All professional service and academic staff are invited to share their practice and experience in teaching and/or supporting learning under this year’s conference themes. There are a number of ways you can be involved and these are briefly outlined below.
Submit your proposal using the Call for Conference Submission form (deadline for submissions is Friday 5 April).
Theme 1: Adventures into Playful Learning
Adventures into Playful Learning is a key theme of the conference and is an approach where students and teachers are given time to learn and think together. It is a space where imagination, innovation and creativity foster deeper thinking and more reflective learners. For further information, see Research in Learning Technology themed collection of articles on Playful Learning available at https://journal.alt.ac.uk/index.php/rlt/playful.
We are offering you an opportunity to tell us about your adventures into playful learning and share your triumphs and disasters, as well as your plans for the future. We are looking for either a 10-minute presentation on substantive studies or experiences on improving engagement through playful learning or a 3-minute snapshot anecdotal presentation about your adventures into playful learning.
Theme 2: Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning informs the design of teaching and learning goals, assessment, methods and materials that can be customised and adjusted to meet individual needs. For a basic starting point on University Design for Learning see http://www.cast.org/our-work/about-udl.html#.XH5fGoj7TIU.
We are offering you an opportunity to share your innovations in inclusive practice: what worked, what didn’t work and plans for the future. We are offering either a 10-minute presentation on substantive studies or experiences on developing more inclusive practice or a 3-minute anecdotal snapshot about inclusive practice in higher education.
Theme 3: Learning through Failure
We understand the power of mistakes/failures in our everyday academic practice. We also recognise and value their potential from a pedagogic perspective because they can trigger learning and development. But we don’t always share our mistakes or failures, and so their impact can be minimised. For further information, view the 8 TEDTalks about Learning from Failure available at https://blog.ted.com/8-talks-about-learning-from-failure/.
This call for facilitators invites individuals who have experienced a failure, or made a mistake in their pedagogic practice to host a round table discussion over the conference’s working lunch. The role of the host would be to share their mistake/failure, and to then encourage others at the table to share their mistakes/failures with the overall aim of generating learning and offering guidance/advice.