year? Happy Tech Tip Tuesday, and this week I’m sharing a little peek at how we celebrated it here at the Hub for Apple Platform Innovation (HAPI) and the Apple Foundation Program at RMIT! I even wore my best Steve Jobs cosplay for the occasion. 😄

WWDC 2026 was a big one — Siri’s AI upgrades were the headline story, with some genuinely exciting new capabilities that have real implications for how we teach and learn with Apple devices. There was also a compelling sneak peek at what Apple has planned for the next 12 months that has me very excited for the future of HAPI.

If you missed it, I’d strongly recommend checking out the keynote replay (link in the comments below), with Doritos optional but highly recommended! And if you watched it, what announcement stood out most to you? And did you do any cosplay? ;)