SLTCC 2019 was held on Friday 21st June 2019 at Solent University’s Spark building Southampton and this year’s themes focused on Research informed teaching, Engagement and achievement, Technology enhanced learning (TEL), Authentic assessment and feedback and Inclusive practice.
The Spark
Following a welcome by Solent Vice Chancellor Prof Graham Baldwin and an introduction by Pro Vice Chancellor Osama Khan, the first keynote by Dr Simon Usherwood from University of Surrey, titled ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’, discussed embracing uncertainty and the benefits of trying something new in the classroom.
This was followed by a series of parallel presentations and workshops;
Bournemouth University’s Prof Debbie Holly and Learning Technologists Stephen Pyne, Tracey Webb and Dave Hunt delivering a workshop on culture change. Loosely based on the Bake Off style of signature, technical and showstopper challenges, they showed how discussion boards can reduce emails, using VLE analytics to monitor student engagement and virtual worlds for learning content. Participants were encouraged to discuss these examples and to suggest areas where similar ideas could potentially improve their teaching.
Following lunch and a raid on the sweets jar trolley, the afternoon keynote was from Sarah Knight, Head of Change: Student Experience at Jisc, titled ‘Digital skills for tomorrow’s world’. Sarah discussed the need to improve student and staff digital skills and how Jisc is supporting institutions to develop the digital capabilities of staff and students.
Raiding the sweet jar trolley
The afternoon consisted of more parallel sessions, however, because of the RMT industrial action and a reduced train timetable, unfortunately most of us had to leave early to ensure a safe return to Bournemouth.
As always, this was an interesting and enjoyable conference which generated a number of exciting discussions and lots of ideas to explore.
References
https://www.solent.ac.uk/staff/learning-and-teaching/community-conferences
