Science degrees of the future was the focus of the July 2025 ACDS Teaching and Learning Leaders Forum

The 2025 Teaching and Learning Leaders Forum was held in Adelaide in the newish Flinders City Campus building where we enjoyed the experience of a great learning space with views over the city. A group of 45 Associate Deans Teaching and Learning and other leaders met to discuss topical issues and share experiences of contemporary teaching challenges and the importance of leadership in teaching and learning. Topics discussed over the two days ranged from: AI, programmatic assessment, First Nations science, accessibility and inclusion, the role of lectures, Work Integrated Learning, the importance of maintaining laboratory and field components of science degrees in addition to other issues. It was good to see that many of the challenges were shared and to hear some of the interesting work from around the country.

To celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the ACDS, the forum included a presentation from John Rice, who was instrumental in the creation of the ACDS. John spoke about the early history and the need for leadership and sharing of practice in the education arena. The forum was followed by a lunch with current and former Science Deans and ACDS alumni. Many of us caught up with old friends and colleagues.

Thank you to all our amazing speakers, all participants for productive discussions and to Ingo Koeper for hosting the forum. The program can be found here and a summary of the discussions with links to presenters’ slides is available here.

Susan Howitt

ACDS Teaching and Learning Centre Director