Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia
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* HERDSA Connect: Assessing and addressing online quiz vulnerability with AI
* HERDSA Community: Indigenous Knowledges in Action: Transforming Higher Education from the Ground Up
* HERDSA SoTL SIG -- Next Friday! -- Connect + Collaborate
* Voting for HERDSA PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT ELECT is now open
* CRADLE Seminar Series: ‘Is it time to move beyond grades?’
* JUTLP Symposium | Scaling Complexity, Critical Thinking, and Systems Thinking Skills for the Future of Higher Education
* On the Shoulders of Giants: Digital colonialism or life-affirming AI?
* Call for Abstracts: The Future University: Humanising Technology for Connection and Flourishing
* 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 Connect: Assessing and addressing online quiz vulnerability with AI
Albert Munoz, 8 April 2026
Albert showcases a tool which can establish how vulnerable our MCQs are to student use of genAI.
Read more: https://herdsa.org.au/herdsa-connect/assessing-and-addressing-online-qui...
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HERDSA Community: Indigenous Knowledges in Action: Transforming Higher Education from the Ground Up
AAUT and HERDSA National Webinar Series | 26 MaRCH
The 2026 AAUT and HERDSA National Webinar Series commenced with a powerful and thought-provoking panel discussion on Indigenous Knowledges in Action, bringing together over 200 participants from across Australasia. The discussion challenged conventional approaches to curriculum design, emphasising that Indigenous Knowledges are not simply an addition to existing content, but require a fundamental rethinking of how knowledge, teaching, and institutions are structured. Panellists highlighted the risks of decontextualising Indigenous Knowledges, noting that when removed from their grounding in Country, community, and lived experience, they can become reduced to “content” rather than respected as complex knowledge systems.
Read more or watch the presentation recording: https://herdsa.org.au/news/indigenous-knowledges-action-transforming-hig...
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HERDSA SoTL SIG -- Next Friday! -- Connect + Collaborate
Friday, 17 April 2026 - 12–1pm AEST (NSW/VIC/QLD)
The April HERDSA SoTL SIG session will be a Connect & Collaborate session co‑facilitated by Dr Trisha Poole and Dr Jennifer Sun, designed to welcome new members, reconnect returning members, and consolidate the strong start to the year.
This session will provide space to share interests, reflect on emerging SoTL ideas, and make connections across institutions and roles. It will also set the scene for our May co‑design session, set the scene for our May co‑design session, where we will explore co‑design in practice and pathways to impact.
Whether you are new to the SIG or have been involved for some time, this session offers a low‑pressure opportunity to connect, orient yourself to the community, and contribute to shaping the direction of our upcoming activities.
Missed one of our earlier SIG sessions?
You can read the community updates and view the recordings here:
- February – Scholarly teaching: First steps in SoTL
Recap: https://herdsa.org.au/news/scholarly-teaching-first-steps-sotl-dr-robyn-yucel
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZxM9MUsDj4 -
March – Designing SoTL research for impact
Recap: TBC
Recording: https://youtu.be/X00KTtfzMmI
Register here: https://unisq.zoom.us/meeting/register/LCd16NSwTD2N9ecfXKWzOg
*Register for one or all our SIGs this year!*
To stay connected, join our LinkedIn group:
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14343410/
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Voting for HERDSA PRESIDENT/PRESIDENT ELECT is now open
Closes 24 April 2026
Voting is now open for the next HERDSA President/President Elect and closes at 5.00pm AEST on 24 April 2026.
The position of HERDSA President requires a three year commitment. For the first year, beginning at the 2026 conference in July, the successful candidate serves as President Elect, or the current President when already holding that position. From July 2027 the nominee elected as President for 2027-2029 has two years as President before another election is required. The maximum a President can serve is 6 years.
All HERDSA members are encouraged to vote.
You must log into the HERDSA web site and be a current HERDSA member to be eligible to vote.
Vote online at https://herdsa.org.au/president-elect-election-2026
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ASRHE Developmental Writing Workshops May 22
May 22 and at HERDSA Conference
Have you been accepted to present at HERDSA or another Higher Education Learning and Teaching Conference?
We encourage you to work in developing your presentation into a research paper.
ASRHE (Advancing Scholarship and Research in Higher Education), HERDSA’s developmental journal is hosting a series of developmental activities to support authors of the HERDSA Conference showcases, roundtables, and Poster Lightening Talks to develop their presentations into full papers to submit to ASRHE and other outlets.
In preparation, we are hosting a webinar in May, and this will be followed up with one-on-one sessions with the authors and ASRHE editors around the conference. We will guide you from concept to full written draft that you can refine and submit post-conference! This is an ideal opportunity for time-poor HE authors who need some guidance and a ‘bootcamp’ structure.
Initial webinar/workshop Title: Translating your abstract into a research paper: A Hands-On Workshop
May 22, 2026, 11AM-1:00PM (AEST)
Register at URL below:
Further information: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/23mswLHfQB
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CRADLE Seminar Series: ‘Is it time to move beyond grades?’
Wednesday 15 April – 2.00 - 3.30 pm (AEST)
Is it time to move beyond grades? Register for CRADLE's seminar on 15 April to find out! CRADLE's Dr Juuso Nieminen will critically discuss why higher education systems continue to use grades, despite plenty of evidence on how they don’t work, and whether we should now move on.
Despite widespread historical criticism, grades continue to be awarded in most universities while gradeless courses and programs remain at the margins. Although recent years have seen extensive attention to assessment redesign, grading policies have not undergone systemic change. Why do universities – harbingers of knowledge, truth and critical thinking – keep using grades? This presentation will argue that perhaps it is time to move beyond grades, proposing a post-critical approach to research and practice on grades that moves our attention from ‘what doesn’t work’ to understanding and shaping the work that grades do in education.
To hear more about why it might be time to move beyond grades, join us at 2.00 pm (AEST) in person at Deakin Downtown or online.
Further information: https://cradle-seminar-time-to-move-beyond-grades.eventbrite.com.au/?aff...
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JUTLP Symposium | Scaling Complexity, Critical Thinking, and Systems Thinking Skills for the Future of Higher Education
15 April 2026, 5pm - 10pm AEST
The Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) invites higher education researchers and practitioners to attend an international online symposium.
Higher education faces a growing need to prepare learners to navigate complex, uncertain, and interconnected global systems — including the rapid integration of artificial intelligence, sustainability challenges, and digital transformation. This symposium invites researchers and practitioners exploring how universities can cultivate complex, systemic, and critical thinking skills to prepare learners for the future of work, learning, and global citizenship.
The symposium is chaired by Professor María Soledad Ramírez Montoya, UNESCO Chair Open Educational Movement for Latin America, México.
Free for OAPA members. $20 for non-members.
OAPA membership is $75 AUD annually: https://open-publishing.org/membership
Further information: https://events.humanitix.com/scaling-complexity-critical-thinking-and-sy...
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On the Shoulders of Giants: Digital colonialism or life-affirming AI?
Tuesday April 28, 12-1pm AEST
Will AI reinforce extractive, colonial systems - or can it be re‑imagined to support life, relationships, and social justice?
Join Associate Professor Jessica Russ‑Smith, sovereign Wiradyuri Wambuul woman and co‑author of The AI (R)evolution, for a thought‑provoking conversation on Country, AI, digital colonialism, inclusion, and life-centred futures. Drawing on Indigenous knowledges, Indigenous Data Sovereignty and critical AI scholarship, Jess invites academics to rethink our relationship with AI, and how AI is designed, taught, governed, and embedded within universities and beyond.
This session is for educators, leaders and others seeking deeper ethical grounding for AI‑related work. Rather than offering simple solutions, Jess challenges us to reflect on our own power, responsibility, relationality, and capacity for action - and to consider what a genuinely life‑centred approach to AI could mean when we centre the oldest surviving knowledges of the world.
Further information: https://otsogapr2026.eventbrite.com.au/?aff=HERDSA
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Call for Abstracts: The Future University: Humanising Technology for Connection and Flourishing
Submit your abstract (200 words) by 1 May 2026 (11:59pm):
Hosted by the Digital Wellbeing Communities Research Hub, University of Melbourne.
Wednesday 10th June 2026
9.00am-1.00pm (Melbourne, Australia | AEST, GMT+10)
Online Symposium | Free to attend
How might technology help universities thrive as spaces for meaningful engagement, belonging and inclusion? We ask: What if universities valued play and connection as much as content? How might we design university spaces and pedagogies for belonging rather than delivery? And when algorithms influence who belongs, whose voices are heard — and who decides?
Register (free): https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-future-university-humanising-technol...
Interested in presenting?
Building on three years of research at the Digital Wellbeing Communities Research Hub, this symposium invites research findings, innovative ideas and real-world practices from educators, researchers and innovators.
Call For Submissions
Submissions are welcome on any relevant topic, including:
Playful Pedagogies in Digital Worlds: Digital platforms as spaces for curiosity, experimentation and authentic engagement.
Designing for Connection, Not Consumption: Reimagining learning technologies to prioritise interaction and community.
Tech-Enabled Belonging and Inclusion: Bridging divides to create equitable, connected learning environments.
Ethical Algorithms: Reimagining Wellbeing and Belonging Online: Exploring how AI and design can foster fairness, care and inclusion online.
If you have any questions or would like further information, please feel free to contact us at: digitalwellbeing-hub@unimelb.edu.au to ensure a quick reply.
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New articles in Higher Education Research and Development
Responsibility and other dangerous ideas: who cares, who can, and who should in higher education, N.C. Byrom, A. Dodd, S. Crook, P. C. Jackman, E. Watkins & N. Armstrong, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2643242
Evaluating a fun model: a group-based self-study, Rachael Hains-Wesson, Borghild Brekke Hauglid & Anne-Marie Fannon, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2643246
Improving future work-integrated learning opportunities for students with disabilities, N. G. Wall, A. Nuske & R. I. Herbert, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2643248
Whose lived experience? Embracing, dismissing, and contesting lived experience as a form of knowledge in higher education, Frances Egan & Lucas Santos, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2617305
Knowledge from displacement: war trauma in higher education, Cedomir Gladovic, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2617291
What does it mean for higher education students to belong? Tracii Ryan, Claudia A. Rivera Munoz, Lize Vanderstraeten, Boya Zhao, Yan Zhang, Siobhan Lynch-Wells, Michelle Walter, Jiadi Cai & Chi Baik, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2643247
Mapping Australia–China research collaboration in the field of education (2015–2024), Xing Xu, Ly Tran & He Huang, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2639018
Bridging the symbolic abyss: a relational grammar of liminality in higher education, Paulo R. M. Correia, Ivan A. I. Soida & Ian M. Kinchin, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2643238
Academics’ perceptions and experiences of demographic influences on peer review: a qualitative study, Kay Hammond, Katrina McChesney & Julie Trafford, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2639615
The invisible ink that marks our paths: lived experience perceptions of academic legitimacy, Mark Vicars, Janine Arantes & Sophie Mihailidis, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2639613
‘Should I be here or should I not’: the experiences of LGBTIQ+ allies at a regional Australian university, Gemma Mann & Ann-Marie Priest, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2026.2627880
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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.