Goodbye slide decks? Rethinking group presentations through a classroom mini-conference
byIn many group presentations, only one part of the room is really active: the group at the front. The rest of the class is…
assessment
Using an AI practice bank to support formative assessment in economics
byIn a large first-year economics unit, students kept asking for the same thing: more exam-style practice. Generative AI gave us a way to provide…
When a real reference isn’t real evidence
byIn a recent assessment, I asked students to do something that sounded fairly simple: find references to support a set of assumptions used in…
MCQs still matter for learning – here’s how to make them count
byMultiple Choice Question (MCQ) quizzes have long been part of many assessment plans. But with easy access to AI and its phenomenally rapid performance…
A guide to Honours oral exams
byFor most Honours students, the thesis represents the culmination of their year’s work, a single written document that stands as the primary evidence of…
Rubrics: More than a marking tool
byAssessment drives learning. At the University of Sydney, it serves three interconnected purposes: supporting students to act on feedback and improve (assessment for learning), developing students as independent,…
Developing Self-Regulated Learners with an AI Career Coach
byHow do we help students become independent, self-directed learners, especially when AI tools make it tempting to skip the hard and deep thinking? Self-regulated…
Five ways to help first year students become better learners
byThe University of Sydney’s 2026 Transition Symposium* asked a deceptively simple question: Do we actually teach students how to learn? Keynote speaker Professor Sally…
Writing Course Learning Outcomes that strengthen quality, clarity and integrity
byWhen students have crossed the stage at their graduation and have left the Great Hall one last time, how do we know what they…
Delivering personalised feedback at scale using peer videos
byIn a cohort of large numbers of students, feedback can easily become impersonal. But what if the most powerful feedback didn’t come from us,…