Conference Programme
Warwick Education Conference: Connections and Conversations
Wednesday 29th June 2022, 9.30am to 4pm, Radcliffe Conference Centre
Join us for an uplifting and inspiring day of connections and conversations with external speakers and colleagues from across the University. The programme has been developed to allow for many valuable opportunities to engage, connect and share with colleagues on the day through a range of interactive sessions.
The conference will be followed by an evening event hosted by Professor Chris Hughes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) to celebrate the achievements of the education community here at Warwick. See the programme below for full details.
**Booking for the conference has now closed. Sharing from the conference will take place after the event through Cultivate. Find out how to join the Cultivate Teams space and receive the monthly newsletter on this webpage.**
Conference programme
Arrival and refreshments from 9.30am
Welcome from Professor Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor, at 10am
Keynote Speaker: Professor Carol Evans
Visiting Professorial Fellow, University of Southampton, UK; Honorary Visiting Professor, Cardiff University, UK.
Carol is a leading expert in research-informed assessment practices and inclusive pedagogies. Before moving back to the UK, Professor Evans was Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at Griffith University (Australia), and recent positions she has held prior to that include Professor and Co-Director of Southampton’s Centre for Higher Education. Carol has worked at the universities of Exeter, Durham, and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Deanery in London, and served as the first UK Vice President of the International Federation of National Teaching Fellows (IFNTF).
Carol is currently a non-executive board member at the University of Bournemouth, an honorary visiting professor at Cardiff University and professorial fellow at the University of Southampton in addition to being editor-in-chief of Higher Education Pedagogies. Carol advises on national and international educational initiatives and has achievements of National Teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow, in addition to Collaborative and Spotlight Awards for Teaching Excellence (CATE) from Advance HE. She has produced world-leading research in assessment and individual differences including two highly successful interdisciplinary research projects within and across universities funded by the UK Government's Office for Students. Her inclusive Assessment Framework (EAT) promoting equity, agency and transparency in assessment has been successfully applied within UK and international contexts. Her latest work with Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) and the University of Lincoln focuses on What Works to Reduce Equality Gaps for Disabled Students.
Keynote address
10.15am - 11am
Maximising the effectiveness of assessment
In this keynote session, I will draw on the Equity, Agency and Transparency (EAT) Assessment Framework to provide an overview of current directions in assessment and feedback research within higher education.
Keynote workshop
11am – 12.30pm
Exploring Inclusive Assessment
In this workshop we will explore different conceptions of what inclusive assessment is and the key constructs implicated in this. Alignment with the direction of travel of the Warwick Curriculum will be demonstrated, and especially in how you can construct assessment to support equality of opportunity and equal chances for all students to do well.
Lunch 12.30pm to 1.30pm
Time and space to refresh, chat and connect
Discussion groups
1.30pm - 2.30pm
Opportunities to share, learn and exchange ideas.
This time is dedicated to allowing you opportunities engage in discussions with colleagues on topics that you would like to explore.
The topics of some discussion groups will be pre-planned, others will emerge on the day according to the interests of delegates. Pre-planned topics include:
- Engaging large cohorts.
- Researching students' experiences.
- Creating community spaces in departments/disciplines.
Keynote Speaker: Professor Helen King
2.45pm - 3.45pm
Developing Expertise v Striving for Excellence: a better discourse for HE
‘Excellence’ is an important rhetoric in higher education and many other sectors, but it is poorly defined in terms of the characteristics of an individual teacher. Furthermore, by definition, excellence is a characteristic achievable by only a few (we can’t all be outstanding), and is often measured by outputs (e.g. student satisfaction or graduate outcomes). The goal of excellence, therefore, is not a strong motivator for individuals to improve their teaching nor a helpful guide for those supporting them in doing so. Conversely, ‘expertise’ has a deep and broad theoretical and empirical foundation in a wide variety of professions, and offers a fresh approach to considering the characteristics of high-performing practitioners. The acquisition and maintenance of expertise is an ongoing process that is potentially available for all to engage with, rather than a static point to be reached by the few. This presentation will briefly outline the generic characteristics of expertise and then discuss what these might look like for teaching in higher education.
Professor Helen King
Professor & Deputy Director, Academic Practice Directorate, UWE Bristol.
Professor Helen King’s career in educational development spans over two decades and has included leading roles in UK-wide learning and teaching enhancement projects and organisations, as an independent consultant collaborating with colleagues in the UK, USA and Australia, and institutional roles (currently, Deputy Director of Academic Practice at the University of the West of England, Bristol). She has broad interests across a range of learning, teaching and assessment themes but her particular passion is in supporting colleagues’ professional development. Her current research is exploring the characteristics of expertise in higher education teachers. She holds a Senior Fellowship of the Staff & Educational Development Association (SFSEDA), a National Teaching Fellowship (NTF), is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA), and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Queensland.
Conference close with Professor Chris Hughes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education)
3.45pm - 4pm
Excellence Together: Celebrating our Education Community
5pm - 7pm, The Slate
Hosted by Professor Chris Hughes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education).
Join us for drinks after the conference to celebrate winning the University of the Year for Teaching Quality award and runner-up for University of the Year by Sunday Times’ Good University Guide 2022! These are big achievements, and we want to thank everyone who worked hard to make them happen.