Recap of the 2022 HERDSA conference
The Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) annual conference was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 27 June to 30 June 2022. The conference was chaired by Alfred Deakin Professor Liz Johnson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, with staff from Deakin well represented in the conference committee. The conference ran seamlessly as both an in-person event and as a parallel virtual conference, providing a range of attendance options with several Deakin staff presenting.
The conference opened with a thought-provoking keynote presentation from Professor Sarah O’Shea, NCSEHE, who highlighted both the fragility and tenacity of equity students’ engagement with the higher education during the pandemic. Keynotes and panels were a highlight throughout the conference including a student panel featuring Shannon Ng Krattl and an interactive keynote from CRADLE Professor Phillip Dawson to build a tier list of cheating prevention techniques.
Delegates were excited to be meeting in person after several years of virtual conferencing. It was a great opportunity to make new connections, share experiences of rapid innovation for online environments and to reconnect with fellow practitioners. There were a range of educational researchers all sharing their work including those who design, deliver, enable and lead, allowing for a rich and holistic exploration of teaching and learning practice throughout the event.
The variety of presentations, posters and roundtables from Deakin staff speaks to the depth, breadth and quality of teaching practice at Deakin. Presentations ranged from assessment and feedback, digital learning and technology, innovation and creativity, and several frameworks that demonstrate an intentional, strategic and integrated approach.
One of the highlights of the conference was the 70s themed dinner, replete with dance floor cameos from unnamed academics. On the final day Professor Johnson closed the conference by sharing her highlights and reflections, handing over the baton to incoming Conference Co-Convenor, Professor Christy Collis, who will host the 2023 HERDSA Conference in Brisbane from 4-7 July 2023.
Deakin presenters at HERDSA 2022
Explore the 2022 HERDSA conference program overview to read abstracts.
Keynote presentation
- Professor Phil Dawson: What works in addressing the wicked problem of cheating?
Panel Discussions
- Alfred Deakin Professor David Boud, Professor Diana Laurillard (University College London), Senior Professor Sue Bennett (University of Wollongong), Associate Professor Timothy Hew (University of Hong Kong): What have we learned from the COVID-19 experience for future changes in teaching and learning in higher education? Researchers’ views
- Professor Sally Male (University of Melbourne), Georgina Aiuto (Swinburne University), Omkar Auti (The University of Melbourne), Shannon Ng Krattli (Deakin University) and Maya Starr (Victoria University): The future world of graduate employability: student voice
Workshops
- Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi (Deakin University) Professor Elizabeth Molloy (The University of Melbourne) Associate Professor Kelly Matthews (The University of Queensland): Improving feedback practices: the role of learner-teacher relationships and digitally enabled learning design.
Showcases
- Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi: Authentic assessment in the digital world: A critical scoping review
- Tegan Miller: How do we improve student feedback literacy? A scoping review of intervention studies
- Dr Lauren Hansen and Associate Professor Sharon La Fontaine: The Stepping Stones Framework: lessons from an evidence-based, practice-led approach to embedded career education
- Kelli Nicola-Richmond: How do occupational therapy students develop their evaluative judgement during clinical placement?
- Professor Liz Johnson: Using the Professional Standards Framework (PSF) to support teaching, learning and leadership in higher ed’ on behalf of Advance HE
- Associate Professor Chie Adachi and Joanne Elliot: Lend your ears to ‘Tales of Teaching Online’ – podcasting as a way of sharing innovation and building engagement
- Professor Lisa Hanna: The challenge of translating impact in students as partners programs
- Dr Joanne Elliot and Associate Professor Chie Adachi: Contextualising and sustaining digital learning innovation – a bottom-up, practice-based approach
- Associate Professor Barbie Panther: Design|Deliver|Enable|Lead: The design and implementation of an integrated and contextualised Teaching Capability framework
Roundtables
- Ameena Payne: ‘I just went straight into the criticism’: Providing empathic audio/video feedback in online education
- Danni McCarthy and Dr Lauren Hansen: A tool for naming and claiming creativity in the technological age of higher education
- Associate Professor Tim Corcoran and Dr Ben Whitburn: Rethinking inherent requirements
- Dr Puvaneswari P Arumugam and Dr Mahen Jayawardena: What does blended/flexible/fluid teaching mean for learning design teams in COVID normal times?
Posters
- Associate Professor Darci Taylor: Physically distant yet digitally connected: bottom-up collaboration to reimagine learning and teaching strategy
- Associate Professor Michelle Harvey: Making critical thinking FEASIBLE: fostering transferability of critical thinking skills to domain specific contexts in undergraduate science learners.