2025 Learning and Teaching Conference

Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
Monday 27th and Tuesday 28th October 2025

About the Conference

Learning Together, Teaching Together is the theme for our 2025 MDHS Learning and Teaching Conference.

This theme is all about exploring, celebrating and promoting rich opportunities for connections and ideas that advance learning and teaching.

Our program reflects that these rich connections involve communities, students, and academic and professional staff, and can span disciplines, professions, faculties, regions and countries.

Our conference begins with a paired keynote from two international leaders in the scholarship of teaching and learning, Professor Denise Stockley and Assistant Professor Melanie (Mel) Hamilton. Denise and Mel will illuminate connections and mechanisms they have developed and scaled to other places, to advance the scholarship of teaching and teaching.

Then the tricky part begins – navigating your way across an excitingly rich and diverse program. “Oh, the places you’ll go!”

Our Day 1 program includes streams on learning in communities, lived experience, student experience, wellbeing, simulation, assessment, inclusive education and more. Hopefully you’ll embrace the challenge to attend a session focussing on a less familiar topic.

On Day 2, we are thrilled to join our colleagues in the Faculty of Arts for a special shared day. We will hear how the MDHS-Arts New Horizons Fellows, Dr Sonia Shaikh and Dr Nicola Redhouse are creating new opportunities for learning together, teaching together (and researching together). We will then engage with a panel of Arts and MDHS students about learning with students for enhancing educational practices and directions. And across the day, we have unique opportunities for brainstorming, showcasing and challenging ideas across the disciplines.

A big thank you to Tim Beaumont, Dr Abi Brooker and the organising committee members for all the hard work on the program. I’m looking forward to joining you there.

Best wishes,

Liz

Professor Elizabeth Molloy,

Deputy Dean Education, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.

27 October – 28 October 2025, The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus
Contacts: Tim Beaumont | timothy.beaumont@unimelb.edu.au Dr Abi Brooker | brookera@unimelb.edu.au

Learning Together, Teaching Together

Plenary sessions

9.00 – 9.30	Conference registration The Forum, Melbourne Connect (The Superfloor, 700 Swanston St, Carlton)
9.30 – 9.40	Welcome Professor Mike McGuckin, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and Professor Elizabeth Molloy, Deputy Dean Education, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences The Forum, Melbourne Connect (The Superfloor, 700 Swanston St, Carlton)
9.40 – 10.40	Keynote: Illuminating journeys: Navigating pathways in the scholarship of teaching and learning Professor Denise Stockley, Scholar in Higher Education, Queen’s University, Canada Assistant Professor Melanie Hamilton, Director, The Jane and Ron Gramham Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Associate Faculty member of the College of Graduate and Post-Graduate Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Chair: Dr Justin Bilszta, Senior Lecturer in Medical Education. Dept of Medical Education, The University of Melbourne. (Full speaker details) The Forum, Melbourne Connect (The Superfloor, 700 Swanston St, Carlton) Learn together with two international leaders in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Professor Denise Stockley and Assistant Professor Melanie (Mel) Hamilton. In this special paired keynote, Denise and Mel will shine light on selected moments from their journeys in SoTL. These are journeys which began in their respective disciplines of educational psychology and nursing and have since expanded to include interdisciplinary collaborations, development of a master's and PhD program in SoTL, development of a national centre for SoTL, leadership of national and international societies for SoTL. A guiding passion of Denise and Mel has been that of deprivatising and demystifying the scholarship of teaching and learning. Denise and Mel will illuminate some of the many ways they have elevated and supported SoTL as a central priority for university educators, researchers, students, leaders and the communities with whom they engage. Denise and Mel’s good friend, Dr Justin Bilszta, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medical Education, will then join the discussion and extend conversation about how we can best support engagement in SoTL to inform impacts from the most proximate and personal to those that cross disciplines, institutions and nations.
10.40 – 11.00	Morning tea The Lab and Launch Pad, Melbourne Connect

Day 1 presentation abstracts

Concurrent sessions: morning

	Lived experience co-design Launch Pad and Lab Chair, Dr Debra Virtue	Student experience and person-centred care Forum 1 (East) Chair, Dr Kylie Fitzgerald	Learning in communities Forum 2 (Middle) Chair, A/Prof Saw Hoon Kim	Innovative learning and assessment Forum 3 (West) Chair, Dr David Gallant	Interprofessional education and feedback workshops Meeting Room 1 & 2 Chair, Dr Vivian Romero	Simulation The Validitron Chair, Dr David Kelly
11.00 – 11.20	Workshop (11.00 – 12.00) Curriculum co-design gives people with disability a voice in guiding health professional education Emma Ascher, Tess McCarty, Tarli Sali, Colin Hiscoe AM, Lisa Brumtis, Victoria Cini, Anat Bigos, Michelle Wilcox, Jane Rosengrave, Donya Eghrari, Carolyn Cracknell, Joanne Bolton	Learning together: Discover how a creative workshop is transforming person-centred care for students Ms Denise Ho, Dr Min Jung Yoo, Dr Skye Kinder, Ms Lisa Wright, Ms Carolyn Cracknell, A/Prof Lee Allen Presentation slides	Learning together in place: Rural healthcare's collaborative advantage Keryn Wright	Incorporating student voice into the creation of AI-driven virtual patients Mr Patrick Bowers, Dr Jey Han Lau, Dr Lin Tian, A/Prof Kelley Graydon, Dr Tracii Ryan, Prof Dani Tomlin Presentation slides	Workshop (11.00 – 11.30) Map first, belong fast: Drawing Aurora together Ms Claire Mustchin, Mr Campbell McKay	The great escape: The future of healthcare – digital health escape room simulations Dr Sat Dushyanthen, A/Prof Vivienne Mak
11.20 –11.40	Session continues	Trauma informed clinical practice skill discovery A/Prof Lee Allen, Dr Skye Kinder, Dr MJ Yoo, Simone Stahli Quinn Presentation slides	Generative AI can explain a synapse - can it replace one? Choosing between deep learning and shallow learning Jennifer Zhu, A/Prof Angelina Fong, A/Prof Saw Hoon Lim Presentation slides	Interprofessional education initiatives to teach advocacy in health professions programs: a narrative review Dr Jessica Lees, Mr Flynn Halliwell, A/Prof Melissa Russell, A/Prof Louisa Ng, Dr Jayne Lysk, Prof Fiona Dobson	Session continues Workshop (11.30 – 12.00) Feedback to innovation: transforming teaching A/Prof Femke Buisman-Pijlman, Aimee Grieve, Leonie Slavin	Exploring the XR enhanced OSCE: Live demonstration A/Prof Thomas Cochrane, Philippa Marriott
11.40 – 12.00	Session continues	Amplifying awareness: A pilot of audiology students teaching oral health students about hearing loss Mr Patrick Bowers, Dr Peter Carew, Ms Yvonne Zhang, Ms Stephanie Chang and Ms Sophie McKenna Full speaker details Presentation slides	Structured interdisciplinary clinical placements abroad: reflections on healthcare education Dr Andrew Huhtanen, Dr Lauren Story Presentation slides	Integrated learning: co-teaching clinical skills in speech pathology Dr Jessica Boyce, Dr Ruth Braden Presentation slides	Session continues	Bringing audiology students together to learn as near-peers in online patient simulations A/Prof. Kelley Graydon, Mr Patrick Bowers, Dr. Zoe McNeice Presentation slides

Concurrent sessions: afternoon

	Transforming performance anxiety into clinical excellence Launch Pad & Lab Chair, Dr Debra Virtue	Lightning talks and near peer learning Forum 1 (East) Chair, Dr Kylie Fitzgerald	Wellbeing Forum 2 (Middle) Chair, A/Prof Saw Hoon Kim	Inclusive education and assessment Forum 3 (West) Chair, Dr David Gallant	Student experience; lived experience Meeting Room 1 & 2 Chair, Dr Vivian Romero	Simulation The Validitron Chair, Dr David Kelly
12.00 – 12.20	Workshop (12.00 – 1.00) The ‘centering’ solution: transforming performance anxiety into clinical excellence Dr Peter Carew, Mr Patrick Bowers, A/Prof Margaret Osborne	Lightning talks (12.00 – 12.30) Reflecting on reflective practice Mrs Rachael Lim Presentation slides Is innovation a dirty word in health professions education? Dr Michael Poulton Presentation slides Forging alliances: challenging faculty placement partnerships in educational provision A/Prof Lisa Cheshire Full speaker details Presentation slides	Implementing a new authentic group assessment to foster peer connection and collaborative learning Dr Daniel Clarke, Prof Jason Mackenzie, Prof Karena Waller Presentation slides	Embedding viva voce into ePortfolio assessment to foster authentic and inclusive assessment design Dr Jessica Lees, Dr Tandy Hastings-Ison	QILT unpacked: What contributes to first year students’ overall experience? Dr Abi Brooker, Mr David Cui Presentation slides	AI-powered patient simulation: advancing education in the digital era Dr Kim Allison, Dr Chris Honig, A/Prof Mark Merolli Presentation slides
12.20 – 12.40	Session continues	Workshop (12.30 – 1.00) Implementing near-peer learning into your curriculum? Dr Madeline Townsend, Dr Katharine Dal Santo, Ms Julie Owen, Dr André Priede, Dr Amy Thompson Presentation slides	Insights from a rural interprofessional learning experience-discussing mental health in older adults Ms Denise Ho, Ms Carolyn Cracknell, Ms Paula Collins, Ms Rosie Nicholson, Ms Ana Lopez Flores, Dr Deb Virtue, Ms Kylie Erben, Ms Victoria Rayner, Ms Keryn Wright Presentation slides	DASH: The creation of a bespoke assessment platform at the Melbourne Dental School A/Prof Clare McNally, Suhrid Gupta, Kunal Patel, Kate Reid Presentation slides	Conversations that matter: Learning and teaching with lived experience Dr Meg Keage, Ms Kathryn Mckinley, Ms Ruth Townsend, Prof Phil Candy, Ms Mary-Anne Candy, Beck Libson Presentation slides	Introducing the Validitron Clinical Simulation Lab for digital health: Interactive tour and demonstration Dr Kit Huckvale, Dr Olivia Metcalf
12.40 – 1.00	Session continues	Workshop (12.30 – 1.00) Implementing near-peer learning into your curriculum? Session continues	Building solid ground: A framework for postgraduate mental health and wellbeing Dr Elaina Kefalianos, Ms Sarah Scholz, Dr Abi Brooker, A/Prof Lisa Chesire, Ms Rachel Liang, Dr Madelyne Hudson-Buhagiar, Ms Danielle Clayman Presentation slides	Redefining inherent requirements: a cornerstone for inclusive health professional education A/Prof Lisa Cheshire, Prof Anna Ryan Presentation slides	Learning together to address weight stigma: a global classroom initiative in physiotherapy education Dr Kim Allison, Dr Free Coulston Presentation slides

Lunch
1.00 – 2.00, The Lab and Launch Pad, Melbourne Connect

27 October – 28 October 2025, The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus
Contacts: Tim Beaumont | timothy.beaumont@unimelb.edu.au Dr Abi Brooker | brookera@unimelb.edu.au

Learning Together, Teaching Together

Plenary sessions

9.00 – 9.30	Conference registration Atrium, Arts West
9.30 – 9.45	Welcome Professor Jennifer Balint, Dean of the Faculty of Arts; Professor Beth Driscoll, Deputy Dean (Education) Faculty of Arts; Professor Elizabeth Molloy, Deputy Dean, Education, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Kathleen Fitzpatrick Theatre, Arts West
9.45 – 10.30	Keynote: Care and attention: Reflections from the New Horizons Fellows Dr Sonia Jawaid Shaikh and Dr Nicola Redhouse, New Horizon Fellows, chaired by Professor Kristen Pammer Kathleen Fitzpatrick Theatre, Arts West
10.30 – 11.00	Student panel: Learning together: The value of engaging with students for educational practice and direction Dyumna Awasthi (Arts), Udhanka Saravanan (Arts), Chloe Campbell (MDHS) and Christina Lin (MDHS) Kathleen Fitzpatrick Theatre, Arts West Presentation slides
11.00 – 11.30	Morning tea Kathleen Fitzpatrick Theatre, Arts West

Day 2 presentation abstracts

Concurrent sessions: morning

	Pedagogy Room 161, Level 1, Arts West	Diversity, equity, inclusion Forum Theatre, Arts West	AI & assessment Room 156, Level 1, Arts West	Wellbeing, WiL, employability Room 155, Level 1, Arts West
11.30 – 11.45	Roundtable (11.30 – 12.30) Cultural collections in action: transformative object-based learning and work-integrated learning practices in Arts and MDHS A/Prof Kwang Cham, Dr Heather Gaunt, Dr Kim Goodwin, Dr Olivia Meehan, Dr Rosie Shea, Dr Georgina Walker	Roundtable (11.30 – 12.30) Exclusive university – inclusive teaching and learning Dr. Kerstin Knight, Dr Kay Are, A/Prof Femke Buisman-Pijlman, A/Prof Grace Thompson, Nila Shekarvand, Dr Joshua Pocius	Presentation Development of a new approach to ongoing simulation and clinical assessments at Melbourne Dental School Ms Sarah Laing, Dr Michael Wylie	Presentation What makes a learning & teaching innovation impactful? A scoping review. Dr Claudia Rivera Munoz, Dr Laura Dooley, A/Prof Amber Willems-Jones, Dr Mehmet Ozmen, Dr Abi Brooker Presentation slides
11.45 – 12.00	Session continues	Session continues	Presentation Findings and reflections on implementing AI-enhanced activities in an EAP class Dr Giuseppe D’Orazzi, Dr Carrie Peng	Presentation Diversifying the narrative and the medium: the use of podcasts to teach journalism A/Prof Louisa Lim, Dr Wajeehah Aayeshah, Dr Niles Zhao
12.00 – 12.15	Session continues	Session continues	Presentation The value of assuring learning: Leveraging AI for secure assessment design Dr Allison Creed, Dr Elizabeth Lakey, Dr Guy Morrow	Presentation Engaged reflexivity and its value for transformative higher education in Development Studies Dr Denisse Rodriguez Quinonez, David Lozada
12.15 – 12.30	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues
12.30 – 12.45	Workshop Haikus: Creative approach to inspire discussion and assessment joy Dr Vivian Romero Presentation slides	Workshop Fostering cultural diversity Dr Said Shafa, Dr Xue Jun Cheng, Dr Vanja Rozenblat, Dr Angelina Fong, Dr Sophie Paquet-Fifield, Dr Samantha Marangell Presentation slides	Workshop From feedback to feed forward: Rethinking rubrics as catalysts for learning and equity Dr Jessica Lees, Ms Ashley Anderson	Presentation From conceptual to concrete: learning ethics in a clinical ethics committee for medical students A/Professor Rosalind McDougall, Professor Clare Delany, Mr Jerry Luo, Dr Carolyn Johnson, Professor Lynn Gillam, Ms Katheryn Hall, Ms Sharon Feldman, Ms Meaghan Storey Presentation slides
12.45 – 1.00	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues	Presentation Using a podcast interview assessment task as an ‘enhanced assessment’ tool for reflective practice A/Prof Nathan Stam
1.00 – 1.15	Presentation The transformative potential of the creative writing workshop Associate Professor Julienne van Loon, Dr Nadia Niaz, Bec Kavanagh	Lightning Talk A pedagogy of kindness: An emotive foundation for internationalising teaching and learning  Dr Shashini Gamage Lightning Talk Sensory-dialogical approaches to educating for equity and inclusion: Using Japan as a cross-cultural case study Dr Jenny Hall		Presentation Learning professionalism using creativity and diversity concepts Dr Guy Morrow, Associate Professor Kwang Cham, Dr Anu Polster

Lunch
1.30pm – 2.30, Atrium, Arts West

Concurrent sessions: afternoon

	Pedagogy Room 161, Level 1, Arts West	Diversity, equity, inclusion Forum Theatre, Arts West	AI & assessment Room 156, Level 1, Arts West	Wellbeing, WiL, employability Room 155, Level 1, Arts West
2.30 – 2.45	Presentation “My views changed from thinking that the conflict could be simply resolved to understanding the nuances…”: Diving into global politics through simulation-based learning Dr Gonzalo Villanueva	Roundtable Collaborative peer review of teaching: Enhancing equity and practice in language classrooms Ruonan Zeng, Dr Zhenyi Guo, Dr Sally Chan, Tamami Mori, Hiroko Woods	Roundtable Is ChatGPT the saviour of the academy? Dr Alice Boer-Endacott, Dr James Bradley, Dr Gerhard Wisenfeldt, Dr Anna Kosova, Dr Maxx Schmitz	Roundtable Promoting world-readiness through work integrated learning curriculum Dr Elena Balcaite, Dr Tahlia Birnbaum, Dr Mell Chun, Dr Matt Holden, Dr Isidro Martinez Garcia, Emerald Young, Yutong Chen
2.45 – 3.00	Valuing pedagogies of the popular - A dancers approach to teaching cultural studies Dr Elena Benthaus	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues
3.00 – 3.15	"You can’t be a hegemon and isolationist “: Students’ reflections on the decline of the US hegemony and the future of the international order Dr Nuri Veronika	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues
3.15 – 3.30	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues
3.30 – 3.45	Roundtable Enhancing classroom learning through innovative uses of PowerPoint Dr Anthony Williams	Roundtable Diversity, inclusion and curriculum in the Faculty of Arts: Turning words into action Tamami Mori, Dr Hannah McCann, Dr Caroline Kyi, Dr Giuseppe D’Orazzi, Associate Professor Claire Spivakovsky, Professor Ikuko Nakane, Dr Wajeehah Aayeshah, Pratiwi, Hina Ueda	Roundtable Building creativity in teaching, learning, and research: A hands-on workshop for the age of AI Pedro Guarracino	Lightning Talk Scaffolding language learning and building cultural inquiry through structured object-based classes Ruonan Zeng, Xiaoju Liu, Johanna Petkov Lightning Talk If you can see it, you can do it: Promoting motivation and wellbeing through vision-enhancing activities in language education Dr Riccardo Amorati
3.45 – 4.00	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues	Lightning Talk Bridging theory and practice: An analysis of the Master of Applied Linguistics Capstone subject in fostering intercultural competence and professional readiness Dr Beatrice Venturin
4.00 – 4.30	Session continues	Session continues	Session continues

27 October – 28 October 2025, The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus
Contacts: Tim Beaumont | timothy.beaumont@unimelb.edu.au Dr Abi Brooker | brookera@unimelb.edu.au

Monday 27th October 2025, The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus

Registrations for Day 1 may fill. In the event you would like to join a wait list, contact Tim Beaumont.

Tuesday 28th October 2025, The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus

Registrations for Day 2 may fill. In the event you would like to join a wait list, contact Tim Beaumont.

27 October – 28 October 2025, The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus
Contacts: Tim Beaumont | timothy.beaumont@unimelb.edu.au Dr Abi Brooker | brookera@unimelb.edu.au

Illuminating Journeys: Navigating Pathways in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Guest Speakers

Assistant Professor Melanie Hamilton
Director, The Jane and Ron Gramham Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Associate Faculty member of the College of Graduate and Post-Graduate Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Dr. Melanie Hamilton is the Director of the Jane and Ron Gramham Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and an Assistant Professor in Curriculum Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. She is a Registered Nurse (RN) by disciplinary background and spent over 20 years teaching in Bachelor of Nursing programs in Alberta. Dr. Hamilton has an expertise on curriculum development, revision, and renewal. Currently, Dr. Hamilton serves at the Director of the SoTL Centre, where she oversees graduate programming (Grad certificate, MSOTL, and PhD in Education-SoTL focus). Her teaching focuses on the history of SoTL, the SoTL research processes, and research lenses (epistemologies and ontologies]. She works closely with students and faculty to develop and engage in SoTL research. She also studies mid-career faculty, to explore the experiences of MCF, retention strategies, professional development, and tenure and promotion.

Dr. Hamilton is actively engaged in SoTL research at the national and international levels. She has been an invited keynote speaker and presenter on numerous SoTL topics internationally. Dr. Hamilton holds significant leadership roles including the current Past-President for the International Society of Teaching and Learning (ISSoTL) and Past-Chair of SoTL Canada and the membership on the Board of Directors for the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE). Her commitment to teaching and leadership has earned her both institutional and provincial awards. In 2020, she was honored with an ISSOTL Fellowship for her outstanding work in supporting, developing, and engaging in SoTL initiatives at the international level.

Professor Denise Stockley
Scholar in Higher Education, Queen’s University, Canada

Dr. Denise Stockley is an Educational Psychologist and Professor and Scholar in Higher Education at Queen’s University. Her work advances the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) through research, leadership, and educational innovation. A past president of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), she has played a key role in shaping national and international conversations about how educators create and sustain scholarly approaches to teaching.

Her research explores how SoTL cultures develop within and across institutions, with a focus on faculty engagement, leadership, curriculum renewal, and research ethics education. She examines how ethical inquiry and scholarly practice intersect to support integrity and reflection in teaching and learning.

At Queen’s University, Dr. Stockley leads initiatives that connect SoTL with program design, faculty development, and policy innovation. Her work also extends to health professions education, where she integrates SoTL principles with competency-based education, interprofessional learning, and universal design for learning.

Event Chair: Dr Justin Bilszta
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education. Dept of Medical Education, The University of Melbourne

Justin is the Director of Postgraduate and Custom Programs in the Department of Medical Education and Co-Chair of the Melbourne Medical School’s Graduate Education Committee. For over 20 years, Justin has been involved in the design, delivery and co-ordination of a range of academic programs including within the Doctor of Medicine (MD), Masters of Clinical Education, Masters of Clinical Research and Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons). Prior to joining the Dept of Medical Education, he spent 10 years as a Research Fellow with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne.

27 October – 28 October 2025, The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus
Contacts: Tim Beaumont | timothy.beaumont@unimelb.edu.au Dr Abi Brooker | brookera@unimelb.edu.au