The Centre for the Study of Higher Education will be convening the annual Learning and Teaching Conference from the 8 to the 15 June via Moodle. This year’s conference will focus on enhancing relevance: how we connect academic learning with the wider world.

The recent Principles for Powerful Learning Experiences at Kent study showed that students want and value opportunities to apply their learning to everyday life, real world problems and challenges, and potential career paths and activities. While this principle is one of the most important to students during their time at Kent, undergraduate student feedback suggests we can do more to embed it across the institution. This conference explores how we can create opportunities for students that are relevant to their goals, interests, cultural experiences, and ambitions.

Relevance pervades all of our decisions as educators. What do we want students to learn – and why? How do we develop students’ attributes to prepare them for productive and fulfilling lives after university? What do we ask students to read? With what other resources do we connect students? What examples are used to illustrate a concept? How are assessments designed? How do we engage students with local, national, and international communities, issues and perspectives? How do we help them see how professionals use the knowledge and skills we teach? Twelve papers will explore these questions and more in this online conference from 8 June to 15 June 2020.

To ensure maximum flexibility for academics juggling multiple commitments during this difficult time, the conference papers will be available online either as short (750 word) papers or 5 minute videos, with a facilitated discussion board from 8 June to 15 June. We recommend that participants allow 2 to 3 hours between 8 June and 15 June to review papers and contribute to the discussion board. Participants can use the discussion board associated with each session to ask questions or share their own experiences. Authors will be checking regularly during the week to answer questions and stimulate further discussion. In addition, feel free to connect with paper presenters individually for more in-depth discussion.

We recommend you revisit the discussion board before the live capstone event at 13.00 on 15 June. The capstone session will also be recorded for access for those who cannot participate in the live event. Conference papers will be archived for future reference.

Booking

To book your place, please sign up via Moodle