This year’s commencement speaker is Dr. Martin Dougiamas.
Dr. Martin Dougiamas is an Australian educator and technologist who is known to be early developers and founder of Moodle, the open-source learning platform used by almost 60% of schools, universities, organizations, and government agencies worldwide. UPOU is one of the users of Moodle to support its mandate to provide accessible, quality education through open and distance e-learning.
Born in outback Western Australia, Dougiamas spent his first 12 years in small Aboriginal communities, particularly Warburton and Wingellina. His early education combined homeschooling by his Greek father and German mother with lessons delivered through shortwave radio by the Kalgoorlie-based School of the Air. Introduced to science fiction by a passing truck driver’s wife, he became an avid reader, developing a fascination with technology and its potential to improve society.
After his family moved to Perth, Martin excelled in Mathematics and Science at Balcatta Senior High School, graduating at the top of his year. He later studied Engineering, Computer Science, and education at the University of Western Australia and Curtin University. His subsequent work as an internet consultant at Curtin brought together his interests in technology and education.
Martin led Moodle as CEO for more than two decades before transitioning to Head of Research at the Moodle Research Lab, exploring emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and augmented reality. He also founded Open EdTech, an association advancing open technologies for education.
Martin continues to lead the enterprise’s development, supported by a global network of 80 team members, 90 Moodle Partner companies, thousands of collaborators, and hundreds of millions of users worldwide.
Central to his work is the belief that education should prepare people to address the world’s shared challenges, including inequality, climate change, pollution, and displacement. He believes that “education is a basic human right, and no-one would say it’s perfect yet, so any opportunity to help shape the future of it together is a good one.”
He advocates learning that develops globally minded, culturally aware, environmentally responsible, and caring citizens, with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) informing educational practice.
Dr. Martin Dougiamas’ contributions to open-source technology and accessible education has been recognized worldwide. He was recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Vic in Spain (2016), Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium (2018), and the University of Piraeus in Greece (2022). He was also chosen as Western Australian finalist in the Australian of the Year Awards in 2016 and 2024 and received the Google – O’Reilly Open-Source Award for Best Education Enabler in 2008.
Martin is “not the average tech bro” because he champions technology as a means of serving people and advancing the common good. Despite lucrative offers, he has remained committed to Moodle’s educational mission, placing purpose above profit. For him, the company exists to sustain the open-source project and develop a platform that supports online education worldwide.
Prof. Michael Sankey, director of the Australasian Council for Open and Digital Education (ACODE) Learning Technologies Leadership Institute, sees Dougiamas’ humility as a distinguishing quality among technology leaders. “Martin has a kind of humility that we don’t see in too many people,” he said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, attributing this quality in part to Dr. Dougiamas’ upbringing, away from elite schools and wealthy communities. “He wants to get in first and make [technology] free for people, at least in the education area. He democratizes learning.”
During his talk at the Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in 2019, Martin relates that while financial sustainability matters, it should serve the mission rather than determine it. “Instead of stressing about the money, stress about getting the quality of what you are creating right. If you do that and it’s aligned with the universe correctly, it’ll just take off because it’ll be a good thing and people will want it.”
Martin encourages aspiring innovators to focus on the quality of what they create and find ways to sustain their work without compromising their principles. He building a company, enterprise, or project begins with a clear mission and strong values.
“Our five values – education, openness, respect, integrity and innovation – are the things that don’t change, and they underpin everything…it will be different for every enterprise, but I would suggest that determining them is very important.”
Health Safety Measures