Quality Conversations

Quality Conversations was the theme of the Annual Conference of the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) held in Perth in July 2002 to mark its thirtieth anniversary. The aim of HERDSA is to "bring together and inform anybody interested in the improvement of teaching, learning and policy in higher education" (HERDSA, 2002).

The conference aimed to provide rich and varied discussion, dialogue, and debate about the issues of quality in the areas of teaching and learning, subject disciplines, staff development, research, academic and student support services, management and administration. It provided opportunities for people to share their experiences, expertise, visions and problems. The goals and definitions of quality, strategies for achieving quality and ways of measuring and evaluating quality were also explored. The commonalities of issues and practice that higher education faces around the world werehighlighted by the contributions that came from nearly twenty countries around the world.

Workshops, symposia and roundtable discussions provided material to provoke quality conversations amongst delegates andalso raised issues about supporting and enabling quality conversations between university staff, between university staff and students and between students. Some examined in closer details conversations that were occurring in their own institutions including conversations about assessment, around differences in thesis presentation, about the process of a research project on the quality of postgraduate learning. Others debated the merits of online and in-person conversations.

This edition of ITL captures snapshots of the HERDSA Conference that provoked 'quality conversations' amongst the conference delegates. Readers are invited to engage their colleagues in a quality conversation about some of the themes and trends that emerge. Refereed proceedings and conference papers can be accessed at http://www.ecu.edu.au/conferences/herdsa/main/papers/index.html

• HERDSA - Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Inc. (2002), Retrieved 12 August, 2002 from HERDSA web site: http://www.herdsa.org.au/.