Promoting teaching and learning
29 April 2004
¹û¶³Ó°Ôº's fourth internal conference on sharing innovation and excellence in teaching was held on 31 March and 1 April 2004 in the Wilkins Building.
Professor Michael Worton, Vice-Provost for Teaching & Learning, said: "¹û¶³Ó°Ôº rightly prides itself on the quality of student learning in its research-led environment. Countless academics are developing inventive and creative ways of enhancing the student learning experience. Yet the size of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº and the diversity of its disciplines mean that staff may be unaware of their colleagues' innovations in teaching and learning. The conference is a significant forum for sharing such experience."
Feedback since the first conference in 1998 confirms that participants find them worthwhile. Professor Roland Rosner, Director of ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº's Education & Information Support Division (EISD), which is organising the event, said: "The 2002 conference stimulated considerable interest in WebCT, an online learning and resource tool. In response, EISD organised a major seminar on this topic and a case was then made to purchase a ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº-wide site licence for the product. Some 2,000 students are now using WebCT as part of their studies."
The event's wide-ranging programme included, but was not confined to, approaches that exploit communications and information technologies. Topics addressed ranged from computer-aided assessment to the role of peer-tutoring in enabling and widening access and from online student appraisal of teaching to the challenges of introducing a BSc programme in Medical Humanities.