The Medway Festival of Learning and Teaching is jointly organised by the Universities of Kent, Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church who share the Medway campus. This year’s festival will be held virtually on the 16 September 9.00 – 13.00, via Blackboard Collaborate (a platform that everyone can easily access, even if they are not at CCCU). The festival aims to share, celebrate and promote our practice.
This year our focus is on Community & Continuity: building communities of learning and supporting graduates’ employability. These are consistently strong themes that run through the sector and are a priority for all three universities and their collaborative partners. The topics are also central when supporting learning in a blended and digital environment, as we have all come to realise more fully since March 2020.
Our keynote speaker is Dr Carina Buckley, her presentation is titled ‘Closing the learning loop: The value of narrative in online learning design’. Technology allows for teaching beyond the confines of the classroom but on its own cannot put students in the centre of their own learning. The four concepts of community, journey, narrative and interaction are vital to the success of learning and teaching online in the longer term, and can act as a tool for humanising the online space and maintaining connection, participation and engagement between peers, and between students and staff.
Call for workshop proposals
We are now inviting contributions in a variety of formats from colleagues at all three Universities and collaborative partners, from practitioners, professional services staff, researchers and students. Co-authored presentations with students are particularly encouraged. We welcome contributions on practices that:
- Fostering student engagement online and on-campus
- Promote communities of learning, student and alumni belonging and inclusion
- Demonstrate collaborative approaches to learning, teaching and assessment
- Develop students’ graduate employability and professional skills
- Facilitate authentic engagement with graduate employers and professional bodies
Attending or presenting can help colleagues to evidence professional development or maintain ‘good standing’ for Advance HE (formerly HEA). The length of contributions will be as follows:
- Presentations of practice 10 minutes
- Research papers 10 minutes
- Workshops 30 minutes