For the final HERDSA Connect blog, I have chosen to showcase six of the most impactful posts for 2025!

No. 1: Interactive Orals at Scale: What Happened When We Tried to Draw the Owl

Authors: Professor Jason Lodge, Daniel Taylor-Griffiths & Dr Kate Newman - Post

This post details an ambitious attempt to run one-on-one oral assessments for 230 post-graduate students. The strength of the post lies in its capacity to take you to the heart of the experience, outlining the logistical hurdles and the benefits that made the hard work worthwhile.

One particular passage stood out: the oral discussions were described as “living demonstrations of student learning and thinking”. I can’t think of a better advertisement for an assessment task than that!

For anyone considering on taking the plunge into interactive online assessments, this post is a must read.

No. 2: Six Reasons We Need Educational Pedagogies in Higher Ed 

Authors: Dr Sarah French & Dr Elisa Bone - Post

Despite the saturation of AI research and debate in higher education, the future won’t be defined by technology, AI, or online learning. It will be defined by how well we sustain human connections.

This timely post reminds us that belonging, care, trust, and collegial networks aren’t “extras” - they are the foundations of effective learning.

For the full details I encourage you to check out the post. But for those of you who’d like a sneak peak, the six reasons we need educational pedagogies in higher education, according to the post, are as follows:

1. To strengthen student belonging

2. For teaching diverse student cohorts

3. To support student wellbeing

4. To enhance connections in online learning contexts

5. To mitigate against uncertainty around genAI

6. For developing collegial networks

No. 3: The Gen Z Stare: Why Educators Need to Pay Attention

Authors: Dr Dhayani Kirubaharan - Link

The post “Do Educators Need to Understand the Gen Z Stare?” invites us to question our assumptions about student engagement. Are our current students disengaged, or just engaging differently?

Perhaps the Gen Z stare isn’t defiance. It could in fact be an invitation to rethink how we connect. Bridging the generational gap means building trust, modelling interpersonal skills, and designing authentic ways to practice them. Be sure to check out the full details in this impactful post.

No. 4: Real Voices, Real Choices: Redesigning Assessment with Autonomy & Authenticity

Authors: Dr Daniel Andrews - Link 

Though it’s a little self-indulgent to have my own post here, I believe its justified. Through my own research on intrinsic motivation, I’ve seen first-hand how impactful building autonomy and competence supporting learning environments can be.

This post highlights a podcast assessment redesign, demonstrating how greater autonomy and authenticity brought the assessment to life. It was clear to see that the students were invigorated, taking ownership of their podcasts, and making them as good as they could possibly be. Of course, it certainly helped that they were creating an artifact that has value beyond the assessment – in fact 11 of the podcasts are live on the “Disease Vs” podcast channel.

To sum up, the autonomy and authenticity nurtured deep engagement and allowed students to develop key skills, such as team work, communication and critical analysis.

No. 5: Influence Begins with Presence: Reflections in Ink — Capturing a HERDSA 2025 Keynote through Comic Panels

Author: Diana Turnip - Link

Dr Amanda White OAM’s keynote was a real highlight of HERDSA 2025 in Perth. This talk inspired a post featuring a series of comic-style panels capturing key takeaways. These included encouraging us to consider what influence as an educator looks like in 2025, how students may be engaging differently than how we’re expecting and the creation of para-social connections with students (hint: it starts with showing your human).

I highly recommend giving the post a read. It challenges each of us to think about our own sphere of influence and how we can positively impact those around us.

No. 6: Self-Regulated Learning: Empowering Students to Learn How to Learn

Author: Dr Helen Harrison - Link

It’s easy to forget one simple truth: teaching students how to learn is as important as teaching the content!

This post explores how metacognitive prompts can help students to improve their planning, adaptability and even engagement more meaningfully with feedback.

Now a question for you. Where in your subject do you provide advice on how to engage in meaningful authentic learning? If it’s missing, you may be overlooking a powerful way to support your students.

Sign-off

It’s been a fantastic year for the HERDSA Connect blog, with posts spanning assessment, AI, critical thinking, student learning, gamification, resilience and uncertainty tolerance, to name a few.

Many thanks to all contributors (there have been many!) who provided thought provoking insights and a snapshot into different spheres of the higher education landscape.

We’ll be back in 2026 with many more blogs. So, until then, make sure to look out for the next HERDSA Connect Blog in the HERDSA Notices and enjoy a well-earned break.

Banner image source: ChatGPT