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Dr Matthew Harrison
Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne
Vice President, Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria

About...

Dr. Matthew Harrison is an experienced teacher, researcher and digital creator with a passion for utilising technology to support social capacity building, belonging and inclusion in education. He has taught in Australia, South Korea and the United Kingdom at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Matthew is currently a member of the Learning Intervention team a founding member of the University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project, and previously served as the Director of Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Education. He was awarded the Dyason Fellowship in 2020, and both the GEM Scott Teaching Fellowship and the International Society for Technology in Education 'Making IT Happen' award in 2023.

His research primarily focuses on neurodiversity, inclusive education and the effective use of digital technologies as teaching and learning tools. As a gamer, he has a particular interest in digital games-based learning and social support programs. Matthew's PhD thesis examined how cooperative video games can be used as spaces for developing social capabilities for students with disabilities and neurological differences. Building from this innovative research he co-founded the social enterprise Next Level Collaboration, an inclusive community for neurodivergent children that uses cooperative video games to build confidence and social capabilities. He also proudly served as the Vice President of Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria for five years.

Keynote

The Neurodiversity Revolution: Creating the Conditions for Social Inclusion in our Education System

 

The neurodiversity movement has forever changed how we conceptualise the support of neurodivergent children and young adults, such as those who are autistic or those with ADHD. Critical questions are being asked around the ethics of ‘social skills’ therapy and ultimately who gets to decide and under what conditions intervention is appropriate. Not only are schools grappling with these ethical considerations, but at the same time there has been a global epidemic of students not attending school because of complex mental health conditions, brought about in part because of social anxieties, exclusion and bullying. Unfortunately, we know that neurodivergent students are greatly overrepresented in the ‘School Can’t’ population. As a result, rather than focusing on teaching neurodivergent children to mask and pretend they are neurotypical, a growing number of teachers, allied health professionals and school leaders are looking for ways to celebrate differences whilst building friendships and mutual understanding.
 
It is in this context that this presentation introduces three projects from the University of Melbourne that seek to translate research to build belonging in schools and higher education institutions through the use of digital spaces and by building on strengths and interests. Two of these projects build from students interest and strengths around video games. The Next Level Collaboration program focuses on the teaching and practise of collaborative skills in a neurodiversity-affirming way. Also using gaming as a space for social inclusion, Press B to Belong, focuses on better understanding the conditions for all students regardless of this gender, neurotype, ethnicity or socio-economic status to be able to participate in school-based esports as an individual or as a team. The third project, the University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project, focuses on supporting neurodivergent students in transitioning from high school to university and has been a vehicle for reconsidering what makes an inclusive campus. Through sharing and reflecting on these three projects, this presentation will challenge thinking around the conditions and environments in our schools and institutions and aims to help everyone better understand their role in removing barriers to access and belonging.
 

Masterclass

Next Level Collaboration: Using Cooperative Gaming as a Space for Social Capacity Building for Neurodivergent Students

 

Emerging from doctoral research at the University of Melbourne, Next Level Collaboration is a strength and interest-based social capacity building program for children aged between eight and fifteen years old that harnesses the affordances of cooperative video games. By focusing on the skills required for effective collaboration that can be performed in a multitude of ways, this neurodiversity-affirming program was co-designed with children and young adults with direct lived experiences of autism, ADHD and other neurological differences. This masterclass focuses on the key learnings from ongoing research at the University of Melbourne into the effective running of games-based social capacity building programs and shares an evidence-informed structure for the effective teaching and practice of 25 target collaborative skills that are essential for every child to develop whilst still being true to themselves. In completing this masterclass, participants will be provided with a range practical resources and strategies for teachers, allied health professionals and school leaders to begin implementing these programs in their school communities and assessing the learning of these complex skills.

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Learning Outcomes:

  1. Develop an understanding of the neurodiversity movement and the global shift towards neurodiversity-affirming social supports;

  2. Learn about the three-stage program, with guidance for planning for and implementing each stage in a range of contexts;

  3. Build an awareness of the 25 target skills that are essential for collaboration and how to position these in a way that is neurodiversity affirming; and

  4. Develop an understanding of the principles of effective game design to be able to evaluate cooperative video games to see whether they are suitable for use in a games-based social capacity building program.


 

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