ChatLAANZ

Welcome to ChatLAANZ

ChatLAANZ is a professional development and community building opportunity based on a model demonstrated by Australia and New Zealand Student Services Association Inc (ANZSSA). They are Zoom (or Teams) meetings of about 40-50 minutes each, scheduled at lunchtime. The sessions provide examples of what colleagues at various institutions are doing in certain areas of interest.

In 2026, we are holding lunchtime sessions from 12:10 – 1:00 pm on the third Thursday of each month. With the exception of 28 May at 12.10pm, and 27 August with a start time of 10.10am (NZST).

26 March |23 April | 28 May | 25 June | 23 July | 27 August | 24 September | 22 October

 You can also access the link on the ChatLAANZ page (use the little form just below for this). When possible, we made the slides and recordings of the sessions available (via Youtube). Scroll to see the block called “Past ChatLAANZ sessions”.

Presenter guide (pop-up)

26 March 2026, 12:10 pm – 1:00 pm

Title: Showcasing NZ Learning Advising to the World  

Presenters: Tania Oxenham, (Wintec) and Andrea Trueman (Massey University) and Kaaryn Cater (The Mindwise Connection)

We’ve been asked to contribute a chapter that will provide an overview of learning advising practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. This includes models / frameworks / key drivers that influence your work, the range of work done by your teams, and where your teams are typically positioned within institutions. We have shared a survey to help us represent your varied horopaki | contexts, and what is unique about your work: Learning Advising in Aotearoa New Zealand – book chapter – Fill in form

This session will allow discussion to add rich qualitative data to our findings and help us build a clearer understanding of what matters to you, helping inform ATLAANZ’s future goals, responsiveness, and aspirations.

23 April 2026

Title: AI in Action: What Learning Advisors Are Learning from Live Workshops

Presenter: Aaron Blaker, (Otago Polytech)

Being both a learning advisor and a member of the AI steering group has led to opportunities to lead workshops in several programme areas (in person and online) centred on Otago Polytechnic’s freshly minted AI policy and guidelines for use. The workshop operates as a complement to the Otago Polytechnic’s AI Essentials MOODLE course and student-facing website information, and my focus and method has evolved as I’ve considered what is most valuable to ‘live participants’ and grappled with the realities of leading sessions about a controversial topic, with unknown participants in unfamiliar environs. Sounds like the title of a Tom Robbins book. In this CHATLAANZ session I’ll describe how it all went and what I’ve learned, and offer some ongoing thoughts on the role of LA as an interface (or privileged insider) between students, lecturers and steering groups or staff with strategic academic roles

28 May 2026

Title: Professional Accreditation Awards Workshop

Presenters: Deborah Laurs, (Immediate Past President) with Cherie Todd-Williamson (Massey University)
They will be available to answer questions about the ATLAANZ Professional Accreditation application process and discuss why it makes sense to begin our applications today.   

23 July 2026

Title: Beyond ‘fixing writing’: The Learning Developer/Advisor Role

Presenters: Andrea Trueman (Massey University), Cherie Todd-Williamson (Massey University) and Kaaryn Cater (The Mindwise Connection)
They will share the findings of a survey they ran earlier this year exploring how learning developers/advisors experience and respond to role misunderstanding across institutional and national contexts. They will also share which strategies most effectively support clarity, boundaries, and professional legitimacy. This is an extension of the ICALLD-Symposium-Over-Time presentation sessions they hosted on 01 April 2026, and are offering again in the ChatLAANZ session of 23rd July 2026.

27 August 2026

Title: Ultimate Academic Writing Hacks

Presenters: Ryan Arthur (University of Warwick)

NOTE: Session will be held from 10.10am – 11am (NZ time)

The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) has disrupted the academic landscape. Where students once turned to study skills books, many now turn to GenAI tools. The traditional, long-form textbook feels increasingly out of step with how today’s students consume and produce knowledge. Ultimate Academic Writing Hacks was written for this precise moment; its answer is the ‘hack.’ At least for the time being, the hack occupies the middle ground between traditional textbooks, which require heavy investment in lengthy readings, and AI usage that often bypasses the learning process entirely. Hacks are lean and adjustable; they keep the learner in the driving seat at the very moment AI is reaching for the wheel. In this dialogic session, Dr. Arthur explores the “hack” philosophy and demonstrates core strategies. Attendees will gain practical methods for immediate use in their own studies or teaching practice, followed by a dedicated segment for comments and questions.

Bio – Dr Ryan Arthur is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Warwick. He holds a BA, MPhil, and PhD in the social sciences. He also has an MA in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and a postgraduate qualification in coaching. He was a lecturer in law at the University of Reading and SOAS, University of London. He previously managed learning development at the Birkbeck Business School, University of London, and the Institute for the International Education of Students. He describes his pedagogical approach as student-centred, dialogic, and engaging. His research interests include the racial award gap, decolonisation, and innovative pedagogies.

Past ChatLAANZ sessions

Each of these years contains a link to the ChatLAANZ sessions that were offered in that year.

 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025| 2026