SciConnect
Created in partnership with UNSW Science students, SciConnect is the go-to toolkit for mastering university life. Currently available to UNSW Science students enrolled in a Bachelor of Science (BSc) or Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) program.
SciConnect was born from the UNSW Business School’s award winning myBCom digital platform (AACSB International “Innovations that Inspire” award, 2023), and enabled through significant program re-design. SciConnect has customised the myBCom concept to provide a holistic backbone of professional and personal development to BSc and BAdvSc students.
From the moment they accept their program offer, SciConnect supports a student’s journey from transition into university, program exploration and advice, as a hub for skill development resources and professional development activities, digital communities, skills development tracking, career development, and ending with a graduate portfolio.
SciConnect is dedicated to enhancing student success, retention, sense of belonging and wellbeing. It reflects UNSW Science’s dedication to finding future-facing solutions that cater to the increasingly diverse student demographic in higher education (Thomas, Kift & Shah, 2021). We know that students persist when they feel a sense of belonging to the institution and with their peers (Tinto, 2017) and thrive when empowered to take ownership of their academic journey (Kift, 2009).
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SciConnect Walkthrough Live Demo
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Take the UNSW Science Persona Quiz as a fun way to engage with the diverse UNSW Science community.
Check out the program guides below for important program, enrolment and onboarding information.
- Bachelor of Science Program Guide, opens in a new window
- Bachelor of Advanced Science (Honours) Program Guide, opens in a new window
Considering whether a UNSW Science program is right for you? Use the program stores to explore the Bachlor of Science or Bachelor of Advanced Science program options.
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UNSW Science would like to thank the dedicated project team for their work on making SciConnect a reality. Contact us on sciconnect@unsw.edu.au, opens in a new window.
Project team
Name
Role
Shannan Maisey
Project Owner
Helena Pacitti Academic Director Lakia Turner
Project Manager/ Manager, SciConnect
Tom Rowlands
Education Support Officer, SciConnect
Martin Nester
User Experience Designer
Somansh Agrawal
Technical Product Manager
Nandan Global
Vipul Nandan, Lead Developer
Pankaj Vashist, Wordpress Developer
Gary Wells
Graphics Designer
Rick Leong
Project Support Officer
Daniel Taylor-Griffiths
Senior Project Officer (diagnostic sub-project), SCIF0000 Teacher and Designer
Media Producers
Matthew Oxley
Sebastian Lee
Science Student Faculty Advisors
Euan Rogers (Biology/Ecology)
Gurinder Singh (Ecology)
Krish Pruthi (Medical Science program)
Khandoker Taseen Subartha (Neuroscience/Creative Writing)
Shella Lie (Psychology)
Shay Hirani (Genetics/Molecular and Cell Biology)
Madeline Robinson (Biotechnology/AI)
Jade Williams (Advanced Science (Hons)/ Engineering (Hons))
Science Education Team representatives
Andrew Duncan
Naomi Huynh
Ethan Ou
Kathleen Gray
Science IT Business Partner
User Acceptance Testing Participants
14 participants across multiple rounds of testing.
Initial UAT was conducted with 11 students.
Additional testing was conducted with 1 neurodivergent student and 1 indigenous student.
1 science faculty staff member participated in testing.
- Name
Shannan Maisey
- Role
Project Owner
- Name
- Helena Pacitti
- Role
- Academic Director
- Name
Lakia Turner
- Role
Project Manager/ Manager, SciConnect
- Name
Tom Rowlands
- Role
Education Support Officer, SciConnect
- Name
Martin Nester
- Role
User Experience Designer
- Name
Somansh Agrawal
- Role
Technical Product Manager
- Name
Nandan Global
- Role
Vipul Nandan, Lead Developer
Pankaj Vashist, Wordpress Developer
- Name
Gary Wells
- Role
Graphics Designer
- Name
Rick Leong
- Role
Project Support Officer
- Name
Daniel Taylor-Griffiths
- Role
Senior Project Officer (diagnostic sub-project), SCIF0000 Teacher and Designer
- Name
Media Producers
- Role
Matthew Oxley
Sebastian Lee
- Name
Science Student Faculty Advisors
- Role
Euan Rogers (Biology/Ecology)
Gurinder Singh (Ecology)
Krish Pruthi (Medical Science program)
Khandoker Taseen Subartha (Neuroscience/Creative Writing)
Shella Lie (Psychology)
Shay Hirani (Genetics/Molecular and Cell Biology)
Madeline Robinson (Biotechnology/AI)
Jade Williams (Advanced Science (Hons)/ Engineering (Hons))
- Name
Science Education Team representatives
- Role
Andrew Duncan
Naomi Huynh
Ethan Ou
- Name
Kathleen Gray
- Role
Science IT Business Partner
- Name
User Acceptance Testing Participants
- Role
14 participants across multiple rounds of testing.
Initial UAT was conducted with 11 students.
Additional testing was conducted with 1 neurodivergent student and 1 indigenous student.
1 science faculty staff member participated in testing.
The success of SciConnect is attributed to the collegial work of the team and engagement of important stakeholders and collaborators from the following UNSW areas:
- Academic Skills and Success, opens in a new window
- Access, Equity & Inclusion, opens in a new window
- Alumni & Giving, opens in a new window
- Business School
- Diversified, opens in a new window
- Employability
- Future Students, opens in a new window
- Nura Gili, opens in a new window
- PVCESE, opens in a new window
- PVCESE Student Engagement
- UNSW Science Heads of School and School Representatives
- UNSW Science Nexus Team
- RASS
- Student Services and Systems
- The Nucleus: Student Hub
- Student Communications
- UNSW IT
- UNSW Library
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Dingle, G. A., Han, R., & Carlyle, M. (2022). Loneliness, belonging, and mental health in Australian university students pre-and post-COVID-19. Behaviour Change, 39(3), 146-156. DOI: 10.1017/bec.2022.6
Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2020). From expectancy-value theory to situated expectancy-value theory: A developmental, social cognitive, and sociocultural perspective on motivation. Contemporary educational psychology, 61, 101859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101859
Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing?. Journal of personality and social psychology, 79(6), 995. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.79.6.995
Kinash, S., Crane, L. H., & Schulz, M. (2014). Supporting graduate employability: From generalist disciplines through employer and private institution collaboration. In Bond Symposium.
Kift, S. (2009). Articulating a transition pedagogy to scaffold and to enhance the first year student learning experience in Australian higher education: Final report for ALTC senior fellowship program. Strawberry Hills, NSW: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
Lizzio, A. (2006). Designing an orientation and transition strategy for commencing students: A conceptual summary of research and practice (First year experience project). Queensland: Griffith University.
Pintrich, P. R. (2000). The role of goal orientation in self-regulated learning. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 451–502). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012109890-2/50043-3
Salmon, G. (2013). E-tivities: The key to active online learning (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203074640
Thomas, L., Kift, S., & Shah, M. (2021). Student retention and success in higher education. Student retention and success in higher education: Institutional change for the 21st century, 1-16. DOI: /10.1007/978-3-030-80045-1_1
Tinto, V. (2012). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. University of Chicago press.
Tinto, V. (2017). Reflections on student persistence. Student Success, 8(2), 1-8. DOI: 10.5204/ssj.v8i2.376
Trowler, V., Allan, R.L., Bryk, J., & Din, R.R. (2022). Pathways to student engagement: Beyond triggers and mechanisms at the engagement interface. High Educ 84, 761–777. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00798-1