This termly seminar series is designed to support and enhance the practice of academic staff within the Faculty of Social Sciences. The seminars provide a dedicated space for collaborative dialogue, professional development, and the exchange of innovative approaches to teaching and learning in the Social Sciences. There will also be a twice yearly workshop (Terms 1 & 2) supporting education.
Seminar sessions explore key themes relevant to contemporary higher education pedagogy, including inclusive teaching practices, assessment and feedback strategies, student engagement, digital learning tools, and curriculum design. The series features contributions from experienced educators showcasing practical case studies, emerging research, and evidence-based methods.
While the workshops might be of particular interest to teaching focused colleagues within the Faculty of Social Sciences, they are open to all. These sessions offer structured guidance, peer exchange, and practical strategies for navigating and progressing within teaching focused roles. Key topics will include career planning and goal setting, understanding promotion criteria for teaching focused roles, evidencing impact and innovation in teaching, and exploring scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).
These are opportunities to meet colleagues interested in Teaching and Learning from across the Faculty and there will be time for networking at the sessions. Please register for the relevant sessions you wish to attend via the Registration Forms below.
2025-26 Academic Year
Term 3
Teaching & Learning Seminar
Thursday 7th May 2026, 12-1.30pm, S0.19
Ambition and the Excellence Premium: How Student Ambition Moderates Threshold Returns to Perceived Pedagogical Quality: Evidence from China
This talk presents finding from a study investigating how perceived pedagogical quality shapes students’ skill development beliefs and how ambition moderates these effects. Using three‑wave data from 1,968 Chinese university students and staff interviews, we find sharply convex, threshold-based returns: perceived Very High pedagogy raises skill beliefs by 23–30 points, with the largest jump between High and Very High. Teaching and assessment are complementary. Ambitious students gain amplified returns and can offset Low—but not Very Low—assessment quality. Interviews show that perceived excellence reflects concrete practices but remains unevenly distributed, with implications for quality initiatives and human capital theory.
The Impact of Technology-Enhanced Learning on Students with Learning Differences in Higher Education: challenging the norm
Professor Fabio Aricò, Centre for Higher Education Research Practice Policy and Scholarship (CHERPPS), University of East Anglia
This talk presents findings from qualitative research exploring how technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is experienced by undergraduate students with specific learning differences (SpLDs) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), alongside the perspectives of their lecturers. Drawing on interview data, the study challenges assumptions that TEL is inherently inclusive, showing that its benefits are uneven and shaped by pedagogy, institutional practices, and context. The session highlights implications for inclusive pedagogy, staff development, and TEL policy in higher education, while also reflecting on the pedagogical research design and methodological choices underpinning the study.
The Role of Teaching and Scholarship Contracts in Higher Education: Reflections and Realities
This talk reflects on the role of teaching-focused academics in shaping leadership and fostering belonging in Higher Education, drawing on personal experience within a research-intensive institution. It explores how collaborative, care-driven leadership models can challenge prestige-based cultures and enhance institutional community. Key challenges around recognition, career progression, and structural support will also be discussed.
We thank colleagues in Economics for opening this Economics Teaching & Learning Seminar to be available to the whole Faculty.
This workshop is designed to support teaching-focused academic staff in navigating the academic promotion process, relevant to colleagues planning to submit a promotion application either in 2025-2026 or in future years.
The session covers key aspects of the promotion criteria relevant to teaching-focused roles, including evidence of impact, educational leadership, innovation in pedagogy, and contributions to the wider academic community.
Led by senior academic colleagues, the session offers insights into the review process and addresses common challenges. Staff will have the opportunity to ask questions, discuss their own progression plans, and access resources for further support.
A panel discussion bringing together academic colleagues from across the University of Warwick who have successfully integrated public engagement into their teaching practice. The session highlights a range of innovative approaches that connect students with communities, external partners, and real-world issues, enriching the learning experience while fostering civic responsibility and impact beyond the university.
Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions, exchange ideas, and consider how public engagement can be meaningfully incorporated into their own teaching practice.
Thursday 5th February 2026, 12-2pm (12-1pm workshop, followed by networking), A1.11
What Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is, what SoTL activities may focus upon and how to evidence impacts of SoTL activities are important questions to consider together as a community. In this workshop, Kerry Dobbins from ADC will introduce guidance she has created to support colleagues in articulating their SoTL activity in promotion applications. Whilst primarily illuminating how SoTL may be evidenced within the Research and Scholarship Area of Activity, this guidance also aims to support communities building shared understandings about varied ways of approaching, sharing and creating impact from SoTL activities.
This workshop will also explore how colleagues can begin or deepen their engagement in pedagogic research, with participants reflecting on their own starting points and challenges. We’ll end by inviting participation in a new initiative intended to support cross‑disciplinary pedagogic inquiry across Social Sciences.
