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The Change One Thing Award celebrates the great work in the Charles Sturt learning and teaching community. It supports staff in learning from one another about practical and innovative solutions to learning and teaching challenges. This award is based on the Dalhousie University Change One Thing grant.
The Charles Sturt Change One Thing Award provides a pathway for being nominated for the Regional Universities Network (RUN) Learning and Teaching Awards. The RUN Learning & Teaching Awards recognise excellence and achievement at regional universities across Australia.
In 2025, winners will receive $500 to support learning and teaching oriented professional development (PD) activities.
Congratulations to our winners below!
The Use of Virtual Client Simulations in Psychology Learning and Teaching
Abstract:
University assessment faces key challenges. Students demand accessible and engaging experiences, and authentic assessment that ensures career-readiness. Educators must also safeguard their assessment from the threats of generative AI.
We leveraged speech-to-text AI and virtual avatar software to build a Virtual Client Simulation (VCS). Within an undergraduate psychology subject, the VCS provided visual and auditory accessibility, while subtitles maintained text-based accessibility. The VCS positioned students as practitioners, making in situ client decisions. The video format safeguarded academic integrity.
The VCS animated an otherwise routine assessment: an online multiple-choice test. Test items were vivified via short videos depicting the virtual client as an employee presenting for a psychological evaluation. The client’s comments and questions targeted examinable content. Students selected their responses from multiple-choice options throughout the VCS.
Post-assessment feedback confirmed the VCS as highly usable, accessible, and engaging. Most students reported that it had helped them learn, and students appreciated the opportunity to engage with a (virtual) client in a (simulated) work environment.
The VCS adapts to summative and formative assessment and scales-up in complexity to support postgraduate psychology training. It can also be deployed across the human and care services sectors.
Artificial intelligence as an adversarial collaborator for students
Abstract:
I used AI to promote adaptive thinking in a second-year Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science subject. In an era of rapid societal change driven by generative AI, equipping students with these skills is crucial.
For their assessment, students were tasked with using an AI agent to challenge their own arguments. First, they developed arguments favouring interventions to overcome maturity bias in sport, where biologically more mature athletes may have an unfair advantage. Then, they prompted their AI adversary to provide counterarguments. Students then had to recommend a practical intervention, integrating both their original arguments and the AI's counterarguments.
This process of adversarial collaboration is rooted in the scientific process, where it is common for arguments to be rigorously tested. By defending their reasoning against the AI's critiques, students were encouraged to refine their understanding. In a seven-minute video submission, they reflected on how this collaboration aided or hindered their critical reflection. Students largely reported that the AI adversary helped them "think more deeply" and "expose logical fallacies," encouraging them to identify biases in their own reasoning.
This shift from passive information consumption to a proactive learning stance prepares students to navigate a rapidly evolving professional landscape.
Rehab meets AI: A new era of learning and assessment in Physiotherapy
Abstract:
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly transforming education and healthcare, including physiotherapy practice. The Australian Alliance for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare has released a national plan for the safe and ethical use of AI in healthcare which identifies 5 key opportunities for AI in healthcare: Learning, documenting, planning, communicating and discovery (Dorricott 2023). To prepare future practitioners, physiotherapy education must evolve to include AI literacy and ethical engagement with technologies which align with professional standards and expectations. Physiotherapists must also learn how to critically assess relevance, reliability, and ethical implications before use.
To meet this need, a third-year physiotherapy subject was redesigned to include explicit learning on GenAI and a revised assessment task which required students to use GenAI to generate a professional advocacy letter, supporting development towards Physiotherapy Practice Thresholds 1.1 and 1.4, which emphasise competence in digital technologies. Students are guided to develop skills and identify actions required to meet professional obligations for GenAI use, fostering a deeper understanding of how emerging technologies can be ethically, responsibly and effectively integrated into physiotherapy practice.
Students, staff and clinical partners have identified the task to be valuable in improving competency and knowledge of GenAI for our future healthcare providers.
If you have any questions, please email teachingacademy@csu.edu.au