Facilitated and chaired by: Prof Alex Owen, Dr Emily Danvers and Prof Namrata Rao who are the convenors of the Learning, Teaching & Assessment Network. For more details about the network and its activities, please click here.

Overview

Dialogue can play a pivotal role in enhancing learning, teaching, and assessment in Higher Education.  Open, constructive conversations between students, educators and peers can foster deeper understanding and critical thinking.

This event is an opportunity to explore some of the latest research relating to the value of dialogue for learning.  The event will include keynote presentations and a panel discussion, as well as an opportunity, in small groups, to discuss various approaches to dialogue as tools for effective learning.

We hope that through this event you will gain insights into practical strategies for integrating dialogue into curriculum design, teaching methodologies and assessment practices. By highlighting the reciprocal nature of dialogue, the event will showcase how it not only supports student engagement and motivation but also enriches the overall educational experience.

Schedule:

Speaker bios

Karen Clark is Programme Leader of the Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education at the University of Hertfordshire.  She leads a team of colleagues working to enable staff colleagues to build their professional learning and practice.

Joy Jarvis is Professor of Educational Practice at the University of Hertfordshire and a National Teaching Fellow.  She works at School and University level to engage colleagues in inquiring into and improving practice.

Sophie Adamson is Associate Professor of French at Elon University in North Carolina, United States, where she teaches courses in French and in the Elon Core Curriculum. Her current research includes a study on using stand-up comedy sketches to teach French language and culture in advanced French courses. 

Abby Cathcart is the Director of Student Success and Teaching Advancement at Queensland University of Technology in Australia where her portfolio includes leadership of Educator Development, Student Evaluations, Language, Learning and STEM Support, Careers and Employability, HEA fellowship, Awards, and Retention. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, the recipient of multiple awards including QUT Teacher of the Year, three national Australian Awards for University Teaching (Citation, Teaching Excellence Award, and Program Award) and the QS Wharton Nurturing Employability Silver Award. She co-developed the world first specialist award of Associate Fellow (Indigenous) of the HEA.

Olivia Choplin is Associate Professor of French and Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning at Elon University where she teaches all levels of French and fosters faculty development in evidence-based and inclusive pedagogies. 

Henk Huijser has worked in Curriculum and Learning Design in the Learning and Teaching Unit at Queensland University of Technology since 2017. He has wide ranging experience in curriculum design and academic development in different higher education contexts, including in Australia (USQ and Batchelor Institute), the Middle East (Bahrain Polytechnic) and China (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University). He has a PhD in Screen and Media Studies from the University of Waikato.

Suzanne Le-May Sheffield is the Director of the Centre for Learning and Teaching at Dalhousie University.  She has held a director role there since 2012 and has over 25 years of educational development and university teaching experience.  She has published in her disciplinary field of history and in the SoTL/SoED fields. She is currently an associate editor for the International Journal for Academic Development. She has been fortunate to have had a key conversational friend for 20 years – and that experience has made all the difference to her teaching and her students’ learning, her career, and her life.

Tain Lloyd (Wulgurukaba/Bindal) is a teaching and research focused academic working as an Associate Lecturer at the QUT Academy of Learning and Teaching, QUT Kelvin Grove Campus. Currently, he is teaching into Indigenous knowledges and perspectives as part of a wider teaching team facilitating continuing professional development and culturally safe practices in tertiary education. He has over 15 years of tertiary teaching experience in science and health, and since 2010, has specialised in Indigenous education working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university students.

Kristina Meinking is Professor of Classical Studies and the Trustee Chair in Undergraduate Teaching at Elon University. She teaches courses in Classical Languages, ClassicalCivilization, the Honors Program, and the Elon Core Curriculum, all of which include versions of Ungrading and Co-Creation in Teaching and Learning. 

Fariha Hayat Salman is Associate Professor of Education at the American University in Dubai, UAE. She has progressively held HE sectoral roles across diverse geographies as center director, program head, STEM research project head, and tenured professor, leading several institutional initiatives to successful completion. She is Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Ed. Academy, Fulbright Ph.D. Alum, Centenary Research Scholar and Frisbey Global Awardee. Recently, she served as a Judge for the 2024 QS Reimagine Education Awards, UK. 

Scott Windham is Associate Professor of German at Elon University where he co-leads the German program and teaches in the Elon Core Curriculum. His primary research interests are learning transfer, the use of grammar for critical expression, and fictional reckonings with Nazism.

Lauren Woodlands is a Senior Lecturer in the QUT Academy of Learning and Teaching (QALT) at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane Australia. She is the QALT Program Lead for the Associate Fellow of the HEA (Indigenous Knowledges) award, and coordinator of the Foundational Learning Modules, a suite of professional development for all learning and teaching staff at the university. Her research interests include educator identity, staff development, mentoring and learning and teaching effectiveness.   

A recording of this session can be accessed by clicking here.