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NEWS •

Higher Education for the Common Good - Learning from COVID-19

The University of Hull’s Teaching Excellence Academy 2021 free international online conference will explore how we can harness learning through adversity to inspire the next generation of global citizens.
Date: Tuesday 13 July 13.30 to Wednesday 14 July 14.00
Programme in pdf
Conference bookings

We are delighted to welcome keynote addresses from our Vice Chancellor, Professor Susan Lea, NTF and the newly elected Hull University Students' Union President Inclusivity & Diversity and President Education.

In the age of COVID-19, changes to the world of work and study have accelerated to an unprecedented speed. The fourth industrial revolution is happening right now.

We have seen how the challenges we face at a local level are shared across the globe, how our actions have far reaching consequence and how disadvantage is dangerously life-threatening.

As HE successfully shifts to blended and remote delivery, so too does business, public services and the third sector. Across HE, values-driven creativity and innovation lead a generous, compassionate response to the pandemic: we have attempted to breach the digital divide (Lawrence and Sarjantson, 2020); adopted more inclusive pedagogic practices (Brown and Sambal, 2020), even rethought our use of physical space (Scott, 2020) and worked more flexibly (McVitty, 2020b), if harder than we have ever worked before (McVitty, 2020a). How can we meaningfully sustain our new and progressive ways of work and study and inspire a hopeful future?

‘Hopefulness empowers us to continue our work for justice’ (hooks, 2003, XIV), so join us to consider how we can prepare our students and staff for an unknowable future and celebrate HE as a ‘global common good’ (UNESCO, 2015).

Conference Themes

  1. Hybrid Pedagogies: for example, remote or flipped - blended teaching and learning; addressing the digital divide, physically distant, safe proximate pedagogies, embedding wellbeing in blended teaching;

  2. Sustainability: for example, economic and environmental sustainability in programme design, development and delivery; establishing sustainable HE in the context of the pandemic;

  3. Decolonising Curricula: for example, students and staff working together to decolonise curricula content and teaching practices, diversify reading lists or the creation of opportunities for staff and students to think critically about decolonisation in the context of the pandemic;

  4. Competence-Based HE: for example, embedding knowledge exchange in programme design; entrepreneurial education; co-development of curricula with students, PSRBs, regional business or third sector partners; teaching reflection and self-regulation in a time of crisis.

Conference Highlights 

  • Opening Keynote Address
    Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Reflections on the Impact of Covid-19
    University of Hull Vice Chancellor Professor Susan Lea, NTF

  • Conference SoTL Walk
    Dr Natasha Taylor, SFHEA, Head of Educational Development at COLLARTS, the Australian College of the Arts in Melbourne

  • Student Keynote Address
    Student experiences during COVID-19: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
    Hull University Students' Union President Inclusivity & Diversity and President Education

  • Playful Plenary ‘Zip, Zap, Zine’
    Dr Kate Cuthbert, PFHEA, Senior Academic Practice Consultant & Laura Stinson, Academic Practice Advisor, AFHEA at NTU.

Read full information on the Conference Highlights. 

Conference Experience

We delivered our first online conference in 2020, with 250 delegates, who told us there were ‘some fantastic ideas and discussions’ with ‘a great community feel’; the conference was ‘enjoyable, professional, inspiring and innovative’, with ‘great speakers’ with a ‘lively and engaging chat’ facility. 100% of respondents (29) would recommend the event to colleagues.

This year we will build on that success and again run the conference online, offering fringe networking and wellbeing-focussed activities and, of course, regular screen breaks.

Conference bookings are now open!
Programme in pdf

References

hooks, b (2010) Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. UK: Routledge*

Lawrence, J (2020) Assessing competencies could equip graduates for an uncertain post Covid 19 future. WonkHE blog, Retrieved January 2021

Lawrence J, Huxley-Binns R, Scott G. (2020) Preparing Students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Competence-based HE. Teaching Excellence Academy Blog. Retrieved January 2021

Lawrence, J and Sarjantson, M. (2020) University of Hull Reading List Criteria.

McVitty, D (2020a) How are you doing today? Wonkhe readers hopes for wellbeing in post-covid universities. WONKHE blog Retrieved January 2021

McVitty, D (2020b) Seven Things the HE sector learned in 2020 – what universities should prepare for in 2021. WonkHE blog. Retrieved January 2021

Scott, G (2020) Can we plan for a socially distanced campus? WonkHE blog, Retrieved January 2021

United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation (2015) Rethinking Education: towards a common good. Retrieved January 2021

* hooks does not capitalise her name

Image by RitaE from Pixabay. 

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