Happy holidays: CRADLE year in review 2019

18 December 2019

As the year draws to a close, it’s the perfect opportunity to reflect on the many events, milestones and achievements for CRADLE in 2019. We’ve put together some of the year’s highlights, along with our top CRADLE News posts for 2019, to recognise the wonderful year that was for CRADLE. To find out more, read on!

Highlights of 2019

It’s been a big year for CRADLE staff and students, with plenty of amazing achievements. Congratulations all!

• CRADLE Director Prof. David Boud was named the world’s top researcher in higher education, as measured by Google Scholar.
• A/Prof. Phillip Dawson keynoted the Assessment in Higher Education conference in June (recording available here). His research on contract cheating was also profiled in a range of news outlets.
• A/Prof. Margaret Bearman was promoted to Professor.
• Dr Joanna Tai was promoted to Senior Research Fellow. She also graduated from her Graduate Certificate in Higher Education Learning & Teaching in February, and hit the 1500 followers mark on Twitter.
• CRADLE PhD student Sarah Lambert submitted her PhD thesis! She’s the first CRADLE student to do so. Not only that, but all six papers in her thesis have now been accepted for publication.
• CRADLE PhD students Susie Macfarlane, Juan Fischer and Bianka Malecka all passed their PhD confirmation colloquia.
• CRADLE PhD student Abbas Mehrabi received a Stuart D. B. Picken Grant and Full Scholarship to attend this year’s Asian Conference on Language Learning in Tokyo, Japan.
• We hosted our fourth CRADLE international symposium and, for the first time, our symposium panel event was livestreamed around the world – and the recording has nearly 600 views (and counting!).

Most read in 2019

This year we’ve had more visitors to CRADLE News than ever before, and from every continent except Antarctica! Our CRADLE Seminar Series recaps proved overwhelmingly popular this year, along with news about CRADLE achievements, a behind-the-scenes peek at a special CRADLE event, and a post from 2017 that continues to attract interest.

• Assessment shock – Chinese students’ first-year experiences in Australian universities: CRADLE Seminar Series
  It was standing room only for our visiting scholar Dr Jiming Zhou‘s CRADLE seminar exploring Chinese students’ first-year experiences of assessment in Australian universities, and interest in the topic remains undimmed. This recap, by CRADLE PhD student Bianka Malecka, offers a thoughtful personal reflection on Jiming’s research along with a summary of the seminar.
• Evaluative judgement: What, why & how? CRADLE Seminar Series
  Our own Dr Joanna Tai kicked off our CRADLE Seminar Series for 2019 with an overview of what evaluative judgement is, why it’s important for students and how it can be developed, and this summary by CRADLE PhD student Juan Fischer remains a popular read. This post also includes a recording of Jo’s seminar – and it’s our most-viewed CRADLE seminar recording of the year!
• Academic promotion for CRADLE researchers and Acclaim for CRADLE Director David Boud
  Everyone likes good news, so it’s always nice to share our achievements here at CRADLE – and this year there was plenty to celebrate! Two of our researchers were awarded academic promotion, and our Director, Prof. David Boud, was named the world’s leading higher education researcher.
• Recording and slides now available: CRADLE Seminar Series – Phillip Dawson on cheating and academic integrity
  It’s a topic that’s been in the headlines this year, and interest has been high in CRADLE’s research into academic integrity and contract cheating. The recording of our own A/Prof. Phillip Dawson’s June seminar has proved particularly popular – Phill discusses the evidence for approaches to securing assessment against cheating, and explains why researchers may need to cheat in the name of academic integrity.
• Behind the scenes at CRADLE’s Feedback Literacy Symposium
  Only a few weeks old but already racing up our most-read charts, this post by Phill offers a peek behind the curtain of our fourth CRADLE international symposium – including what made this symposium different from previous symposia, and if there were any arguments.
• Digital media literacy in the context of higher education – Challenges and opportunities: CRADLE Seminar Series
  With constant media debate about the role of technology in classrooms and universities, this CRADLE seminar by Deakin REDI’s Dr Luci Pangrazio offered a timely exploration of the challenges and opportunities surrounding digital media literacy in higher education – as well as busting some common misconceptions around the idea of ‘digital natives’. This recap, by CRADLE PhD student Lincoln Then James, also includes a recording of Luci’s seminar.
• The challenges and benefits of self and peer assessment
  An oldie but a goodie! This post by Jo from 2017 continues to prove popular with those wanting to learn more about self and peer assessment. Jo discusses research aiming to better understand the potential challenges of self and peer assessment, as well as the benefits.

International visitors to the blog in 2019