WIHEA and WMS are thrilled to invite the community to Professor Olanrewaju Sorinola's Inaugural Lecture, entitled 'Journeys and Values: An Optical Illusion or A Concrete Worldview?', on Tuesday 9 April.

Prof Sorinola will reflect on his life journey which has taken him through three continents and discuss how he became a clinical academic. He will shine the light on various challenges encountered, highs and lows, how he overcame them and what kept him motivated. He will explore values – what they are and how they affect and influence our worldview. He will challenge the notion that we already know everything there is to know about our values and how his passion for equity, inclusivity and achieving excellence for all has led him to thinking differently and challenging the norm. He is going to conclude by answering the question in the title of his talk with another question: if your life was a book, what would the chapters be?

The talk will be live-streamed here. More details are available via the same link.

WIHEA is running two Masterclasses in March, and facilitating the launch of a new network based around teaching-focused career advancement - check out the details and register with the links below!

WIHEA Masterclass: Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (with Dr Deborah Biggerstaff)

Monday 11 March, 14:00-15:30, Teaching Grid

Following a brief introduction to some of the philosophy underpinning IPA methodology, the session aims to offer a practical introduction to the experiential approach used when conducting an IPA analysis. The intention is to provide attendees the opportunity to recognise the main principles involved in the IPA approach and gain an understanding of the practical stages of carrying out an IPA research study.

Professors in Practice Network Launch

Tuesday 12 March, 14:00-15:00, Space 20 (Radcliffe Conference Centre)

In a move for a more equitable landscape between research and education, the University has made a concerted effort to determine the route to Professor (Teaching-focused) to enable the development of education-focused staff to have greater recognition within the University environment. This community is an opportunity to bring together teaching-focused professors from across the university to share experiences, provide peer support, contribute to strategic discussions and provide opportunities for development and support for Teaching-focused grade 8 staff.

WIHEA Masterclass: Creativity, Storytelling and Academic Writing (with Dr Alexander Smith)

Thursday 21 March, 14:00-16:00, Teaching Grid

This Masterclass will provide a space for discussion and reflection of the role of creativity and storytelling in academic teaching and scholarly practice. It draws on Dr Smith's successful introduction of a new creative writing module for Sociology students, which has had an impact on improving the quality of academic writing amongst third-years, especially in their dissertations. This provocative Masterclass will challenge us to embrace creativity and storytelling in our pedagogical approach to teaching academic writing, as a means of promoting critical reading, rigorous thinking and high-quality writing amongst our students and helping safeguard the integrity of our assessments in response to the challenge of AI.

On 15 February, our community came together for the first WIHEA Masterclass of 2024!

The session provided insight into how Warwick colleagues are supporting educational leaders across the entire education sectors during war. Dr Bo Kelestyn (WBS) and Professor Gwen van der Velden (Education) explained their work with the Ukrainian Leadership Academy and the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science in developing a programme for educational leaders.

Professor van der Velden then led our attendees through some of the next steps and future initiatives both in Warwick and Ukraine. It was a powerful session, and a showcase of communities coming together in exceptional times to produce genuinely innovative and significant work.

On 25 January, our WIHEA Fellows and Alumni came together for a Networking Lunch in the Radcliffe Centre.

We had updates from members of our community, and we said a big thanks to some of our Fellows as they transition into becoming Alumni. Afterwards, Anne Wilson from Warwick Careers presented a number of networking exercises, helping our cohorts get to meet each other and learn good professional practices for growing their networks. It was a fantastic event, and we were thrilled to see such a bustling room!

WIHEA are launching four new Learning Circles and a Learning Circle sub-group – here’s a summary of their activities and leads.

AI in Education

Led by Karen Jackson (K.Jackson.3@warwick.ac.uk), Neha Gupta (Neha.Gupta@wbs.ac.uk) and Jianhua Yang (Jianjua.Yang@warwick.ac.uk)

This Learning Circle seeks to help WIHEA Fellows to understand and develop expertise in utilizing generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the educational context, from perspectives including teaching, learning, and ethical considerations.

Compassionate Pedagogy

Led by Gemma Gray (G.Gray@warwick.ac.uk) and Luke Hodson (Luke.Hodson@warwick.ac.uk)

The Compassionate Pedagogy Learning Circle will focus on a holistic, person-centred approach to how we interact across the university, aiming to imbue kindness and consideration into all of the activities we do.

Digital Education and Technologies for Teaching and Assessment (DETTA)

Led by Caroline Elliott (Caroline.Elliott@warwick.ac.uk) and Matt Street (Matt.Street@warwick.ac.uk)

The Learning Circle is intended as a forum for exploring what a digital education framework should consider, exploring new technologies and updates to existing technologies such that recommendations can be made to the PVC Education in line with the digital education framework developed.

Employability

Led by Atisha Ghosh (Atisha.Ghosh@warwick.ac.uk), Laura Yetton (Laura.Yetton@warwick.ac.uk) and David Molyneux (David.Molyneux@warwick.ac.uk)

The Employability Learning Circle is aimed at fostering and embedding employability within the professional culture of Warwick and its academic departments.

Inclusive SEM Assessment

(A sub-group of Inclusive Assessment, led by Sam Grierson [Samantha.Grierson@warwick.ac.uk] and Kerry Dobbins [Kerry.Dobbins@warwick.ac.uk])

The vision of this sub-group is to develop understandings about inclusive assessment design in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (SEM).

If you wish to join one of these Learning Circles or would like more information, please get in touch with the relevant leads.

Today, WIHEA staff met with our 2020/21 Fellows for a celebration as they come to the end of their Fellowships. This group of 23 Staff Fellows has done some incredible work, leading across the University on everything from teaching excellence to the impact of AI. They've played a major part in our Learning Circles and projects, and we're appreciative of the positive impact they've made in WIHEA and further afield!

You can read more about the cohort here.