ASCILITE NEWS

 ASCILITE 2025 Conference Update

We are excited to have 2 invited speakers at the 2025 ASCILITE Conference – Professor Mollie Dollinger and Associate Professor Lynn Gribble

Professor Mollie Dollinger is the Director of Assessment 2030 in the Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) at Curtin University, where she leads a whole-of-university strategy for assessment transformation. Her work centres on supporting educational innovation, serving concurrently as the inaugural Director of Innovation and Scholarship of Learning & Teaching (ISOLT) in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University, and previously leading the creation and management of two university-wide student partnership programs at La Trobe University and Deakin University.
Her research focuses on students’ voice, graduate employability, and student equity, particularly for students with disabilities and those from regional and rural communities. Professor Dollinger also serves as Deputy Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management and is an honorary research fellow at the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University.

Dr Lynn Gribble (she/her) is nationally and internationally recognised for her thought leadership in AI teaching and learning and digital innovation practices, which have won multiple awards.  With community at heart, she created and co-leads the AI Community of Practice at UNSW to disseminate, collaborate and advocate the use of AI in education practices. An early adopter, adapter and authoritative voice in AI, she is an advocate for reimagining education with technology in mind. With Community at heart, Lynn also co founded the National Teaching and Education Focused Network.

2025 ASCILITE Awards: Last chance to get your nominations in

NOMINATIONS CLOSE on WEDNESDAY 1 OCTOBER 2025

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 2025 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 most outstanding Innovation Award: “The Allan Christie ASCILITE Innovation Award” (judged from Innovation Award nominations). Allan Christie was involved with ASCILITE since its conception in 1985. He was recognised with a Life Member award in 2003 (only the fourth person to receive this honour at the time). Allan continued to serve the Society for over 36 years and was on the ASCILITE Executive for 27 years when he retired from the Executive in December 2019. Allan was well known in higher education and sadly passed away suddenly last year. He is missed greatly in the ASCILITE circles.
• 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.

Sue Gregory
ASCILITE Awards lead

Reminder: ASCILITE Committee Election

To all the members that have already voted – Thank you!

If you have not voted, and were a member on the 18th of September, please check your inbox for the email with subject line:  “ASCILITE 2025 Executive Committee Election – Voting now open” sent to you from SurveyMonkey or Mailchimp.

The voting link embedded in each email is unique to each recipient.

We hope that all current members can take a few minutes to participate in the poll, so please locate your email. Voting closes midnight 16 October 2024.

If you have not received your voting link please email the ASCILITE Secretariat.

Returning Officer,
ASCILITE 2025

Transforming Assessment-SIG 1 October Webinar: Rethinking assessment: A balancing act

Date: Wednesday 1 October 2025
Time:  5:00 pm – 6:00 pm AESTA joint session with Assessment in Higher Education Network (UK) and Transforming Assessment SIG featuring selected presentations from the Assessment in Higher Education Conference (UK) 2025.

Session chair: James Wood (Durham University, UK)

The session will feature two speakers:

1. Balancing Innovation and Integrity: Rethinking Assessment Design in the Age of Generative AI, Honorary Associate Prof Elaine Huber (University of Sydney).

2. Defining and evaluating original work in the GenAI age: what does it mean by “originality” in students’ assignments?, Assistant Professor Jess Jiahui Luo, (Education University of Hong Kong).

Further details, local time zone conversion and free registration go to the event page.

Mathew Hillier, Geoffrey Crisp
TA-SIG Leads

OEP-SIG: 7 October meeting

Date: Tuesday 7 October 2025
Time: 12pm AEST (Brisbane)
Register here for the meeting

Click here for the agenda

Prep for the special activity/topic:
We’ll have a yarning-like circle of sharing focused on OA Week (20-26 Oct 25) activities/initiatives that are being planned for your university. We’re aiming to gain ideas from each other that we might be able to implement at our universities.

Claire Ovaska, Jenny Wallace, Steven Chang, & Ash Barber
OEP-SIG Leads

TELedvisors SIG 2 October Webinar: AI in practice and the promise of Open Educational Resources

Date: 2 October, 2025
Time: 1 pm – 2 pm (AEST)
Link to : Register

Our next scheduled TELedvisors webinar is being held on October 2. We are delighted to have three outstanding presenters to share their AI experiences and practices.

In this webinar, Associate Professor Rachel Fitzgerald and John Raiti (UQ) will discuss their SoTL project: AI in Practice. This project involved course coordinators, learning designers, and students from five faculties who experimented with and evaluated AI in teaching. The outcome of this project is a series of case studies that share the wins, challenges and lessons learned. These case studies have been incorporated into an open eBook of interactive cases that anyone at UQ (and beyond) can draw on to spark ideas, guide practice, and connect with a growing community of AI teaching innovators.

This will then be followed by a presentation from Lauren Halcomb-Smith (Lecturer, Open Education) from Deakin University who will share insights from the Deakin Library’s pilot of Sylla, an AI-powered discovery tool that claims to make locating quality OER faster and easier. You will be invited to share your own big or small successes and ideas for making OER adoption easier and more exciting.

Come for the AI, stay for the inspiration. Register today!

Colin Simpson, Wendy Taleo, Penny Wheeler, & Olivia Rajit
TELedvisors SIG leads

Joint ASCILITE Live!  & Turnitin 15 October Webinar: Reimagining Assessment at Scale

Date: Wednesday, October 15
Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm AEDT
Registration and more information here

Join Turnitin and ASCILITE for our webinar, Reimagining Assessment at Scale: Authentic, Secure, and Insight-Driven Approaches for High-Stakes and Formative Success.

Hear from a panel of educators from various institutions as they share practical strategies for creating secure, authentic, and data-driven evaluations that enhance student learning in the age of AI.

Kwong Nui Sim & Karine Cosgrove
ASCILITE Live! Webinar leads

TELall Blog Latest post : Reimagining Education: A Pathway-Integrated Approach to Psychological Science

The ASCILITE TELall Blog has published a new contribution, ‘Reimagining Education: A Pathway-Integrated Approach to Psychological Science‘

Ashley Howard Kerr  (Torrens University) and Nijel Ratonel  (Torrens University)

Traditionally, educational interventions have been fragmented, addressing individual challenges without considering the broader learning journey. While these segmented approaches may solve isolated issues, they often fail to provide the cohesive support students need to thrive. At Torrens University Australia, we’ve taken a different approach, one that […]

View the latest post here.

Sandy Barker
TELall Blog lead

OTHER NEWS

Invitation: 2025 USyd Business School’s Learning and Teaching Forum, 12-13 November

The University of Sydney Business School’s  L&T Forum committee would like to invite you to the Learning & Teaching Forum 2025, where colleagues from across the University of Sydney Business School and beyond will share their innovative teaching practices and educational research. The L&T Forum will be held on Wednesday, 12 November 2025, and it will be presented in a mixed mode, utilising both face-to-face and online platforms, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to participate.

The theme of this year’s forum will be The Future of Business Education – Disruption, Design, and the Student Experience.When
Wednesday 12 November 2025 | 8:45 am – 5:30 pm (AEDT)
Thursday 13 November 2025 | 9:00 am – 12:30 pm (AEDT)

Where
On Campus – Wednesday 12 November 2025
The University of Sydney Business School
Levels 1 and 2, Belinda Hutchinson Building H70
Crn Abercrombie Street and Codrington Street
The University of Sydney
(Please note that morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea will be provided)

Register here

For further information, contact: The 2025 L&T Forum Organising Committee

Invitation: Two Turnitin Customer Roundtable Discussions

Navigating the future: Innovation and Integrity in the era of AI The rise of breakthrough technologies in education presents unprecedented opportunities to enhance learning while raising critical challenges for educators and students. Academic integrity has become murkier, and yet, there is urgency to figure out how to navigate it. Institutions must adopt clear strategies and innovative solutions to help ensure learning outcomes are achieved and integrity is upheld.

Register to join a group of executive level leaders in education and the Turnitin leadership team for an in-person forum, as we unveil Turnitin’s new global research and explore the transformative impact of technology on education.

Event 1: 7 October 2025
Location: Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel
More information is available here

Event 2:  Date: 9 October 2025
Location: Novotel Hong Kong
More information is available here

CRADLE webinar series: Secure assessment tasks in a time of GenAI

Date: Thursday 23 October 2025
Time: 2.00 pm – 3.00 pm (AEDT)

More information and registration here

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 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.