Dates: 3-5 July 2018
Venue: Birmingham, UK
Who: All higher education professionals
What we can learn from higher education practices across the world?
The Advance HE #TLConf18 follows on from the hugely successful 2017 conference which hosted over 400 sessions and welcomed 800 delegates.
The 2018 Teaching and Learning Conference will position the spotlight firmly on teaching in a global context, in particular how we can learn from global communities to ensure the best student experience for all and the ongoing development and professionalisation of the HE teaching community.
With our ever growing global community of subscribing institutions, a portfolio of thematic and subject-based communities with global membership and a global network of experts and teaching focused activities, this conference seeks to promote the learning between global individuals with a passion for transforming teaching and inspiring learning.
Keynote speakers
The conference will welcome keynote speakers across all three days.
Day One - Professor Christine Jarvis
Christine took up the post of PVC Teaching and Learning at University of Huddersfield in 2015. She began her career working in community education with unemployed young people and went on to teach a wide range of subjects and students in further and adult education. She worked for Huddersfield Technical College as Access to HE co-ordinator, and she taught literature to mature students for Leeds University's extra mural department. In 1992 she moved to the University of Huddersfield, eventually becoming Head of Department. Before returning to Huddersfield as Dean of Education and Professional Development in 2006, she was Head of Education and Humanities at Sheffield Hallam University, where she taught Renaissance and Eighteenth Century Literature. In 2010, she was awarded a National Teaching Fellowship by the Higher Education Academy for her contribution to teaching and learning.
Day Two - John Gill
John Gill has been editor of Times Higher Education since 2012. He joined THE as a reporter in 2007 and was news editor for four years before taking on his current role. John has been closely involved in the development of THE’s World University Rankings portfolio over the last eight years, and was called to give evidence to the recent parliamentary inquiry into teaching metrics. He regularly speaks at higher education conferences, including THE’s World Summit Series.
John has overseen year-on-year growth in the popularity of the annual Times Higher Education’s Leadership and Management Awards and THE Awards, which attract record numbers of entries from all corners of the UK. John chairs THE’s panel of judges, comprising some of the most distinguished names from across the UK higher education sector, and personally leads the judging of THE’s University of the Year accolade.
Day Three - Shai Reshef
Shai Reshef is the President of University of the People (UoPeople)—the world’s first tuition-free, non-profit, accredited online academic institution dedicated to opening access to higher education. Grounded in the belief that knowledge is a key ingredient of world peace, UoPeople provides access to collegiate-level studies to qualified individuals regardless of geographic, financial or societal constraints.
View his TED Talk on 'An ultra-low-cost college degree'.
The conference
The conference is led by the teaching and learning community and is made possible by those who submit their ideas, research and innovations, and volunteer to present their work and experiences to you.
The conference is split into five strands over the three days:
| 3 July | 4 July | 5 July |
|---|---|---|
|
Arts and Humanities |
Sector priorities |
STEM |
The programme for #TLConf18 is now available.
Presenter guidance
We have prepared guidance for all presenters at the conference. This provides you with important dates and acceptable formats for all types of session.
The Annual Debate 2018
Following a successful inaugural year for the Annual Debate, the 2018 conference will welcome back the evening event. Held on 4 July 2018, the debate will host 4 panellists who will debate a topic which will be crowdsourced over the coming months. As well as the debate, the evening includes a three course meal and is an excellent networking opportunity for delegates.
Since the success of last year’s lively debate with the motion ‘This house believes that the assessment of teaching excellence is a futile exercise as it is inherently immeasurable’, we have been sourcing ideas for motions for this year.
The winning topic for the 2018 Advance HE Teaching and Learning Debate is...
We have been thrilled with the response to the selection of this year’s topic – over 800 of you have cast your vote in the last month. We can now announce that the most popular motion for the 2018 Teaching and Learning Debate is:
"This House believes that for the future of higher education to be truly global, education must be free for all"
We crowdsourced ideas for the potential topics for the debate earlier in the year through our networks and communities, which resulted in the following short-list of five options, all based around global issues in higher education:
This house believes...
- ...that for the future of higher education to be truly global, education must be free for all.
- ...that too many people are going to university.
- ...that all universities should be explicitly equipping students for the workplace.
- ...that only through the delivery of excellent teaching can we begin to address any of the world’s problems.
- ...that the quality of teaching would improve if students were offered ‘pay as you feel’ education.
Annual Debate 2017
“This house believes that the assessment of teaching excellence is a futile exercise as it is inherently immeasurable.”
The Annual Debate 2017 was held on the evening of the second day of the conference (5 July 2017), following a three course meal at the Mercure Hotel in Manchester. The debate used an adapted parliamentary-style format over 90 minutes and was preceded by a drinks reception and a three course dinner.
During the debate, Johnny Rich encouraged a lively exchange. Andy Westwood and Smita Jamdar spoke in favour of the proposed motion, while the opposing team – Eric Stoller and Mark Jones – argued against it.
Although a hard fought battle both in the room and on twitter, which even questioned the TEF grading of Hogwarts, the winners were decide by those in the room to be Andy Westwood and Smita Jamdar in the for camp.
2017 Conference highlights
The conference gave delegates the chance to share their experiences of teaching and learning – ideas, research, good practice and top tips.
With the release of TEF 2 results only a few weeks before the conference the event provided a fantastic opportunity for discussion about TEF in the context of different disciplines to take place.
Highlights from the event included:
Day 1: 4 July
Dr Helen Bevan, OBE from the NHS and Dr Alison James, University of Winchester looked at organisational change and the importance of curriculum development from Health and Social Care and Arts and Humanities perspectives.
Day 2: 5 July
The tone was set for the middle day of the conference by Eric Stoller’s keynote ‘Getting Digital’. His enthusiasm for social media use in higher education led many to take to twitter for the first time in following days.
Day 3: 6 July
The final day saw Giskin Day of Imperial College London and Professor Alasdair Blair from De Montfort University focus on ‘Playing for education’ in STEM and TEF in the Social Sciences.
All of the recordings from the keynote speakers are available in the playlist video below.
Sponsor and Exhibitors:
Details of exhibitors will be featured here. If you are interested in exhibiting at the conference please contact sponsorship@heacademy.ac.uk for details of the available packages.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our exhibitors:
Conference exhibitors
