HERDSA Notices 17 September 2025

* HERDSA Blog Post: Empowering Students to Learn How to Learn: A Student-Centred Approach to Self-Regulated Learning
* HERDSA SoTL SIG -- This Friday!! -- IMPORTANT update below -- Connect and collaborate!
* Are you keen to progress your SoTL project or impact of your SoTL work - Join me for a virtual coffee and chat SoTL
* Exciting news - Upcoming release of the newly update HERDSA SoTL Modules
* CRADLE webinar series: New Directions in AI Research and Practice - 'Secure assessment tasks in a time of GenAI'
* ACUR Undergraduate Research Medal 2025 - Applications now open
* 2025 Australasian Council for Undergraduate Research (ACUR) Conference
* The research-education nexus: Engaging students in research and inquiry
* Survey: Contribute to research on educational developers' engagement with identity
* New articles in Higher Education Research and Development

To submit an announcement for this list complete the online form at http://herdsa.org.au/herdsa-notices

A full list of HERDSA Notices is online at http://www.herdsa.org.au/latest-news

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HERDSA Blog Post: Empowering Students to Learn How to Learn: A Student-Centred Approach to Self-Regulated Learning
Helen Harrison, 17 September 2025

Helen explores the importance of self-regulated learning and how using meta-cognitive prompts can assist students to learn more effectively.

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HERDSA SoTL SIG -- This Friday!! -- IMPORTANT update below -- Connect and collaborate!
Friday, 19 September 2025, 12.00–1.00 pm AEST (NSW time)

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our planned SIG session for Friday will be rescheduled for 2026.

Instead, we’re going to run a connect and collaborate session! Come and join us for an interactive session on Friday!

What is it? A facilitated conversation for SIG members, discussing our current SoTL interests and commonalities. This may evolve into a plan to collaborate, or it may simply become an opportunity to share ideas and break down silos. The plan is for a single chat, but if clear themes emerge that need their own space, we’ll make use of breakout rooms.

This session is for you, if you would like to find out more about the other SIG members, their work, and the commonalities they share with you and your space.

Join our LinkedIn group for communications and connections: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14343410/

Further information: Feel free to contact us via email as well: herdsa.sotl.sig@gmail.com

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Are you keen to progress your SoTL project or impact of your SoTL work - Join me for a virtual coffee and chat SoTL
Every Tuesday fortnight 12-12:45 pm AEST (QLD time)- 23/9; 7/10; 21/10;

Are you interested in SoTL? Not sure where to start? Do you have an idea but need guidance on progressing it? Then join me for a coffee and to chat SoTL.

Use this time to explore a new idea or to develop a potential SoTL project; discuss a hurdle that’s blocking the progress of your SoTL project, chat about how to disseminate key insights from your SoTL study through a publication, blog, or conference presentation, or maybe explore a different methodological approach for exploring a SoTL phenomenon. Assoc Prof. Alice Brown (#HERDSA Executive and Lead for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - SoTL modules and New Scholars) is organising fortnightly drop-in sessions to help navigate the world of SoTL. Whether you're new to SoTL or looking for ways to publish your research, these sessions are for you. Grab your coffee and drop in for some valuable insights and discussions. See you there!

Further information: Contact - Alice.Brown@unisq.edu.au - Zoom link - https://unisq.zoom.us/j/559083948

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Exciting news - Upcoming release of the newly update HERDSA SoTL Modules
Mid November, 2025

HERDSA is excited to announce the upcoming release of the newly updated Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Modules.
These modules are designed to:
- Introduce the nature, purpose, and process of SoTL
- Build your capacity to develop and refine your SoTL knowledge and skills
- Inspire your curiosity to improve student engagement, equity, success, and learning
***Follow the journey from curiosity to real impact.
You’ll walk alongside a group of educators as they move from that first “I wonder…” through each step of a SoTL project, encountering interactive challenges, guided reflections, and practical examples along the way.

Module highlights include:
1. Why SoTL Matters – Explore its purpose and value in higher education.
2. Becoming an Evidence-Based Educator – Ground your practice in research.
3. Foundations of Producing SoTL – Ethics, scope, and project planning.
4. SoTL Research Methods – Action research, surveys, observations, interviews, and more.
5. Theoretical Frameworks – Connect your inquiry to wider scholarly conversations.
6. Designing & Implementing Your Project – Navigate real-world hurdles in data collection.
7. Analysing & Interpreting Data – Turn raw data into meaningful insights.
8. Disseminating Your Findings & Achieving Impact – Influence colleagues, inform policy, and spark change.

Each module takes you through four phases of learning—Discover, Explore, Engage, Connect—with opportunities to dive deeper if you choose.

Further information: Enquire at https://forms.office.com/r/pkXF0BN5F4

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CRADLE webinar series: New Directions in AI Research and Practice - 'Secure assessment tasks in a time of GenAI'
2.00-3.00 pm (AEDT), Thursday 23 October

The proliferation of generative AI (GenAI) continues to pose challenges for educators seeking to ensure their assessments remain valid and secure. Bringing together leading assessment and academic integrity scholars and practitioners, this online-only webinar will discuss the urgent question of how to design secure assessment tasks in a time of GenAI.

Program-level approaches play a critical role in securing assessment, but their success seems to depend on what happens at the level of individual tasks. After all, it is difficult to see how course-wide reform can compensate if assignments themselves are vulnerable. The focus of this webinar is therefore on assessment change at the task level, asking: what kinds of assessment tasks work well – and which are no longer fit for purpose – now that students can readily access GenAI?

Facilitated by CRADLE’s Dr Thomas Corbin, this panel will look beyond in-person exams to highlight both emerging strategies and enduring principles for secure assessment in a time of GenAI. The panel will offer practical insights for educators grappling with today’s rapidly changing assessment landscape, and consider future directions for research and practice.

Panellists
• Professor Phillip Dawson, CRADLE, Deakin University
• Professor Cath Ellis, Western Sydney University
• Professor Danny Liu, University of Sydney
• Kane Murdoch, Macquarie University

Join us online for the third seminar in CRADLE's New Directions in AI Research and Practice series.

Further information: https://secure-assessment-tasks-in-a-time-of-genAI.eventbrite.com.au/?af...

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ACUR Undergraduate Research Medal 2025 - Applications now open
November 14, 2025

Exciting news for all our ACUR members (students and staff) working to promote undergraduate research opportunities! It’s time to shine a spotlight on those making a significant impact in undergraduate research across Australasia. The ACUR Executive are thrilled to announce that nominations for the prestigious ACUR Undergraduate Research Medal are now open! This medal celebrates exceptional contributions to undergraduate research, which have impact beyond your research team or department, such as through innovative programmes, engaging events, or dynamic networks. If you’ve made a notable difference in this field, we want to hear from you. Self-nominations and nominations of staff and students are due by November 14, 2025. Further information, and the application forms are available here. If you have any queries, please contact Prof Rachel Spronken-Smith rachel.spronken-smith@otago.ac.nz for further details.

Further information: https://www.acur.org.au/for-members/events/undergraduate-research-medal/

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2025 Australasian Council for Undergraduate Research (ACUR) Conference
3-4 December 2025

We’re thrilled to announce that abstract submissions and registrations are now open for the 2025 ACUR Conference, which will be hosted by Western Sydney University at the Parramatta City Campus.

ACUR 2025 is a vibrant, multidisciplinary event that showcases the incredible research being undertaken by undergraduate students across Australasia. Whether your work spans science, humanities, health, engineering or the creative arts – this is your platform to share, connect and grow with like-minded researchers.

Key Dates:
- Abstract submissions close: 12 October 2025
- Early bird registration (only $120) ends: 7 November 2025
- Final registration ($140) deadline: 21 November 2025

We welcome submissions from individuals and groups, including Honours students and recent graduates (within 12 months of completing a Bachelor’s degree). If you’ve conducted research during or before your undergraduate studies, you’re eligible to present.

Further information: https://www.acur.org.au/2025-conference/

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The research-education nexus: Engaging students in research and inquiry

At over 70,000 words, with more than 65 boxed mini-case studies and over 450 references, this open-access report, for the University of Westminster, UK, presents a thorough and detailed analysis and guide covering the last 25 years on how engaging students in research and inquiry supports and sustains the research-education nexus. It updates and builds on the highly cited 2009 HE Academy publication by Healey and Jenkins.

The book offers both a scholarly review and a practical guide to the strategies and practices that support the development and implementation of the research-education nexus internationally, through the active engagement of students in research and inquiry. It explores the complexity of the research-education nexus, also commonly referred to as the research-teaching or teaching-research nexus.

The publication addresses a broad spectrum of themes, including disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, professional and work-based learning, community engagement, knowledge exchange, and innovations in learning and teaching. It contributes to the global discourse on higher education, exploring the evolving roles of students as researchers, inquirers, partners, scholars, producers, and agents of change. Increasingly, students are viewed as active participants within the research and educational communities of their institutions.

It aims to inform and inspire dialogue among academics, professional staff, institutional leaders, academic developers, and students about embedding student research and inquiry in educational practices. These conversations need to be responsive to disciplinary, institutional, and national contexts. The debates will raise critical questions about the future of higher education in the mid-21st century, amid growing global uncertainty, polarisation, and supercomplexity, as well as the challenges of marketisation and treating students as consumers. Themes include the democratisation of knowledge, the flattening of traditional academic hierarchies between staff and students, inclusivity, and the transformative potential of emerging technologies.

It can be downloaded from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394463281.

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Survey: Contribute to research on educational developers' engagement with identity

Dear colleagues,

We’re a group of educational developers who are members of the Grand Challenges #4 group for the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). You can learn more about Grand Challenges at https://issotl.com/grand-challenges-for-sotl/.

Our research project seeks to understand how educational developers* engage with identity and difference in their work across diverse global and institutional contexts. Our goal is to describe a variety of perspectives—not to prescribe best practices. By gathering themes, both common and unique, we hope to contribute to a richer understanding of educational development around the world.

We would love it if you could take 10-15 minutes to fill out a survey and share your perspectives and experiences. We’re hoping to hear from as broad a range of people as possible so that our work can accurately describe the diversity and variation within our professional community. Fill out the survey on Qualtrics: https://wustl.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4ZyLNcEa61sUkjY

* “Educational developer” here means a person involved in teaching and learning beyond the scope of their own classroom. Examples might include providing consultations to colleagues on teaching; designing programming to help faculty evolve their teaching; (re)designing program-wide curriculum; working on institutional curricular initiatives; or publishing in the field of SoTL. We understand titles and units associated with this kind of work vary greatly. If you are receiving this via a listserv for organizations such as HERDSA, ISSOTL, or POD Network, chances are you are our target audience!

Yours,
Elina Salminen, Ketevan Kupatadze, Lakshmi Jayakrishnan, and Mayuko Nakamura

Further information: https://wustl.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4ZyLNcEa61sUkjY

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New articles in Higher Education Research and Development

Adaptive guidance for uncertainty: how teachers use scaffolding in transdisciplinary courses, N.L. Bohm, R.G. Klaassen, P. den Brok & E. van Bueren, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2514513

Embodied learning for wicked problems and societal transitions: perspectives from transdisciplinary higher education practitioners, Lucy Allen, Susanne Pratt, Bem Le Hunte, Giedre Kligyte, Jacqueline Melvold, Barbara Doran & Katie Ross, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2514514/

Transdisciplinary work-integrated learning’s contribution to societal transition: a scoping review, Denise Jackson, Claire Lambert & Sonja Coetzee, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2514509

Future-oriented capabilities impact framework: measuring transdisciplinary higher education programmes’ contribution to societal transitions, Annabelle Lewis, Giedre Kligyte, Jacqueline Melvold & Fanny Salignac, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2514511

Using peer feedback, teacher feedback and self-assessment to enhance students’ feedback literacy behaviour, Qiufang Zheng, David Boud & Phillip Dawson, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2549403

Heading the road less travelled: exploring Chinese students’ motivations to study in Tanzania, Yuxiao Jiang, Kun Dai & Alan C. K. Cheung, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2551086

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In the spirit of reconciliation HERDSA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australasia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

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