HERDSA Notices 8 October 2025

* HERDSA Blog Post: ‘Don’t be sorry, just declare it’: safeguarding the integrity of the essay
* Register for the HERDSA Academic Development SIG Webinar next week
* Final 2025 HERDSA Online in HE - SiG event - Widening the Doors in HE: Implications for Engaging Underrepresented Student Online
* Never a better time to join HERDSA - New HERDSA SoTL Modules Coming Soon
* CRADLE celebrates 10 years! "The road behind and the journey ahead" - 10th anniversary seminar
* Uni student wellbeing research hub webinar
* CRADLE webinar series: New Directions in AI Research and Practice - 'Secure assessment tasks in a time of GenAI'
* The 5th National Symposium on the Student Experience and Wellbeing in Higher Education
* David Boud Unscripted: Reflections on a Career in Higher Education
* CRADLE Seminar Series: 'More than the individual: transforming feedback cultures'
* 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: ‘Don’t be sorry, just declare it’: safeguarding the integrity of the essay
Benito Cao, 08 October 2025

Benito explores whether the essay is dead or alive in a time where Generative AI is at the finger tips of students.

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Register for the HERDSA Academic Development SIG Webinar next week
Tuesday 14 October 2025. 12pm-1pm (AEDT)

Join us for the HERDSA Academic Development SIG Webinar

Topic: The Journal for Academic Developers & Connections

Join us for a special session with the Editors of the International Journal for Academic Development

1. Get insights on the journal’s scope, trending topics, and pathways to publishing.
2. Ask your questions directly to the editors.
3. Take part in a breakout chat to connect with colleagues from other institutions and grow your network.

Colleagues are welcome, so feel free to pass this invitation along to anyone who may benefit from attending. No HERDSA membership required.

Further information: olga.kozar@mq.edu.au or k.shoecraft@griffith.edu.au

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Final 2025 HERDSA Online in HE - SiG event - Widening the Doors in HE: Implications for Engaging Underrepresented Student Online
Save the date - Thursday November 20th - 11am AEST (QLD time)

Globally, a key priority in higher education is to increase equity of access of students and successful degree completion. These outcomes are not only transformative for students, but directly benefit the institution, positively impact on national productivity, the economy, and contribute to a more diverse and skilled workforce. There is a marked trend for underrepresented students to gravitate to online study, attracted 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 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 to 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 in supporting equity of opportunity and success for underrepresented students who choose to study online.

Further information: hilaryngnky@gmail.com

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Never a better time to join HERDSA - New HERDSA SoTL Modules Coming Soon
Launch of new 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 celebrates 10 years! "The road behind and the journey ahead" - 10th anniversary seminar
Wednesday 15 October - 2.00 pm - 3.30 pm (AEDT)

Deakin University's Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) celebrates its 10th birthday in 2025. From its modest beginnings with Foundation Director Professor David Boud, CRADLE has grown in reputation and influence as its members have pursued a research agenda encompassing assessing for learning, learning in a digital world, and assessing through and for work.

What is the CRADLE model and how does it seek to influence teaching, learning and assessment in higher education? In what areas is it making a difference?

Join us at Deakin Downtown or online to celebrate 10 years of CRADLE, as the current team - co-directors Prof. David Boud and Prof. Phillip Dawson, Prof. Margaret Bearman, A/Prof. Joanna Tai, Dr Juuso Nieminen, Dr Thomas Corbin, and Dr Jack Walton - reflects on our successes and what still lies ahead.

Further information: https://cradle-10th-anniversary-celebration.eventbrite.com.au/?aff=herdsa

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Uni student wellbeing research hub webinar
Thursday 16 October | 4.00-5.15pm AEDT

You are invited to attend the next Uni Student Wellbeing Research Hub webinar!

Hear from Professor Nikki Rickard, Director of Research for the Centre of Wellbeing Science, The University of Melbourne, and Dr Frank Iorfino, Senior Research Fellow, Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, on digital technologies and youth mental health and wellbeing.

Further information: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uni-student-wellbeing-research-hub-webinar-...

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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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The 5th National Symposium on the Student Experience and Wellbeing in Higher Education
Friday 24 October 2025, 9.00am - 4.30pm

Higher education is undergoing a profound transformation. Many young people are questioning the value and relevance of a university education. Fewer students are coming to campus or engaging in the social and relational fabric of university life beyond mandatory classes. Meanwhile, institutions face shifting expectations and rising mental health concerns among students, in addition to the rapid integration of artificial intelligence. In this evolving context, universities must rethink how they foster student engagement, connection, and wellbeing.

Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on reimagining the student experience and enhancing student wellbeing in a rapidly changing world.

Get inspired by a line up of speakers addressing pressing challenges on themes around:
• Belonging, equity and inclusive learning
• Supporting student success and wellbeing
• Student motivation and resilience

Secure your spot now!

Further information: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/87gp

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David Boud Unscripted: Reflections on a Career in Higher Education
Oct 29th 12pm AEDT

Academic careers rarely follow a straight path. They twist, stall, accelerate, and reroute—shaped less by plans and more by questions that matter. 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, assessment, and 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.

This event is hosted by the Teaching and Education Focused Academic (TEFA) Network.

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

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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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New articles in Higher Education Research and Development

Systemic and long-term perspectives to foster societal transformations. Service design education challenges, Beatrice Villari, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2531509

Investigating service design education in the Asia Pacific to support societal transitions, Bridget Malcolm & Abby Mellick Lopes, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2531511

Between the pages: a qualitative inquiry into researcher wellbeing, Dilara Özel & Mümine Barkçin, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2552321

PhD employability beyond academia: an analysis of industry skills emphasis through a cultural capital lens, Li’An Chen, Inger Mewburn, Hanna Suominen & Will Grant, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2515212

Beyond the ivory tower: a survey of European university board members’ perspectives on institutional policy priorities, Dominik Antonowicz, Marta Jaworska, Marjukka Mikkonen, Elias Pekkola, Luiz de Andrade, Gabriella Keczer, Gergely Kováts, Stefan Lundborg, Teresa Carvalho, Pedro Videira & Lars Geschwind, https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2025.2559641

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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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