Find out what our students and a CRADLE Fellow found at HERDSA 2025

1 August 2025

The annual Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) conference was held in Perth, Western Australia this year in early July. A number of the CRADLE PhD students and one of our CRADLE Fellows had the opportunity to attend HERDSA 2025 and present their research. A special congratulations to CRADLE PhD student Tegan Little, who won Best Student Paper for her work on peer feedback provision!

Read on for some reflections on what the they found at the conference.

Back row left to right: Jack Walton, Tom Corbin, and Laura Gray

Front row, left to right: Joanna Tai, Tegan Little, and Anastasiya Umarova

Laura Gray

It seems that travel to conferences is increasingly a luxury that not all higher education staff have access to.  So I tried to absorb as much as possible at HERDSA and engage with some people who might challenge my ideas. I attended a great roundtable discussion on how to incorporate concepts of equity into design processes and curriculum development, by Mx Kate Nickelchok, and a beautifully facilitated discussion on intersectionality in higher education by Mx Bailey Wemyss. Squeezing into the last timeslot on the very last day, I presented our study exploring the experiences of neurodivergent students in health professions students and was so pleased that there was an audience of some resilient, insightful and engaged people still there to listen. I went home having been reminded of the diversity in approaches in the higher education community, but also the common factor of the desire to create meaningful, inclusive and student focussed learning experiences. I was also reminded of the need for comfy shoes at conferences!

Tegan Little

I had the privilege of presenting twice at HERDSA this year. First up was my work on peer feedback provision, in which I showcased the design and implementation of a feedback literacy intervention. This followed on from a recent paper we published in March: “What does it take to provide effective peer feedback?” I also had the privilege of co-facilitating a feedback literacy workshop with Phill Dawson, Joanna Tai and Laura Hughes at the University of Western Australia. It was fantastic to connect with like-minded academics at the conference who were also grappling with peer feedback, and I had some great conversations that spanned different subjects and institutions. I really enjoyed Amanda White’s keynote on becoming an academic influencer, which prompted me to think more about my online presence as a researcher and how I could improve.

Tegan Little awarded Best Student Paper at HERDSA 2025

Chad Gladovic

I facilitated a roundtable discussion titled ‘Rethinking traditional assessments: Fostering critical thinking in a digital age‘. In this session with other attendees, I explored how assessments can uniquely foster critical thinking in higher education. The roundtable format provided an excellent avenue for exploring diverse perspectives from other educators and gaining essential insights for developing critical thinking. One of the key themes that emerged from our discussions was the need to increase the number of assessments that enable learners to reflect on and analyse their work and their academic achievements to develop critical thinking capabilities.

My focus was on sessions on innovation in education that can improve delivery and learner engagement, especially the use of technology such as video in higher education contexts and simulation technologies in professional education. The discussions around digital literacy in higher education resonated strongly with my own teaching practice and research interests. What truly inspired me was the conference’s focus on innovative learning environments that adapt to rapidly changing contexts, emphasising the need for the curriculum to accommodate these changes. The discussions highlighted the importance of creating spaces for learners to construct knowledge beyond traditional boundaries and become better prepared for their professional careers.