Format. Work-in-Progress.

Focus of the work-in-progress. This work-in-progress reports on how critical thinking fights the spread of misinformation. Critical thinking aims to convey technical knowledge, instil values such as justice and integrity and cultivates a commitment to truth grounded in scientific evidence. This transcends personal ideologies and decreases confirmation bias (Lloyd, 2021). The discussion will explore how education can promote critical thinking to decrease the spread of misinformation and consider the role of empathy in critical thinking.

Context/background. In today's fast-paced world, where information spreads rapidly, it is crucial healthcare professionals can separate fact from fiction. Popular social media, rife with misinformation, is effective in its ability to influence people to reject legitimate, evidence-based approaches to healthcare and disease prevention (Villarruel & James, 2022). For this reason, it is crucial for healthcare professionals to advocate and use evidence-based practice to increase transparency regarding the uncertainty associated with making life-affecting decisions (Chinedu, 2021).

Description. A systematic scoping review was undertaken to explore literature pertaining to misinformation, evidence-based practice, and nursing. Critical thinking and empathy emerged as key themes.

Intended outcome and contribution to scholarship/practice. It is intended discussions will further inform a publication in progress for Higher Education Research & Development, highlighting how education can promote critical thinking to decrease the spread of misinformation and discuss the role of empathy in critical thinking.

Engagement. A summary of results from the scoping review will be provided to participants. The following two questions will then guide discussion: (i) what are the best educational strategies to teach critical thinking? (ii) what is the relevance of empathy in critical thinking?

Format: Birds of a Feather

Topic for discussion: Australian universities are increasingly investing in Advance HE Fellowships, that formally recognise the role of individuals in teaching and/or supporting higher education learning. Australia has the highest number of fellows outside the UK. What does this uptake mean for individuals and institutions in terms of teaching development and excellence?

Context/background: Benefits of fellowships for individuals include career advancement, changes to practice and expanded networks (Cathcart et al., 2021), although some findings are mixed (van der Sluis, 2021). Benefits may be particularly salient for education focussed academics, in a context where educational work has fewer recognition mechanisms and where, in lieu of this, fellowship may be tied to hiring and progression requirements. At an institutional level, fellowships raise the profile of teaching and improve teaching quality (Spowart & Turner, 2022).

The University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney have sizeable fellowship populations and are seeking ways to maximise opportunities for fellows to collaborate, demonstrate leadership, and develop teaching practices.

Description: To leverage opportunities for post fellowship recognition and development, the institutions collaborated on a SOTL professional development workshop in 2023, attended by 60 fellows. Success of this event prompted the planning of future workshops with other universities to raise the profile of fellows and leverage their collective expertise to address sector wide challenges.

Intended outcome and contribution to scholarship/practice: Identify strategies, focusing on cross-institutional collaboration, to leverage fellowship benefits for individuals and institutions. Outcomes of the discussion will be shared with participants.

Engagement: An overview of the initiative and evaluation findings will be shared, followed by a facilitated discussion informed by the following prompts: How can universities collaborate to support fellow’s development and recognition? What institutional strategies maximise the impact of fellowships? How do we sustain and measure this impact?

Format: Work-in-Progress

Focus of the work-in-progress: Evaluating the impact of the student-teacher partnership on the personal development of student partners

Context: Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching is not a new concept, with the guiding principles defined by Cook-Sather, Bovill and Felten (2014) based on respect, reciprocity and responsibility. While respect is regarded as attitude (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2000), Rudduck and McIntyre (2007) argued that reciprocity serves as the interaction required to promote a meaningful student-teacher partnership.

Description: Many SaP practices reported the inclusion of ‘reciprocity’ due to direct interactions with student partners during the partnership. However, the concept of reciprocity could also encompass interactions that yield an outcome that directly impacts or benefits the student partners, either during the process (as professional development) or after the partnership (student partners experience educational change). Reported SaP practices commonly converged on partnership outcomes that focus on student learning experience or course design in future applications, but not the interactions of student partners with the product following the co-design process, creating a knowledge gap in measuring the impact of SaP practices on our student partners.

Intended outcome and contribution to scholarship/practice: Existing scholarship in Students as Partners practice lacks the element of student partners experiencing the product of partnership. Many partnership projects recruit students who have had experience in a course or the educational item of the project, potentially resulting in design/redesign based on existing/past learners, instead of catering to the current learner. This topic should trigger SaP researchers to reconsider their practices in engaging student partners and evaluating the impact.

Engagement: The discussion will split into two stages with the first having participants critically analyse selected (existing) SaP practices; the second stage involves a group brainstorming session to discuss and generate recommendations on the definition of reciprocity to inform future SaP practices.

Format Work-in-Progress: This is a work-in-progress discussion on the practicalities of using curriculum mapping and visualisation for aligning the ANU marketing major to new graduate attributes. We used curriculum mapping as a tool to reconcile student learning opportunities, multiple education stakeholders expectation, and university program learning outcomes requirements whilst retaining staff academic freedom to teach their specialist knowledge areas. As we are marketers, this as a mixed methods enterprise using content analysis for coursework content alignment, collaborative cocreated learning journeys, and a large UK underground style wall map of our marketing major.
Context/background: The ANU has new graduate attributes including Indigenous Knowledges, and Transdisciplinary studies for integration across our programs of learning. We took the opportunity to map our eight (8) undergraduate marketing courses across content and assessment to visualise coverage of key learning outcomes, and integrating new of learning opportunity, and assessment pathways from introductory to advanced courses.
Description: Results include a UK London metro inspired metaphorical map of subject connections around assessment, graduate attributes and program outcomes inspired by Watts and Hodgson (2015) to identify pedagogical incongruities (e.g. a capstone subject using a final exam when no other subject in the major had exam tasks), and potential areas of sequential build (e.g. video essay tasks scaling up across introductory, core and capstone subjects).
Intended outcome and contribution to scholarship/practice:
Visualisation of course structures identifies gaps in pedagogical training, areas of sequential build, and assurances of learning leading to attainment of ANU Graduate Attributes. Mapping assessment tasks at across the major identifies pathways of learning to build on prior assessment skills.
Engagement: An open discussion on the challenges of reconciling multiple stakeholder requirements within the constraints of student learning pathways and teacher’s academic freedoms. We also have the map for people to interact with our visualised marketing major.

Roundtable Presentation

Focus of the Work-in-progress – is a scoping review on teaching academic attitudes, intentions, and behaviours towards AI pedagogy in higher education.

Context/Background
The proliferation of generative AI within the higher education space has outpaced research and regulatory frameworks (Miao et al. 2021). The voices of the teaching academics (TA) who are currently navigating AI in their pedagogy are missing. Higher education (HE) facilities are in ‘catch up’ mode on how to use AI, with some encouraging, while others are cautious, towards adoption (O’Dea & O’Dea, 2023). There seems a lack of guidance for AI, and insufficient institutional support or training (Alnasib 2023). Little is known about the attitudes, intentions, and behaviours of TA pertaining to AI.

Description
A scoping literature review (Phase 1) – TAs’ attitudes, and intentions towards incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) in HE. The review included 32 empirical studies published (2018 – 2024), across disciplines, institutions, and regions. Several themes are emerging: 1. Academics’ optimism – time-saving capabilities of AI; 2. Ability of AI to create personalised learning 3. Concerns and lack of support and 4. Implications for equity, and uncertainty on future role of teachers. Phase 2 –transnational survey questionnaire and post focus groups –for conceptualisation.

Intended outcome and contribution to scholarship/practice – evidence-based understandings into views about AI in university contexts and current teaching and future work. A current gap in the literature point to the need for greater awareness of broad trends in HE. The uncertainty is best reflected by the TEQSA-requested action plans required by universities in addressing the risk that genAI poses (TEQSA 2023).

Engagement: Discussion will solicit, and capture participants experiences in differing contexts, supporting initial findings, and emerging themes (Phase 1). A QR code will offer participations opportunity to participate in Phase 2 and open potential collaborations.