HERDSA Notices 22 October 2025

* HERDSA Blog Post: No-Code, No Problem: How Educators Are Building Their Own Learning Apps in Minutes
* HERDSA Community: PhD by publication, prior publication and creative works: Publishing Pathways and Avoiding Potholes Workshop Recordings
* The Pedagogy of Student Belonging and Wellbeing Special Interest Group Meeting 31/10/25, 12pm
* HERDSA Online Engagement in HE (SiG event) Widening the Doors in HE: Implications for Engaging Underrepresented Students Online
* CRADLE webinar series: New Directions in AI Research and Practice - 'Secure assessment tasks in a time of GenAI'
* In Conversation with David Boud: Reflections on a Career in HE
* AI, Social Media, and Pedagogy: Fostering Engagement and Collaboration with Integrity
* CRADLE Seminar Series: 'More than the individual: transforming feedback cultures'
* Transformative Workshop on Pastoral Care & Wellbeing in Higher Education
* Invitation to collaborate in a study on written feedback at Master’s level

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: No-Code, No Problem: How Educators Are Building Their Own Learning Apps in Minutes
Maurizio Costabile, Sarah Davey, and Kuan Tan, 22 October 2025

Maurizio Costabile, Sarah Davey, and Kuan Tan introduce us to the world of vibe coding and how we can use it to create educational tools in a faction of the time you'd expect!

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HERDSA Community: PhD by publication, prior publication and creative works: Publishing Pathways and Avoiding Potholes Workshop Recordings
HERDSA ACT Branch, 9 September 2025

This fun workshop was an ACT branch of HERDSA event, as well as a combined CSU Social Science Week Event, CSU FOAE Research Cafe and a CSU Office of Graduate Research Community of Practice Event. We hope you enjoy the recordings.

The workshop recordings cover:
● Strategies for both experienced and new supervisors, as well as PhD students undertaking a PhD by publication, prior publication and creative works
● Planning and managing non-traditional degrees
● Transitioning from candidate to supervisor in these programs
● Collaborative writing practices and experiences
● Building and sustaining a Community of Practice
● Copyright, predatory publishing, and related challenges

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The Pedagogy of Student Belonging and Wellbeing Special Interest Group Meeting 31/10/25, 12pm
Friday October 31st, 12-1 pm (AEDT)

HERDSA Pedagogy of Student Belonging and Wellbeing SIG next meeting: Friday October 31st, 12-1pm (AEDT).

Join us for our final meeting of 2025! We’ll share key insights and updates from the 5th National Symposium on the Student Experience and Wellbeing in Higher Education, and reflect on what these mean for our shared work in fostering student connection, belonging, and wellbeing.

This session will also be an opportunity to shape our 2026 meetings and priorities. We would love to hear your ideas and continue building a vibrant community of educators passionate about supporting students through inclusive and compassionate pedagogy.

All are welcome – whether you’re already part of the SIG or curious to learn more!

Please register at the zoom link below: https://adelaide.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZZ0rUaa4Qs6kLhITHy9ITA

Further information: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14727248/

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HERDSA Online Engagement in HE (SiG event) Widening the Doors in HE: Implications for Engaging Underrepresented Students Online
Save the date - Thursday November 20th - 11am AEST (QLD time) - NSW daylight saving time 12pm

Globally, a key priority in higher education is to increase equity of access for students and successful degree completion. These outcomes are not only transformative for students but also directly benefit the institution, positively impact national productivity, the economy, and contribute to a more diverse and skilled workforce. There is a notable trend for underrepresented students to gravitate towards online study, drawn by its flexible learning format. Yet, while widening the doors to underrepresented students is commendable, it comes with significant responsibility for all stakeholders. Online teachers are evidencing significant effort, innovative practice, and focused attention on strategies to enhance engagement and learning online. However, limited attention has focused on exploring how online environments and practices may require nuancing to respond to the diversity of learning styles and considerations to afford success and enable equity in students to flourish. This HERDSA Online SiG event starts by sharing key insights from an innovative project that explored this issue. The study employed think tank methods and methodology and invited two groups of experts - those with online learning expertise and research background and those with equity expertise - to contribute insights to the question What would an increase in online enrolments of underrepresented students mean for the online teaching and engagement strategies we currently employ? Participants are then invited to share their considerations and discuss future implications and recommendations for key stakeholders who are committed to supporting equity of opportunity and success for underrepresented students who choose to study online.

Further information: Further information: Register - https://unisq.zoom.us/meeting/register/QJx6GbL8QSezRWffgIezXA

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

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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In Conversation with David Boud: Reflections on a Career in HE
Wed, 29 Oct, 11am - 12pm AEST

Join us for a live conversation with Distinguished Professor David Boud as he reflects on a career that has helped reframe how we think about learning and assessment in higher education. From early motivations to ongoing provocations, this is an hour to listen, ask questions, and connect with others committed to learning and teaching.

Further information: https://events.humanitix.com/davidboud

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AI, Social Media, and Pedagogy: Fostering Engagement and Collaboration with Integrity
4 November 2025 (Tuesday), 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Venue: Online via Zoom

Facilitators:
Professor Sue BECKINGHAM, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Abstract:
This interactive session explores how GenAI-powered tools and social media can support meaningful interaction, collaboration, and student engagement in higher education, while ensuring pedagogical integrity remains at the forefront. With the rapid rise of generative AI and digital platforms, educators face both opportunities and challenges.

Further information: https://chtl.hkbu.edu.hk/workshops/tales-25-26-s1.html#tales5

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CRADLE Seminar Series: 'More than the individual: transforming feedback cultures'
Tuesday 11 November - 2.00 pm - 3.30 pm (AEDT)

Despite best efforts, many feedback practices remain far from ideal. For decades, higher and professional education has addressed the challenge of practically changing feedback through educator workshops and training. More recently, training has also encompassed learners with the promotion of feedback literacy skills. But little appears to make much of a difference to on-the-ground feedback experiences in medical education.

One possible response is to shift attention beyond individual learners and teachers to consider the social and the contextual construction of feedback. A five year multi-phase qualitative project investigated the role of feedback cultures in the contrasting contexts of surgical and intensive care medical training. This talk presents findings, including culture-specific feedback strategies and insights into the key question of how to enhance feedback in less than ideal circumstances.

Join us in person at Deakin Downtown or online to hear CRADLE's Professor Margaret Bearman discuss this perennial challenge for practical feedback change.

Further information: https://cradle-seminar-series-transforming-feedback-cultures.eventbrite....

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Transformative Workshop on Pastoral Care & Wellbeing in Higher Education
14 Nov 2025

Join the FREEDOM Wellbeing Institute for this workshop, Transformative New Pastoral Care & Wellbeing Systems for Tertiary/Higher Organisations, on Friday, 14 November 2025
9.30am – 4pm
Available face to face in Hamilton, New Zealand, and via interactive online.

This one-day professional learning event explores evidence-based approaches to improving staff and student wellbeing through Universal Wellbeing frameworks and prevention-based systems.
Designed for tertiary and higher education sector leaders, student services directors, managers, wellbeing coordinators, and staff. The workshop offers practical resources to embed sustainable, measurable wellbeing outcomes within institutional strategies.

Led by sector experts and built on 16 years of New Zealand research, this event supports institutions committed to strengthening inclusion, retention, and performance through effective pastoral care and wellbeing systems.

Further information: https://www.freedom-ihe.ac.nz/wellbeing-events/tertiary-wellbeing-system...

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Invitation to collaborate in a study on written feedback at Master’s level

Hello! ¡Hola!

We are Dr Ana María Ducasse, Dr Carmen López, and Dr Teresa Mateo, conducting a study on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and final year master's projects, theses, minor thesis or capstones.

Our aim is to create a formative feedback instrument to support students' academic writing produced towards the end of their respective master's programs.

We kindly request your voluntary participation in completing a short questionnaire, which will take approximately 5–10 minutes.

The questionnaire is divided into three sections:
I. Use of AI tools
II. Perceptions of AI tool usage
III. Expectations regarding the use of AI tools

Complete the questionnaire online at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSct8MaF_bOIlgs7StCr-NLQ2Knw_7kl...

We greatly appreciate your collaboration.

If you would like to receive the results of the study, please contact us at the following email addresses: anamaria.ducasse@rmit.edu.au, carmen.lopez@upf.edu and/or mtmateo@ucm.es.

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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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