Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice
type: channel
description: The Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) is a peer-reviewed journal publishing papers that add significantly to the body of knowledge describing effective and innovative teaching and learning practice in the higher education environment. The Journal aims to provide a forum for educational practitioners in a wide range of disciplines to communicate their teaching and learning outcomes in a scholarly way. Its purpose is to bridge the gap between journals covering purely academic research and more pragmatic articles and opinions published elsewhere. The Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice seeks well-designed and executed research and theory that changes how people think, and provides evidence-based theories, methods and findings to improve higher education learning and teaching practices. We invite a plurality of theoretical frameworks from across the disciplines to stimulate conversation around different ways of developing learning and teaching practice. We encourage evidence-based practice research situated in the local context and the broader international literature. Key Journal Statistics 1. 16 days is the average time to first decision for Jan-June 2025. 2. The journal had a 2024 rejection rate of 89%. 3. The average days to first decision was 36 days in 2024. 3. JUTLP is Quartile 1 with a SJR of .909, and ranks #1 in Australian education for 2-year impact, #3 overall. 4. JUTLP has a Scopus CiteScore of 6.2 (Q1, 87th percentile). 5. JUTLP has a 2024 Web of Science ESCI Journal Impact Factor of 4.4 and ranked #43 for Education and Educational Research.
publisher: Open Access Publishing Association
language: en
publication name: Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice
issn: 1449-9789
items: Enabling Futures: Equity and Innovation in Higher Education
items: The Four-Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) Model in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review
items: Epistemic Parochialism: Single Institution Studies in The Age of Artificial Intelligence Large Language Models
items: Assessment after Artificial Intelligence: The Research We Should Be Doing
items: Hope and its Applications: A Scoping Review
items: A community of practice around article peer review: A collaborative autoethnography
items: The Role of Educators in Cultivating Self-Efficacy Among School-Leaver Enabling Students: Perspectives and Practices
items: Finding the root cause: Embedding vegetable education into pre-health professional programs using an iterative mixed-methods approach
items: Addressing Barriers to Success in Accounting Education: Exploring the Role of ODeL Institutions in Facilitating Meaningful Access and Achieving Success for Marginalised Groups
items: Enhance Learning Environments Using Knowledge Flow: A Living Systems, Neuroscience-based Model
items: Artificial Intelligence in Educational Research and Scholarship: Seven Framings
items: Exploring the relationships between university staff and students: A comparison between two European countries
items: From Commitment to Disengagement: How the Tenure-Track System Shapes Early-Career Faculty Teaching Engagement in China
items: Universal Design for Learning in Tertiary Education: Australian Professionals' Perspectives on Using UDL in Practice
items: Exploring student motivations and perceptions towards Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) systems: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis
items: The Impact of AI-Powered Text Generation Tools on the Critical Thinking Skills of Undergraduate Students
items: Editorial: Framing the Future with a Research Agenda for Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education
items: Beyond the Pathway: Insights for Widening Participation from Graduates who Accessed University via Enabling Programs
items: Optimizing study to boost performance and well-being: A study-crafting scoping review
items: Systematic Literature Reviews: Why I Rejected Your Review
items: Faculty transformation for enhanced student learning: A structural equation modelling study on responsible management education in India
items: Learners or consumers? Exploring the grade gap between widening and non-widening participation students
items: The multiple affordances, complexities and limitations of micro-credentials - practitioner voices
items: “Kind of Students… Kind of Staff” - Navigating Roles: A Thematic Exploration of PhD Demonstrators’ Experiences, Identity, and Career Implications
items: Reimagining the Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale: A refined framework for educational assessment
items: Editorial: Improving quantitative research in higher education learning and teaching
items: Exploring the Medicinal Properties of Indigenous Plants Within an Enabling Program: Bridging the Gap Between School, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge and Science.
items: Gauging the leadership roles of higher education leaders in advancing quality imperatives via structural equation modelling
items: It takes a village... Program-wide approaches to redesigning assessment in a time of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).
items: An ePortfolio recommendations roadmap supported by a UNSW Sydney education focussed (EF) academic fellowship program: Reflective practice and feedback literacy within ePortfolios matters

Enabling Futures: Equity and Innovation in Higher Education
type: item
description: Widening participation (WP) in higher education (HE) remains a global “wicked problem,” marked by persistent structural inequities despite decades of reform. This editorial introduces the Fostering Inclusion in Higher Education: Global Approaches to Widening Participation special issue, situating Australia’s experience within an international dialogue on equity and innovation. In Australia, WP has evolved over more than 80 years, driven by intersecting imperatives of social justice and national economic development. Enabling programs, fee-free, preparatory pathways, represent a cornerstone of this agenda, providing accessible routes into university for students from low socioeconomic, Indigenous, regional, and other equity backgrounds. Rather than being simply remedial, these programs function as sites of social innovation, fostering confidence, capability, and transformative agency through pedagogies grounded in care and critical engagement. Their success in improving access, retention, and graduate outcomes underscores their role in meeting ambitious national targets, including those outlined in the Australian Universities Accord, and advancing global commitments such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. International comparisons reveal shared challenges, including deficit discourses and entrenched barriers, alongside common strategies that prioritise inclusive pedagogy and holistic support. By amplifying diverse perspectives and evidence-based practices, this special edition contributes to consolidating the knowledge base of Enabling education and its equivalents worldwide. Ultimately, WP is not merely about access but empowerment, transforming HE into an engine of equity and sustainability.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: widening participation
  topic: keywords
subject: enabling education
  topic: keywords
subject: social innovation
  topic: keywords
subject: equity
  topic: keywords
creator: Stephen Miller
creator: Trixie James
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Stephen Miller, Dr Trixie James https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-19
publication date: 2025-12-19
doi: 10.53761/w5y00h96

The Four-Component Instructional Design (4C/ID) Model in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review
type: item
description: Complex skills development in higher education is constrained by fragmented instruction, limited support for whole-task learning and increased cognitive load in online and blended formats. The four-component instructional design (4C/ID) model has been proposed as a task-centred approach designed to address these challenges. This systematic review synthesises empirical applications of 4C/ID in higher education over the past three decades. Following PRISMA 2020, searches of six major databases covered January 1992 to 7 December 2025. Fourteen empirical studies met the inclusion criteria and were appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Most were quasi-experimental (n = 10), with two mixed-methods and two pre–post studies; the pooled sample comprised 1,109 students. Research clustered in Asia and North America across education and educational technology, health and computing, with a few studies in language and architecture. Across studies, implementations emphasised whole-task sequencing, scaffold fading and coordinated supportive and procedural information, often supported by digital technologies. Evidence indicates consistent gains in performance and transfer outcomes. Well-sequenced guidance reduced extraneous load and supported germane processing, though intrinsic load was higher early in whole-task learning. Common limitations included small samples, non-random allocation and limited follow-up. Overall, 4C/ID shows promise for improving learning outcomes in higher education. Future work should broaden samples and contexts, strengthen designs, standardise outcome measures and report implementation fidelity to advance both research and practice.
subject: Curriculum and Assessment Design
  topic: section
subject: four-component instructional design
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education
  topic: keywords
subject: cognitive load
  topic: keywords
subject: complex learning
  topic: keywords
creator: Guojuan Qi
creator: Lingyun Ji
creator: Yumei Zhang
creator: Jamalsafri Jamalsafri
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Guojuan Qi, Lingyun Ji, Associate Professor Yumei Zhang, Associate Professor Jamalsafri Bin Saibon https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2026-01-20
publication date: 2026-01-20
doi: 10.53761/dcf7nr70

Epistemic Parochialism: Single Institution Studies in The Age of Artificial Intelligence Large Language Models
type: item
description: Learning and teaching scholarship is experiencing a growing tension between increasing global interconnectedness and the persistent production of highly decontextualised local studies. This Editorial argues that such epistemic parochialism limits our ability to build cumulative knowledge and risks reinforcing narrow solutions to shared problems. Drawing on contemporary pressures including internationalisation, epistemic monocultures, system-level complexity, and the rapid integration of artificial intelligence large language models, the Editorial outlines why research that treats the institution as the horizon of inquiry is no longer adequate. In an era where large language models learn from, reproduce, and amplify scholarship, narrowly framed or duplicative studies have implications not only for academic discourse but also for the quality of language models. To address this challenge, the Editorial presents five principles to guide authors in producing better situated research: reframing the problem beyond the institution; developing a credible inquiry into what is known; justifying methodological positioning; situating institutional cases within complex systems; and synthesising localised insights to advance global knowledge. By adopting these principles, authors strengthen the relevance, clarity and impact of their work, enhance their prospects for publishing success, and help safeguard the coherence and diversity of the knowledge on which both human scholars and artificial intelligence systems increasingly depend. The Editorial concludes with a call for the sector to recognise epistemic parochialism as a significant contemporary peril and to collectively pursue scholarship that is reflective, situated and globally engaged.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: epistemology
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education
  topic: keywords
subject: research methods
  topic: keywords
subject: methodology
  topic: keywords
subject: credibility
  topic: keywords
subject: context
  topic: keywords
creator: Joseph Crawford
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Joseph Crawford https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/5q6w6843

Assessment after Artificial Intelligence: The Research We Should Be Doing
type: item
description: The emergence of widely available artificial intelligence (AI) tools has made assessment in higher education increasingly uncertain. Familiar (if problematic) assumptions about what assessment does or should measure, who or what is being assessed, and how judgments are made are all being reexamined. Educators and researchers are experimenting with new assessment designs, but the emerging research landscape is fragmented and difficult to navigate. There is little shared sense of what kinds of studies are most needed or how their findings might connect. To address this, a group of leading assessment scholars met in Melbourne, Australia in September of 2025 to develop a collective research agenda to help guide and connect future inquiry. This paper presents the outcomes of that collaboration, a set of guiding principles and framing questions – why, who, what, how, and where we assess – that together offer a structure for guiding and supporting the research we should be doing on assessment after AI.
subject: Commentary
  topic: section
subject: Assessment
  topic: keywords
subject: AI-integrated assessment
  topic: keywords
subject: artificial intelligence
  topic: keywords
subject: programmatic assessment
  topic: keywords
subject: assessment integrity
  topic: keywords
creator: Thomas Corbin
creator: Margaret Bearman
creator: David Boud
creator: Nicole Crawford
creator: Phillip Dawson
creator: Tim Fawns
creator: Michael Henderson
creator: Jason Lodge
creator: Jiahui (Jess) Luo
creator: Kelly Matthews
creator: Kelli Nicola-Richmond
creator: Juuso Nieminen
creator: Nicole Pepperell
creator: Zachari Swiecki
creator: Joanna Tai
creator: Jack Walton
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Thomas Corbin, Professor Margaret Bearman, Professor David Boud, Dr Nicole Crawford, Professor Phillip Dawson, Associate Professor Tim Fawn, Professor Michael Henderson, Professor Jason Lodge, Assistant Professor Jiahui (Jess) Luo, Professor Kelly Matthews, Associate Professor Kelli Nicola-Richmond, Dr Juuso Henrik Nieminen, Associate Professor Nicole Pepperell, Dr Zachari Swiecki, Associate Professor Joanna Tai, Dr Jack Walton https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/w3x5y804

Hope and its Applications: A Scoping Review
type: item
description: Despite a growing recognition and empirical base on hope and its value in educational contexts, there has been limited research into hope and hope-related strategies for transforming higher education (HE) teaching and learning practices. We report on a scoping review to uncover current perspectives of hope as contemplated and applied in contemporary HE teaching-learning contexts. Our study draws from six databases (A+ Education, ERIC, Education Source, Education Research Complete, PsychINFO, and Scopus) and thematically analysed 16 studies across the last decade to understand their context, theoretical framing, and practice-based orientations. Our findings highlight the range, use, and value of research into hope expressed as a multidimensional construct and variously understood through individual, sociocultural, and critical perspectives. While many studies adopt an individual view of hope as a measurable trait linked to student wellbeing and academic success, others emphasise relational, collective and community-based approaches, or frame hope as a transformative, collective force for social and political change. Each perspective engendered associated hope-based practices ranging from goal-setting, mindfulness training, dialogic and caring relationships with educators and students to cultivating possible education futures and justice-oriented teaching. We argue that this diversity reflects both the richness and the generative tensions that are thinly understood within current hope scholarship. Our findings contribute to the interdisciplinary, institutional planning and development of hope-based curricula and approaches and have implications for HE practice and the scholarship of hope.
subject: Academic Development
  topic: section
subject: hope
  topic: keywords
subject: hope-based practices
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education
  topic: keywords
creator: Elaine Khoo
creator: Alice Beban
creator: Clare Mouat
creator: Kymberley Kennedy
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Elaine Khoo, Dr Alice Beban, Dr Clare M. Mouat, Kymberley Kennedy https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-19
publication date: 2025-12-19
doi: 10.53761/8zfa6336

A community of practice around article peer review: A collaborative autoethnography
type: item
description: Learning from peer reviewer practice is one example of person-centred inquiry relevant to the broad practice of journal publishing. This curriculum inquiry adopts a practice-led inquiry (Gray, 1996) alongside a collaborative autoethnographic approach (CAE) utilising the conversations between two peer reviewers both involved in a journal driven peer review professional learning community of practice. We were interested in exploring our learnings from a peer-review professional learning program and as such our CAE methodology framed our four final research questions which were concerned with the successes and challenges of the professional learning program; the successes and challenges of a community of practice (CoP) as a vehicle for the program; the effectiveness of the program’s curriculum and the way the discussion on curriculum impacted our broader learnings. The conversations reveal insights about peer review professional learning as well as broader insights regarding the value of community of practice (CoP) as a vehicle for professional learning. Development of relational trust between professionals is a key factor in facilitating academic professional learning and this has implications for the wider ways of working with fellow academics.
subject: Academic Development
  topic: section
subject: peer review
  topic: keywords
subject: professional learning and development
  topic: keywords
subject: building trust for professional development
  topic: keywords
subject: community of practice
  topic: keywords
subject: collaborative autoethnography
  topic: keywords
creator: Lauren Stephenson
creator: Geof Hill
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Professor Lauren Stephenson, Dr Geof Hill https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/fndkwa51

The Role of Educators in Cultivating Self-Efficacy Among School-Leaver Enabling Students: Perspectives and Practices
type: item
description: <span class="NormalTextRun SCXW178800532 BCX8" data-ccp-parastyle="Front Page Text" data-ccp-parastyle-defn="{"ObjectId":"208d6ddf-79f0-4979-9a27-b3616341de97|129","ClassId":1073872969,"Properties":[469777841,"Arial",469777842,"Arial",469777844,"Arial",469769226,"Arial",335559740,"276",201341983,"0",335559739,"120",335551550,"6",335551620,"6",201342446,"1",201342447,"5",201342448,"1",201342449,"1",469777843,"Calibri",201341986,"1",268442635,"20",469775450,"Front Page Text",201340122,"2",134234082,"true",134233614,"true",469778129,"FrontPageText",335572020,"1",469777929,"Front Page Text Char",469778324,"Normal"]}" data-ccp-parastyle-linked-defn="{"ObjectId":"208d6ddf-79f0-4979-9a27-b3616341de97|130","ClassId":1073872969,"Properties":[201342446,"1",201342447,"5",201342448,"1",201342449,"1",469777841,"Arial",469777842,"Arial",469777843,"Calibri",469777844,"Arial",201341986,"1",469769226,"Arial",268442635,"20",469775450,"Front Page Text Char",201340122,"1",134233614,"true",469778129,"FrontPageTextChar",335572020,"1",134231262,"true",469777929,"Front Page Text",469778324,"Default Paragraph Font"]}">In Australia, government-funded Enabling programs provide equitable pathways to higher education for students from diverse backgrounds, including increasing numbers of recent school-leavers. This collaborative autoethnographic study explores six Enabling educators’ lived experiences across five universities to understand how they perceive and cultivate self-efficacy among school-leaver students. Thematic analysis revealed three overarching areas: educators’ perceptions of students’ readiness for higher education, strategies used to develop self-efficacy, and barriers that constrain this work. Findings highlight the complexity of fostering self-efficacy in younger cohorts, who often display both overconfidence and low academic self-belief. Educators identified the importance of pedagogies of care, growth mindset, scaffolded mastery experiences, and supportive learning communiti…
subject: Special Issues
  topic: section
subject: self-efficacy
  topic: keywords
subject: enabling education
  topic: keywords
subject: school-leaver
  topic: keywords
subject: equity
  topic: keywords
subject: prepare
  topic: keywords
creator: Ana Larsen
creator: Trixie James
creator: Amy Robinson
creator: Angela Jones
creator: Matilda Coleman
creator: George Lambrinidis
creator: Rachel Daniel
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Ana Larsen, Dr Trixie James, Amy Robinson, Dr Angela Jones, Matilda Coleman, George Lambrinidis, Dr Rachel Daniel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-19
publication date: 2025-12-19
doi: 10.53761/ms969649

Finding the root cause: Embedding vegetable education into pre-health professional programs using an iterative mixed-methods approach
type: item
description: Reduced consumption of fruits and vegetables is linked to an increased risk of noncommunicable diseases and chronic health issues. With health professionals at the frontline of patient care, there has been an identified need to enhance vegetable education throughout training programs. In undertaking this curriculum change, Design-Based Research (DBR) presents a modern framework highly suitable for health professional programs due to its focus on co-development with a variety of stakeholders. This study aimed to utilise a DBR approach to develop insights and recommendations into what would constitute an effective and evidence-based vegetable curriculum that can be embedded within a pre-health professional course. This study underwent a five-phase iterative process of DBR with a mixed-methods research approach used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data to explore stakeholders’ perceptions. The results provide three evidence-based recommendations for educators and curriculum developers to assist in the creation and embedding of vegetable education into a pre-health professional curriculum. Firstly, this study highlights that any resource or curriculum change should be simple, focussing on reiterating the regional government’s recommended intake of vegetables and fruits. Moreover, any resource should involve hands-on activities such as laboratories or workshops and be embedded directly into the curriculum rather than self-study options. With the five phases, DBR provides an ideal framework for educational research due to its iterative design and the engagement of stakeholders.
subject: Curriculum and Assessment Design
  topic: section
subject: Nutrition
  topic: keywords
subject: Education
  topic: keywords
subject: Medical Education
  topic: keywords
subject: curriculum integration
  topic: keywords
subject: Sustainable Development Goals
  topic: keywords
creator: Felicity Smith
creator: Charlotte Phelps
creator: Christian Moro
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Felicity Smith, Dr Charlotte Phelps, Dr Christian Moro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/6apsez20

Addressing Barriers to Success in Accounting Education: Exploring the Role of ODeL Institutions in Facilitating Meaningful Access and Achieving Success for Marginalised Groups
type: item
description: The evolution of Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) institutions has significantly broadened access to higher education for historically marginalised (equity) groups. However, despite these advancements, persistent challenges undermine student success, particularly in accounting education, where rigorous academic demands intersect with socioeconomic and technological barriers. This study explores how ODeL institutions, focusing on the University of South Africa (UNISA), can enhance meaningful access and improve success rates for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Guided by Moore’s Transactional Distance Theory, the study employs a qualitative approach, incorporating interviews with students and educators to examine the barriers to academic achievement. Key findings highlight administrative inefficiencies, communication breakdowns, technological limitations, and programme rigidity as significant impediments. The paper concludes by offering targeted recommendations for institutional reforms, including enhanced technological infrastructure, improved administrative support, and structured academic interventions to foster student autonomy and engagement. Addressing these issues is crucial for ensuring that ODeL institutions fulfil their social justice mandate and contribute to the transformation of the accounting profession.
subject: Special Issues
  topic: section
subject: e-Learning
  topic: keywords
subject: transactional distance
  topic: keywords
subject: student success
  topic: keywords
subject: equity
  topic: keywords
subject: learning strategies
  topic: keywords
creator: Sedzani Musundwa
creator: Nkosinathi Masela
creator: Chisinga Chikutuma
creator: Prince Chukwuneme Enwereji
creator: Moses Hlongoane
creator: Makgopa Tshehla
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Sedzani Musundwa, Nkosinathi Masela, Chisinga Chikutuma, Prince Chukwuneme Enwereji, Moses Hlongoane, Makgopa Tshehla https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-19
publication date: 2025-12-19
doi: 10.53761/k6e75313

Enhance Learning Environments Using Knowledge Flow: A Living Systems, Neuroscience-based Model
type: item
description: This study introduces the Knowledge Flow framework, a living systems, neuroscience-based learning model designed to enhance inclusion, engagement, and academic performance for diverse students in large university courses. Moving beyond linear learning models, this approach reconceptualizes learning as energy flow within interconnected systems, specifically addressing barriers faced by first-generation students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The framework comprises seven Knowledge Catalysts that create structural foundations and four Knowledge Currents that describe the resultant dynamic energy flow within a living systems classroom model, informed by neuroscientific concepts about how the brain grows and learns. Foundational catalysts Meet Me (scaffolding) and See Me (belonging) are discussed as essential for inclusive learning environments, and the torus is introduced as a new model to visualize the learning process. Knowledge Flow implementation in a large introductory neuroscience course demonstrated significant improvements in student performance compared to traditional lecture formats. Undergraduate teaching assistants served as valuable bridges between instructors and students, enhancing classroom community while developing their own pedagogical skills. This approach offers a practical framework for transforming large introductory courses from potential barriers to gateways for success among underrepresented student populations, directly addressing the "wicked problem" of educational inequality and supporting wider participation in higher education in a novel way. This learning approach is theoretically framed as a potential pathway to greater well-being in students within education.
subject: Special Issues
  topic: section
subject: inclusive teaching
  topic: keywords
subject: Active Learning
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge flow
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge catalysts
  topic: keywords
subject: living systems
  topic: keywords
subject: neuroscience-based pedagogy
  topic: keywords
creator: Erin Clabough
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erin Clabough https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-19
publication date: 2025-12-19
doi: 10.53761/s76ajr33

Artificial Intelligence in Educational Research and Scholarship: Seven Framings
type: item
description: In a recent interview (Bender et al., 2025), Professor Emily M. Bender discussed the limitations of technical solutions in addressing harmful Artificial Intelligence (AI) bias. She described a particular point we may reach at which technical solutions stop working, and when we should then widen the lens to ask about the problem framing itself. This is a crucial step in any inquiry that is of concern to both novice and experienced researchers alike: moving from problem-solving to problematisation. This commentary aims to provide educational researchers with a glimpse into the wide array of research problems and problematisation of AI in Education (AIED). It discusses seven framings of AIED: methodological pluralism; metaphors; ethnographic studies; imagining futures through fiction; humanistic groundings of AI design and development; third space professionals in research; and open education. We describe why these particular frames are relevant and how we wrote this commentary. We go on to suggest that to sustain the desirable but sometimes elusive nexus between research and teaching, we need to see both as rich, diverse, and distributed activities consisting of many actors. We seek to probe: What is AI? Who gets to say so and why? What critical, creative and pluralistic approaches can we take to research into its effects on the outcomes and experiences of students in higher education?
subject: Commentary
  topic: section
subject: AIED
  topic: keywords
subject: AI in Education
  topic: keywords
subject: research methodology
  topic: keywords
subject: educational technology research
  topic: keywords
subject: pedagogical theory
  topic: keywords
subject: metaphors
  topic: keywords
subject: ethnography
  topic: keywords
subject: open education
  topic: keywords
subject: humanistic theory
  topic: keywords
subject: fiction
  topic: keywords
creator: Eamon Costello
creator: Giselle Ferreira
creator: Stefan Hrastinski
creator: Jason K. McDonald
creator: Ahmed Tlili
creator: George Veletsianos
creator: Victoria I. Marín
creator: Henk Huijser
creator: Sharon Altena
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Eamon Costello, Giselle Ferreira, Stefan Hrastinski, Jason K. McDonald, Ahmed Tlili, George Veletsianos, Victoria I. Marín, Henk Huijser, Sharon Altena https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-09-08
publication date: 2025-09-08
doi: 10.53761/xs5e3834

Exploring the relationships between university staff and students: A comparison between two European countries
type: item
description: The quality of student-university relationships can significantly influence student engagement and experience, yet cross-cultural differences remain underexplored. This study examined Dutch (n = 407, Mage = 22.2) and French students (n = 394, Mage = 22.9), focusing on their relationship quality perceptions with staff and its impact on engagement. A quantitative correlational research design was adopted, using the Relationship Quality Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students, and the Relationship Quality-Based Student Loyalty Scale. The results showed that students' trust in their university and professors, alongside academic motivation, strongly predicted overall satisfaction with the institution and its programs. Motivation mediated this relationship, explaining 18% of the variance in satisfaction. French students reported higher motivation and more positive perceptions of their university than Dutch students. The study underscores the importance of trust and support in fostering student satisfaction while highlighting cultural differences in engagement and institutional perception.
subject: Academic Development
  topic: section
subject: Relationship Quality
  topic: keywords
subject: Student Engagement
  topic: keywords
subject: Higher Education
  topic: keywords
creator: Anne Plantade-Gipch
creator: Hélène Maire
creator: Ingrid Snijders
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Anne Plantade-Gipch, Hélène Maire, Ingrid Snijders https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-09-08
publication date: 2025-09-08
doi: 10.53761/bh55q214

From Commitment to Disengagement: How the Tenure-Track System Shapes Early-Career Faculty Teaching Engagement in China
type: item
description: This study explores how the tenure-track system (TTS) affects early-career faculty teaching engagement in Chinese public universities. Drawing on Career Development Theory and Role Theory, and using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of twelve interviews, the study identifies a three-stage trajectory: initial commitment, strategic recalibration, and eventual disengagement. Faculty experienced role conflict intensified by research-centred evaluation metrics and student evaluation pressures, leading to a gradual shift from meaningful teaching to perfunctory instruction and grade inflation. Rather than signalling motivational decline, disengagement emerges as a strategic adaptation to institutional incentives. The study contributes to theoretical understandings of academic identity negotiation under performance-driven regimes and highlights the need for diversified, formative-oriented evaluation systems that value both research and teaching contributions. Practical implications for tenure-track reforms in China and comparable higher education contexts are discussed.
subject: Academic Development
  topic: section
subject: Tenure-track system
  topic: keywords
subject: early-career faculty
  topic: keywords
subject: teaching
  topic: keywords
subject: supervision
  topic: keywords
creator: Yajing Wang
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Yajing Wang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/1e4y8e24

Universal Design for Learning in Tertiary Education: Australian Professionals' Perspectives on Using UDL in Practice
type: item
description: This study explored how tertiary education professionals in Australia understand and apply Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in their practice, the barriers they face, and what more institutions can do to support its implementation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 professionals across various roles and institutions. Findings revealed that, while educators are using UDL principles to enhance engagement, accessibility, and assessment flexibility, their efforts are often ad hoc and unsupported by formal structures. Key barriers included limited time, confusion about how to apply UDL in specific contexts, and a lack of institutional mandates. Participants strongly advocated for embedding UDL into institutional policies, performance expectations, and strategic plans. Practical, discipline-specific professional learning and access to real-world examples were seen as critical for supporting implementation. The importance of local communities of practice and mindset shifts, positioning UDL as quality teaching for all students, were also discussed. These findings underscore the need for tertiary institutions to adopt a systemic and sustained approach to UDL, moving beyond compliance to embed inclusive design into the fabric of teaching and learning.
subject: Academic Development
  topic: section
subject: Universal Design for Learning
  topic: keywords
subject: inclusive education
  topic: keywords
subject: academic development
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education
  topic: keywords
subject: tertiary education
  topic: keywords
creator: Erin Leif
creator: Amanda Gigliotti
creator: Darlene McClennan
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Erin Leif, Dr Amanda Gigliotti, Darlene McClennan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/kdwv5p62

Exploring student motivations and perceptions towards Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) systems: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis
type: item
description: Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET) surveys are commonly used to provide overall course feedback regarding teaching approaches and the learning experience. However, these surveys consistently demonstrate low validity in the literature, particularly due to low response rates. Yet, SETs are used for high-stakes curriculum and staffing decisions. Limited research has explored student perceptions and motivations to complete SETs, particularly within an Australian university context. In this study, nine students participated in focus groups, which were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Analyses were guided by a critical realist approach and explored through the lens of Expectancy Theory. Students explained that they are motivated by a desire to improve the learning experience for future students. However, they also discussed that the initial motivation to complete a SET is the perception of a negative experience. They believe the ratio of positive to negative comments about the course is therefore distorted, and not a true reflection of the overall course experience. Students express a lack of transparency about how (and whether) feedback is used, which results in less motivation to complete the survey. Opaqueness around the audience of SET feedback (I.e., who reads them) was believed to result in less ‘useful’ comments. Students co-created a set of recommendations for increasing SET engagement, including a range of potential incentives and evaluative judgement training. Questions should be framed as if they are written by the educator seeking feedback, as this will encourage comments with maximum utility. It is hoped that this framing may reduce harmful comments.
subject: Academic Development
  topic: section
subject: Student Evaluations of Teaching
  topic: keywords
subject: Thematic Analysis
  topic: keywords
subject: Feedback
  topic: keywords
subject: Course evaluation
  topic: keywords
subject: Higher Education
  topic: keywords
creator: Alivia Gladwin
creator: Samantha Newell
creator: Peta Callaghan
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Alivia Gladwin, Dr Samantha J. Newell, Dr Peta Callaghan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/v1aggh95

The Impact of AI-Powered Text Generation Tools on the Critical Thinking Skills of Undergraduate Students
type: item
description: The swift adoption of generative AI (GAI) technologies such as ChatGPT in higher education has raised important questions about their effect on students' critical thinking—an essential component of undergraduate education. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to investigate the influence of AI-based text generation tools on the enhancement of cognitive skills among 100 undergraduate students, using Bloom’s Taxonomy as a framework. Employing a quasi-experimental design, participants were divided into a control group and an experimental group. Over a span of six weeks, the experimental group engaged with ChatGPT to complete a series of structured academic exercises. Pre- and post-test assessments, alongside thematic analysis of student surveys, revealed dual outcomes: while ChatGPT significantly enhanced foundational skills (remembering, understanding, applying), it showed negligible effects on higher-order critical thinking (analyzing, evaluating, creating). Students reported using AI for proofreading, structuring assignments, and literature summarization, freeing cognitive bandwidth for Higher tasks. However, challenges such as AI "hallucinations" (fabricated outputs), digital literacy gaps, and cultural biases underscored risks of over-reliance and superficial engagement. Qualitative findings highlighted ethical dilemmas, including concerns about diminished empathy and academic integrity, while also noting AI’s role in fostering metacognitive reflection through fact-checking. The study advocates for a balanced pedagogical approach, where AI complements—rather than replaces—human-guided instruction, and proposes institutional strategies for AI literacy training, ethical guidelines, and curriculum redesign. These findings contribute to the discourse on technology-enhanced learning, emphasizing the need to preserve cognitive rigor in an AI-driven educational landscape.
subject: Educational Technology
  topic: section
subject: generative AI
  topic: keywords
subject: critical thinking
  topic: keywords
subject: cognitive offloading
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education
  topic: keywords
subject: AI ethics
  topic: keywords
creator: Gohar Rahman
creator: Eqab Ali A. Almutairi
creator: Mohammad Almutairi
creator: Badri Abdulhakim Mudhsh
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Gohar Rahman, Eqab Ali A. Almutairi, Mohammad Almutairi, Badri Abdulhakim Mudhsh https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-18
publication date: 2025-12-18
doi: 10.53761/srkt0510

Editorial: Framing the Future with a Research Agenda for Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education
type: item
description: Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is transforming higher education, reshaping assessment, curriculum, pedagogical relationships, and the broader dynamics of teaching and learning. While research on AI in education (AIEd) is expanding, it remains fragmented and often dominated by tool-centric use cases and techno-determinist narratives. In this Editorial, we argue for a new phase of meaningful AI research in higher education, research that is pedagogically grounded, ethically aware, and theoretically informed. We critique the limitations of traditional reflective practice, which, like large language models, can mirror existing assumptions without producing genuinely new insights. Instead, we call for a reframing of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) that acknowledges complexity, examines power, and embraces the entangled nature of human and non-human collaboration. Meaningful research must engage with the long-term consequences of AI for teaching, learning, and academic work and not just its immediate functionality. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives across pedagogy, trust, ethics, and institutional change, we outline an agenda for AI research that centres on criticality, sustainability, and inclusion. We contend that meaningful research must go beyond short-term efficiency gains to examine long-term impact, support educator and student agency, and address the structural values shaping AI’s integration in higher education. This agenda is urgent: the foundations laid now will determine how we as educators lead the transformation of academic work, student experience, and the future of knowledge in an AI enhanced era.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Higher Education
  topic: keywords
subject: Pedagogical Innovation
  topic: keywords
subject: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
  topic: keywords
subject: Ethics and Agency
  topic: keywords
creator: Rachel Fitzgerald
creator: Jeya Amantha Kumar
creator: Jasper Roe
creator: Erin Roehrer
creator: Jianhua Yang
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Associate Professor Rachel Fitzgerald, Dr Jeya Amantha, Dr Jasper Roe, Dr Erin Roehrer, Dr Jianhua Yang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-09-08
publication date: 2025-09-08
doi: 10.53761/jwt7ra63

Beyond the Pathway: Insights for Widening Participation from Graduates who Accessed University via Enabling Programs
type: item
description: Educational access and degree completion highlight gaps in student equity (Department of Education, 2024). Australian enabling programs offer insight supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds through to graduation. These pathways demonstrably improve outcomes for students from government-defined equity groups, in areas such as undergraduate transition and retention (Pitman et al., 2016, p. 4), and undergraduate success (Syme et al., 2022). This research asks how enabling pedagogy shapes learning for students beyond the pathway program. Semi-structured interviews of two-to-three hours’ duration were held with five graduates from underrepresented backgrounds who entered Australian university via a one-year enabling program (or part-time equivalent). Careful design and purposive sampling ensured strong representation of equity groups, alongside diverse career aspirations and life experience. Interview data was analysed using critical pedagogy to understand systemic marginalisation (Freire, 2004) and thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) to generate deep understanding of how programs support students. Building upon a mixed-methods case study, this research utilises the ADEPT framework for enabling pedagogy (Stokes, 2023) as a theoretical lens for analysing graduate vignettes. This paper articulates how enabling pedagogy better supports these students, providing insights applicable for widening university participation at all levels.
subject: Special Issues
  topic: section
subject: ADEPT framework
  topic: keywords
subject: enabling pedagogy
  topic: keywords
subject: enabling programs
  topic: keywords
subject: equity groups
  topic: keywords
subject: graduates
  topic: keywords
creator: Jennifer Stokes
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Associate Professor Jennifer Stokes https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-19
publication date: 2025-12-19
doi: 10.53761/kq7f9y90

Optimizing study to boost performance and well-being: A study-crafting scoping review
type: item
description: As higher education students confront increasing challenges that hinder their well-being and performance, study strategies grow on importance. Drawing from the job-crafting approach, and the job and study demands-resources theories, study-crafting is highlighted as a potentially useful strategy to adapt the study environment to each student’s needs and characteristics. Following the PRISMA-ScR model (2018), the present scoping review charts what is known about crafting strategies applied by students, aiming to assess how study-crafting has been operationalized, its antecedents and effects. A search of empirical peer-reviewed articles concerning students, was conducted at the Web of Science (WoS) and PsycINFO platforms up to January 2025. In total, 579 registers were considered, of which 10 papers were included for the final review after a selection process. Results underline different trends on the measure and operationalization of study-crafting; study demands and resources, engagement, positive emotions, daily events, and teachers’ authentic leadership are highlighted as possible antecedents of study-crafting; and identify beneficial associations of study-crafting with academic performance (improving engagement, work-school facilitation, study-to-sports spillover, and creativity) and with mental health (improving well-being, quality of university life, and positive affect; and reducing emotional exhaustion). All in all, study-crafting is emphasized as a potentially useful construct on which to intervene to foster academic performance and well-being of students at higher education. Further results, limitations, and implications are discussed.
subject: Educational Psychology
  topic: section
subject: Job Demands-Resources Model
  topic: keywords
subject: Study Demands-Resources Model
  topic: keywords
subject: Study-crafting
  topic: keywords
subject: scoping review
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education
  topic: keywords
creator: Noah Palacios-Pedrero
creator: Daniel Cortés-Denia
creator: Esther Lopez-Zafra
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Noah Palacios-Pedrero, Dr Daniel Cortés-Denia, Dr Esther Lopez-Zafra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/ymm5pe71

Systematic Literature Reviews: Why I Rejected Your Review
type: item
description: Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) have become an increasingly common methodological approach in higher education research, particularly within the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP). However, despite their popularity, a significant proportion of submitted SLR manuscripts are desk-rejected prior to peer review. This Commentary critically examines recurring methodological shortcomings that often undermine the credibility and rigour of these submissions. Drawing on best practices in evidence synthesis, the paper highlights five core areas where authors frequently fall short: (1) the formulation of research questions that are appropriately scoped, answerable, and aligned with review goals; (2) the development of transparent, valid, and replicable search strategies using Boolean logic, truncation, and multiple databases; (3) the implementation of systematic screening and selection processes, including use of PRISMA flow diagrams and clear inclusion/exclusion criteria; (4) the use of trustworthy and replicable methods of data extraction and synthesis, including quality appraisal of included studies; and (5) the articulation of meaningful implications that extend beyond descriptive summaries to offer theoretical, empirical, and practical contributions. Through these insights, the Commentary seeks to provide constructive guidance for researchers and reviewers, with the aim of enhancing methodological integrity and increasing the acceptance rate of SLR submissions to JUTLP and similar journals. By strengthening methodological transparency, reliability, and relevance, Systematic reviews can serve as powerful tools to synthesise evidence, guide pedagogical innovation, and inform higher education policy.
subject: Commentary
  topic: section
subject: Systematic literature review
  topic: keywords
subject: evidence synthesis
  topic: keywords
subject: PRISMA
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education research
  topic: keywords
subject: methodological rigour
  topic: keywords
subject: research methodology
  topic: keywords
subject: desk rejection
  topic: keywords
subject: search strategy
  topic: keywords
creator: Joseph Crawford
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Joseph Crawford https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-05-30
publication date: 2025-05-30
doi: 10.53761/10vb5076

Faculty transformation for enhanced student learning: A structural equation modelling study on responsible management education in India
type: item
description: In a world grappling with environmental and social challenges, the role of Responsible Management Education (RME) remains underexplored in emerging markets such as India. While existing studies focus on the transformative effects of RME on students, research on its impact on faculty in higher education institutions (HEIs) is limited. This study combines Mezirow’s transformative learning theory with DiMaggio and Powell’s institutional pressures theory to conceptualise faculty transformation pathways. A survey completed by 508 Indian business school faculty, analysed using structural equation modelling, found that mimetic, coercive, and normative pressures influence faculty ‘habits of mind’, but motivation is key for RME-driven transformation. Additionally, 19 semi-structured interviews with recruiters of new management graduates indicate that HEIs must refine their pedagogical approaches to enhance the impact of RME, even though students are increasingly aware of sustainable development issues, mainly through social media.
subject: Educational Leadership and Management
  topic: section
subject: Responsible Management Education
  topic: keywords
subject: Transformational Learning
  topic: keywords
subject: Institutional Pressures
  topic: keywords
subject: Self-Motivation
  topic: keywords
subject: Higher Educational Institutions
  topic: keywords
subject: Environment
  topic: keywords
creator: Bidisha Banerji
creator: Smitha Girija
creator: Devika Rani Sharma
creator: Neetika Batra
creator: Chudamani Sriramneni
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Bidisha Banerji, Smitha Girija, Devika Rani Sharma, Neetika Batra, Chudamani Sriramneni https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-09-08
publication date: 2025-09-08
doi: 10.53761/r081z834

Learners or consumers? Exploring the grade gap between widening and non-widening participation students
type: item
description: Increasing numbers of students from widening participation (non-traditional) backgrounds are entering higher education, yet they are typically awarded lower grades than non-widening participation students. This gap was explored from a social identity theory perspective to examine two key student identities that impact academic performance: university student (positive impact), and educational consumer (negative impact). Students were studying in Scotland, United Kingdom, characterised by a mass-consumer culture but government-funded tuition. This provided a natural comparator to research in contexts with student-funded tuition. A moderated moderation model was used to test the hypothesis that a consumer identity would have a negative impact on the relation between university student identity and grades, and that this would be more harmful for widening participation students compared to non-widening participation students given their increased social identity conflicts. An online questionnaire was completed by 133 widening participation and 100 non-widening participation students (85% women, mean age 22.6 years) to measure the strength of their university student identity and consumer identity, widening participation status, and average grades. As expected, the model was significant. For widening participation students, the positive relation between university student identity and grades reduced (disappeared) when students had a stronger consumer identity. For non-widening participation students, however, there were no relations among the variables, thus the hypothesis was partly supported. These findings suggest that a consumer identity contributes to the grade gap between these student groups, and that institutions should support students to resist developing an educational consumer identity in mass-consumer cultural contexts.
subject: Educational Psychology
  topic: section
subject: Widening participation
  topic: keywords
subject: non-traditional students
  topic: keywords
subject: students-as-consumers
  topic: keywords
subject: social identity
  topic: keywords
subject: grades
  topic: keywords
creator: Siân E. Jones
creator: Louise Taylor
creator: Karl Johnson
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Siân E. Jones, Professor Louise Taylor, Karl Johnson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-05-30
publication date: 2025-05-30
doi: 10.53761/3fw71w44

The multiple affordances, complexities and limitations of micro-credentials - practitioner voices
type: item
description: In this paper I analyse the voices of higher and vocational education practitioners and stakeholders in the micro-credentials arena to answer the research question: What are the possible affordances, complexities and limitations of micro-credentials? Micro-credentials are small pieces of recognised learning and assessment (European Commission, 2020) that can function as an agent of change for better or worse (Desmarchelier & Cary, 2022, Gibson et al., 2016, Hanshaw, 2024, McGreal & Olcott, 2022, Pollard & Vincent, 2022, Ralston, 2021, Wilson et al., 2016). There is a gap in the literature on the possible affordances, complexities and limitations of micro-credentials experienced in practice and following the voices of practitioners’ lived experience points bring us to understanding new ways of doing things (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). My data collection involved semi-structured interviews with ten participants from Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada who were experts or stakeholders in micro-credentialing development. By using Reflexive Thematic Analyses and Qualitative Descriptive Research, I uncover and present themes, which indicate multiple powerful and positive affordances which act as catalysts to micro-credential development, and numerous associated complexities/limitations which act as inhibitors, and investigate the relationship between them. Looking through the lenses of power/knowledge, which is practised in society as a strategy to exert control over others (Foucault, 1980) and disruptive innovations, which create footholds in markets where no market existed, (Christensen et al., 2015), I explore a possible motivational context behind these inhibitors. Finally, I propose how we might better leverage the successful build out of powerful micro-credentials, to the betterment of the human experience.
subject: Academic Development
  topic: section
subject: micro-credentials
  topic: keywords
subject: affordances
  topic: keywords
subject: complexities
  topic: keywords
subject: power
  topic: keywords
subject: knowledge
  topic: keywords
subject: disruption
  topic: keywords
creator: Jeremy Hanshaw
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Jeremy Hanshaw https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-09-08
publication date: 2025-09-08
doi: 10.53761/xsdd8366

“Kind of Students… Kind of Staff” - Navigating Roles: A Thematic Exploration of PhD Demonstrators’ Experiences, Identity, and Career Implications
type: item
description: We examined the experiences of 16 PhD demonstrators from Russell and non-Russell universities, exploring teaching benefits and challenges, dual student-teacher identities, and opinions on the “demonstrator” title. Through interviews and reflexive thematic analysis, four themes were found: 1) ambiguity in the demonstrator label persists despite the GTA alternative, reflecting a disconnect between title and role, 2) the unpredictability, heavy workload, and lack of freedom in the role contribute to stress and diminish enjoyment for demonstrators, 3) feelings of being unsupported due to inadequate preparation, lack of recognition, poor treatment by staff, and the burdens of casualised contracts, 4) positive aspects including the unique demonstrator-student relationship, skill development, mentorship, supportive community, and flexible scheduling that provides a break from PhD work. The study highlights the importance of recognizing the dual identity, finding a label that reflects their responsibilities, addressing stress factors, and enhancing support and recognition for individuals within these roles.
subject: Academic Development
  topic: section
subject: PhD demonstrators
  topic: keywords
subject: Dual identities
  topic: keywords
subject: Role ambiguity
  topic: keywords
creator: Nikki Dean Marshall
creator: Tatiana Obretetskaya
creator: Gemma Fox
creator: Caitlin Cook
creator: Catrin McAdams
creator: Lee Parkin
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Nikki Dean Marshall, Tatiana Obretetskaya, Gemma Fox, Caitlin Cook, Catrin McAdams, Lee Parkin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-06-23
publication date: 2025-06-23
doi: 10.53761/57kbhn73

Reimagining the Artificial Intelligence Assessment Scale: A refined framework for educational assessment
type: item
description: Higher education institutions, educators, and students continue to grapple with the wide-ranging implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). The ability of advanced GenAI models to complete educational assessments continues to be one of the most pressing issues for academia. In early 2024, we published the AI Assessment Scale (AIAS), which describes a practical framework for addressing GenAI use in educational assessment. The AIAS was well received and has been implemented in hundreds of institutions worldwide and translated into 30 languages. Building on our experience using the AIAS and drawing on feedback and critiques received worldwide, in this paper, we provide an updated version of the AIAS. The updated AIAS encompasses several important developments, including clarifying the theoretical basis of the scale through social constructivist principles, developing the AIAS to function as an assessment redesign framework to enhance validity, and adjusting the visual assets of the AIAS to function inclusively and non-hierarchically. Furthermore, in anticipation of future developments in the field of AI and the increasing focus on preparing students to function in an AI-augmented world, we introduce an additional level, ‘AI exploration’. Through this paper we also seek to clarify both the intended and unintended applications of the AIAS. We provide implementation guidance through practical examples and explain how the AIAS functions as both a communication tool and a framework for task redesign that strengthens validity.
subject: Educational Technology
  topic: section
subject: AI Assessment Scale (AIAS)
  topic: keywords
subject: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
  topic: keywords
subject: Academic Integrity
  topic: keywords
subject: Assessment Redesign
  topic: keywords
creator: Mike Perkins
creator: Roe Jasper
creator: Leon Furze
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Associate Professor Mike Perkins, Dr Jasper Roe, Leon Furze https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/rrm4y757

Editorial: Improving quantitative research in higher education learning and teaching
type: item
description: Empirical research in higher education learning and teaching is vital if we are to enhance our understanding of how to improve students’ experiences and outcomes. Historically, however, this research has received less attention, recognition, and investment compared to discipline-specific research. Consequently, the field has suffered from a lack of methodological quality. In this Editorial, we consider common methodological problems in this research in view of international standards for quality research. Focusing on quantitative methods, we offer guidance to educators for developing rigorous higher education research, using a psychological science lens. We structure our discussion around three Principles for conducting theoretically-driven and systematic research, using tools that can increase the reliability, validity, and subsequent impact of research. Principle 1 = Theorise well, Principle 2 = Prioritise method robustness, and Principle 3 = Analyse, do not merely describe. Ultimately, our aim is to support educators to conduct robust research for improving higher education learning and teaching, and facilitate the dissemination of impactful findings by sharing them with others at scale in educational journals.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Quantitative research
  topic: keywords
subject: Scholarship of Learning and Teaching
  topic: keywords
subject: Educational research
  topic: keywords
subject: Research Design
  topic: keywords
subject: Research Impact
  topic: keywords
creator: Louise Taylor
creator: Hai Min Dai
creator: Hilary Ng
creator: David Playfoot
creator: Sarah Rose
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Louise Taylor, Hai Min Dai, Hilary Ng, David Playfoot, Sarah Rose https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-05-30
publication date: 2025-05-30
doi: 10.53761/jc59jm21

Exploring the Medicinal Properties of Indigenous Plants Within an Enabling Program: Bridging the Gap Between School, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge and Science.
type: item
description: In 2021, less than half of Australian universities considered Indigenous perspectives in curriculum development, with only 15% ensuring Indigenous content in all courses (Universities Australia, 2021). Literature acknowledges that a strengths-based approach to the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and perspectives, enhances representation and decolonises curriculum (Ah Chee et al, 2024; AIATSIS, 2022; Lukey et al., 2022; Fogarty et al., 2018). In 2020, Noongar elder Vivienne Hansen, and John Horsfall created Noongar Bush Medicine, detailing the medicinal use of Indigenous plants. Yeshi et al. (2022) noted that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities use native plants for health purposes. However, there is limited data on the therapeutic efficacy of these plants. In 2024, the Science Unit Coordinator in ECU’s UniPrep enabling program (located on Whadjuk Noongar boodja and Wadandi boodja) designed a module examining the medicinal properties of indigenous plants, engaging students with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge as a core component of science. The experiment involved testing the medicinal use of: moorngan/Tea tree (Melaleuca radula), Eucalyptus (combination of species), uilarac/waang/ wolgol/wollgat/Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum), and honey using nutrient agar microplates inoculated with Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis. This paper details the module’s design, experiment, and outcomes. Preliminary findings suggest that this initiative enhances student engagement and fosters appreciation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems and STEM. This inclusive, hands-on learning module also addresses barriers faced by students from non-traditional backgrounds in accessing STEM, highlights the underrepresentation of Indigenous knowledge and science-focused curriculum in enabling education research.
subject: Special Issues
  topic: section
subject: Indigenous knowledges
  topic: keywords
subject: indigenous plants
  topic: keywords
subject: enabling education
  topic: keywords
subject: authentic learning
  topic: keywords
subject: STEM
  topic: keywords
creator: Sharon Gough
creator: Julie Sartori
creator: Angela Jones
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Sharon Gough, Julie Sartori, Angela Jones https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-19
publication date: 2025-12-19
doi: 10.53761/s8vz4m73

Gauging the leadership roles of higher education leaders in advancing quality imperatives via structural equation modelling
type: item
description: This study examines the leadership roles of operational-level leaders in navigating quality imperatives, involving 1,029 academic staff from three public universities in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional quantitative survey design was employed, and data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS-4. Although current quality assurance practices remain misaligned with these imperatives, the study confirms that leaders play a crucial role in navigating them. Findings also demonstrate the importance of leadership in integrating quality imperatives to underpin quality improvement across higher education institutions. The study highlights the need to challenge top-down quality assurance models and foster distributed, participatory leadership cultures. It introduces a quality imperative inventory capturing four leadership dimensions that offer both a conceptual framework and a practical tool for linking leadership practices with context-specific and international demands. The study presents a leadership model that embeds quality imperatives into leadership practices, enabling institutions to shift from compliance-driven quality assurance systems to sustainable, inclusive, and trust-based quality cultures, positioning quality as an institutional value rather than an externally imposed requirement. This model provides theoretical insight and practical guidance for sustainable quality improvement in national and global higher education landscapes. Recommendations include empowering leaders, integrating the four imperatives into existing quality assurance systems, reviewing leadership policies, and advancing research through cross-national, longitudinal, and stakeholder-inclusive approaches.
subject: Educational Leadership and Management
  topic: section
subject: leadership
  topic: keywords
subject: quality assurance
  topic: keywords
subject: quality culture
  topic: keywords
subject: quality imperatives
  topic: keywords
subject: quality improvement
  topic: keywords
creator: Eshetu Mandefro
creator: Tesfaye Semela
creator: Ashebir Bezabhi
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 Eshetu Mandefro, Professor Tesfaye Semela, Ashebir Bezabhi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2026-01-17
publication date: 2026-01-17
doi: 10.53761/hstad420

It takes a village... Program-wide approaches to redesigning assessment in a time of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).
type: item
description: The rapid maturation of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) platforms has created significant challenges for higher education, particularly in relation to assessment. This project sought to explore the lived experiences and views of GenAI in relation to assessment for academics and students in higher education. A qualitative interpretivist approach was adopted, using semi-structured interviews. When data were thematically analysed, three themes were developed; emotions, academic role and identity; assessment must change, and the work and expertise required to change assessment. Academics and students experienced both positive and negative emotions in relation to GenAI. Concerns about the complexity of changing assessment and resources needed to change assessment were pervasive. Based on these findings we propose that “it takes a village” to redevelop assessments in a time of GenAI and therefore collaborative, program-wide approaches are the way forward.
subject: Curriculum and Assessment Design
  topic: section
subject: Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)
  topic: keywords
subject: assessment
  topic: keywords
subject: higher education
  topic: keywords
subject: program-wide
  topic: keywords
subject: university teaching
  topic: keywords
creator: Kelli Nicola-Richmond
creator: Phillip Dawson
creator: Partridge Helen
creator: Susie Macfarlane
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dr Kelli Nicola-Richmond, Professor Phillip Dawson, Professor Helen Partridge, Associate Professor Susie Macfarlane https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-12-03
publication date: 2025-12-03
doi: 10.53761/zpp2ja61

An ePortfolio recommendations roadmap supported by a UNSW Sydney education focussed (EF) academic fellowship program: Reflective practice and feedback literacy within ePortfolios matters
type: item
description: The Education Focussed (EF) Fellowship program was introduced by the UNSW Sydney Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience (PVCESE) Portfolio to support EF academics via an EF Fellowship Program in all faculties. The vision was for cross-faculty collaboration by EF Fellows on strategic projects identified as key for enhancing the student experience. EF Fellows would provide a comprehensive review of the pedagogical scholarship and shared practice expertise in education to develop a deep understanding of the needs and requirements to address various strategic projects. One of these strategic projects was focussed on ePortfolio pedagogy and practice. An important consideration was to ensure that time was granted to EF Fellows. Each EF Fellow was awarded funding equivalent to 0.4 full time equivalent (FTE) for Term 3, 2021 to allow for time to generate thinking and practice around each strategic project. This supported approach enabled the ePortfolio EF Fellowship team to generate a set of recommendations for a roadmap towards a hybrid ePortfolio pedagogy and practice system.
subject: Special Issue: ePortfolio
  topic: section
subject: Education Focussed
  topic: keywords
subject: Faculty-wide collaboration
  topic: keywords
subject: Graduate Capabilities/Attributes
  topic: keywords
subject: Pedagogy and Practice
  topic: keywords
subject: ePortfolio
  topic: keywords
creator: Patsie Polly
creator: Donna Mary Salopek
creator: Jacky Mo
creator: Gavin Mount
creator: Peter Neal
creator: Chona Ryan
creator: Nayuta Yoshioka
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Patsie Polly, Donna Mary Salopek, Jacky Mo, Gavin Mount, Peter Neal, Chona Ryan, Nayuta Yoshioka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0
date: 2025-07-13
publication date: 2025-07-13
doi: 10.53761/tzaf5w55