ASCILITE NEWS

A quick reminder for all reviewers: if you’ve agreed to review for ASCILITE 2026, please log in to the APUBS submission portal to check for assigned reviews.

While the recent email notification issue has now largely been resolved, some reviewers may not be receiving alerts consistently. Please rely on the portal directly to view assigned submissions and review deadlines.

You may also notice what appears to be a “rolling acceptance” experience for submitters, where some authors have received notifications while others have not. This reflects staged processing of reviews and notifications, not inconsistency in decision-making. All submissions are being handled through the same review process, and final notifications will be issued once all reviews and program decisions are complete.

Thank you to everyone who has already started reviewing. Your thoughtful feedback is essential to maintaining the quality of the ASCILITE conference.

Art.Intelligence – collaborative creation for the ASCILITE conference 

Poster sessions at conferences are great opportunities to showcase your work to your peers but wouldn’t it be nice to also share something of your inner life with other attendees?

In keeping with the theme for the ASCILITE 2026 conference – The Future is Connection: Collaboration, Creativity and Compassion in a Digital Society – we invite you to bring along a human-created artwork, up to A4 size, addressing the theme About AI without AI to display alongside other depictions in a group exhibition/poster area, to spark expression and conversation. There are no prizes and no judgement, just fun and a chance to reconnect with making something by hand. Use whatever media and type of art you like (drawing, painting, printing, papier mâché, textiles, collage, re-used and found objects, etc), as long as it’s not digital art or GenAI.

More information will be provided soon via the conference site. This event is being organised by the ASCILITE TELedvisors Network SIG in collaboration with the ASCILITE Conference Organising Committee.

Silver Sponsor Spotlight: Assurar

This week we’d like to thank Assurar, one of our valued Silver Sponsors for ASCILITE 2026.

You may recognise the team under their previous name, OriginEx.ai. We’re delighted to welcome them back this year under their new brand—and to celebrate their increased support as they’ve stepped up from Bronze Sponsor in 2025 to Silver Sponsor for this year’s conference.

Assurar is committed to helping higher education institutions strengthen assessment integrity through innovative technology and practical solutions. Their continued support helps make the ASCILITE conference possible, and we sincerely thank them for their investment in our community.

Wavelength is back!

The ASCILITE Wavelength Podcast is back, providing a platform for voices, ideas, and conversations shaping technology-enhanced learning across Australasia and beyond.

Whether it’s an interview, panel discussion, solo reflection, vox pop, creative audio piece, or Gen AI-supported podcast, Wavelength welcomes contributions that share research, practice, innovation, experiences, and thought leadership from across our community.

Please refer to this page for more information about the submission types and process.

We’d love to hear your voices. Individuals interested in submitting a podcast segment should consult the ASCILITE Wavelength Submission Guidelines.

Tune in. Contribute. Share your wavelength.

Vickel Narayen & Karine Cosgrove
Podcast Leads

2026 ASCILITE Awards: Open for Nominations

Nominations close 16 September 2026

Each year, ASCILITE members are invited to apply or nominate for the ASCILITE awards and to consider nominations that they believe meet the criteria set for each award. The award categories available to members in 2026 are as follows:

• Innovation Award 
  • Celebrates work undertaken by an individual or team of people in support of the exemplary and research informed use of technologies for teaching and learning in tertiary education. Innovation is defined as a new idea, device or process. It is something original that “breaks into” teaching and learning in the tertiary sector.
    • The Allan Christie ASCILITE Innovation Award (selected from Innovation Award nominations) recognises the most outstanding innovation. Named in honour of Allan Christie, a long-serving ASCILITE member, Life Member, and Executive Committee member, the award celebrates his significant contribution to the Society and higher education.
• Anthology Educational Designer of the Year Award, in memory of Allan Christie
  • In recognition of Allan Christie’s lifelong contribution to the sector, this award is professional staff member who has made significant contributions to learning and teaching. The award is sponsored by Anthology, to the value of $1,000.
• Emerging Scholar Award 
  • Has made a noteworthy contribution in the exemplary use of ore research into technologies for learning and teaching in tertiary education.
• Community Fellow Award 
  • Recognise the outstanding contributions of individual ASCILITE members in the exemplary building of connections in the wider community and into the ASCILITE community.
• ASCILITE/CAULLT Award for Outstanding Leadership in Digital Learning in Higher Education
  • Recognises evidence of an individual’s innovative and effective leadership in the broad use of digital technologies to enhance teaching, learning, and overall performance in higher education.
• ASCILITE Research Grants
  • Three ASCILITE research grants valued at $5,000 each – totalling $15,000, will be offered as follows – one Early Career Researcher, one General Academic and one Professional Staff Member. All investigators must be members of ASCILITE. These ASCILITE Research Grants will be offered for an 18-month period.
• Student Bursary Award 
  • Available to full-time PhD/EdD or equivalent students.
• Life Member Award 
  • A prestigious award that recognises the significant service and/or sustained contribution of an ASCILITE member to the Society.

For further information on each award, refer to the specific award criteria and nomination form on the ASCILITE website.

Michael Cowling, Elaine Huber, & Karine Cosgrove
ASCILITE Awards

Nominations for the ASCILITE Executive 2026 elections

Current ASCILITE financial members are invited to stand for election to the ASCILITE Executive Committee.

The positions being elected this year are Treasurer and 4 members of the executive.

You will find details of current Executive Members here and a summary of Executive roles and the work of the Executive is outlined in the document Prospective Executive Committee Member Information.

For further information on the work of the Society or the Executive Committee please contact the President, Vice-President or any Executive Committee member. Committee members will be happy to answer your questions by phone or email.

The closing date for nominations is 15 September 2026. 

Voting will be open to all financial members from 17 September to 15 October 2026.

Results of this ballot will be announced at the ASCILITE Annual General Meeting at ASCILITE 2026 in Brisbane.

PLEASE NOTE:  Election campaigning is limited to word-of-mouth only. Mass emails, posters, and social media posts by candidates or proxies are not permitted.

Nominate online here.

ASCILITE Secretariat and Election Returning Officer

LD-SIG Webinar: Research Mentoring Series webinar 5: Dissemination Channels – Peer-Reviewed Journal

Date: Thursday 20^th Aug 2026
Time: 11:00am AWST | 1:00 pm AEST | 3:00pm NZST
Where : On Zoom
Speaker: Prof Henk Huijser,  Editor, AJET

As you are aware, LD SIG is running the Research Mentoring Program under ASCILITE CMP. As part of the research mentoring, we run a series of webinars for the professional staff to get started with research and have a flavour of what doing research may involve. We are up to our last webinar. In this webinar, we will discuss:

• The current landscape and future directions of educational technology research.
• What makes a strong Journal submission
• Common reasons for desk rejection and how authors can strengthen their manuscripts.
• The role of theory, methodological rigour and practical impact in successful publications.
• An overview of the editorial and peer review process, including what happens behind the scenes.
• Emerging trends, including the impact of generative AI on educational research and scholarly publishing.
• Advice for Thirdspace, HDR students, early career researchers and teaching-focused academics seeking to publish their work.

And much more. Please bring your questions for Henk and us.

Kashmira Dave, Leanne Ngo, Keith Heggart, & Kate Mitchell
LD-SIG leads

TELedvisors Network Webinar: Using Cogniti agents to improve learning: Practitioner case studies

Date: Thursday 27 August
Time: 10:00 am AWST | 12:00 pm AEST |  2:00 pm  NZDT

Since Cogniti was initially developed at the University of Sydney by Professor Danny Liu and his team, there has been a lot of interest and adoption of Cogniti at different institutions, and in the use of AI agents more generally.

In this webinar three case studies are presented from the University of Sydney, the University of Auckland, and Queensland University of Technology, about the use of Cogniti to improve the student learning experience.

Registration and more information is available here

Colin Simpson, Wendy Taleo, Penny Wheeler & Olivia Rajit
TELedvisors Leads

TELAS Reviewer Certification workshop (online)

The Technology Enhanced Learning Accreditation Standards (TELAS) are internationally benchmarked standards designed to assess the quality of online learning, particularly in the tertiary sector. They provide institutions with the means to assess and evaluate the affordances of their online learning environments, thereby guiding quality enhancements. For more information about TELAS visit our website.

Our workshop supports your understanding of the standards and is the first step toward becoming a certified TELAS reviewer. No matter what your role is at your institution, you will find these workshops informative and interactive.

Our next workshop will be online in Zoom (split across two half days); September 10 and 11 (10:00am – 1:30pm AEST)

For fees and registration, go here.

Any questions feel free to email TELAS Admin.

Elaine Huber, Chris Campbell, Lisa Jacka & Lisa Budgen
TELAS leads

Call for Expressions of Interest – ASCILITE Secretariat

ASCILITE is seeking expressions of interest for the role of ASCILITE Secretariat. This is a paid 0.6 FTE position that plays a central role in supporting the day-to-day operations of the Society and working closely with the Executive Committee to deliver services and initiatives for our members.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is highly organised, proactive and enjoys working across administration, member engagement, communications, events, finance and digital platforms. The role offers flexible, part-time work with the opportunity to contribute to one of the leading professional associations for technology-enhanced learning in Australasia.

For more information about the role and responsibilities, please see the Position Description. If you are interested, please submit an Expression of Interest by 12:00am Tuesday, 17 August 2026. EOIs should include a brief statement outlining your interest in the role and relevant experience.

Michael Cowling, Elaine Huber & Sandy Barker
ASCILITE Senior Executive

OTHER NEWS

FLANZ Conference 2026: He Tāngata

FLANZ Conference 2026: He Tāngata, held in association with ODLAA, invites those involved in learning design, teaching, assessment, leadership and policy to connect, share practice and contribute to conversations shaping flexible learning in Aotearoa.

Proposals are now open across a range of formats, including research, practice, postgraduate papers, workshops and posters, with 250-word abstracts required.

Early bird registration rate and submission deadline have both been extended to 31 August.

Conference information available here.

Applications are also open for the 2026 FLANZ Awards, recognising projects and postgraduate research that advance best practice in e-learning, distance, open and flexible learning, with awards presented at the conference networking event on 8 October 2026. Read more here.

The Adelaide School: Learning Sciences, Data & AI (formerly ALASI)

The Adelaide School: Learning Sciences, Data & AI is a two-day immersive forum hosted by the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L) at Adelaide University. Bringing together researchers, educators, school leaders, policymakers and industry partners, the event will explore the future of learning at the intersection of education, data and artificial intelligence.

The program will also provide hands-on support for developing research posters and conference papers, helping attendees strengthen their ability to communicate educational research and translate innovative ideas into scholarly outputs.

The event is designed for educators, school leaders, researchers, learning designers, policy professionals, industry partners, and higher-degree research students interested in shaping the future of learning through data and AI.

Event details: 12-13 November 2026, Adelaide University City East Campus, Adelaide. More information here