Description
Students may arrive at university without a clear sense of what to do now that their goal of admission has been attained. To them, reaching that goal feels like a significant achievement—and it is. But finding a purpose—their own purpose—for pursuing university studies beyond admission is clearly a key ingredient for their academic and personal success. Without it, they risk not having the resilience needed to cope with novelty and failure. With faculty support, however, students can develop a personal sense of direction to both guide and inspire them during as they learn. A corollary is that emotional investment in their studies will help determine their success just as much as intellectual gifts and academic preparation.Two years ago, the IUT conference was organized around the theme of “the human side of teaching.” This year we return to some of these same issues, which have become if anything more important in the light of our experience during the pandemic. We have seen how students engaged in remote learning often miss the support of direct contact with peers and academic staff and must compensate with added commitment of their own. We have also seen how teachers and students can become stressed to the point that wellbeing becomes an urgent issue for both. How can their wellbeing be nurtured? How can we sustain academic resilience?
Over three days in July we will explore these questions in light of our recent experience. As last year, this will be a hybrid conference. Our in-person host will be the Malaysia campus of Herriot-Watt University, a two-hundred-year-old institution based in Scotland and now a global university with campuses in the UK, UAE, and Malaysia. At the same time, some sessions will also be held within the live but remote 72-hour format successfully used since 2020. Our hope is that many participants will be able to attend the conference in person in Malaysia, but we also welcome those who choose to participate remotely.
Whether in-person or remote, we hope that you will join us in July, 2023 for what promises to be another inspiring and useful IUT global conference.
Six subthemes underlie the overall theme of “Sustaining Academic Resilience”:
1. Promoting student and teacher wellbeing— How can we help students to flourish now and in the future? How do we create a learning environment that encourages wellbeing for both students and teachers?
2. Sustainability in the curriculum. UNESCO defines “education for sustainable development” as “the process of equipping students with the knowledge and understanding, skills and attributes needed to work and live in a way that safeguards environmental, social, and economic wellbeing, in the present and for future generations.” How does that manifest itself in practice? What can we learn from embedding sustainability in the curriculum in different contexts? How do we encourage students translating their purpose to actions relating to sustainability?
3. Educating for the future–A narrow, vocational focus may limit student learning to skills that will soon be outmoded. How do we encourage them to broaden their horizons when thinking about their future career plans?
4. Educational technology for post-pandemic classrooms—COVID has encouraged the widespread adoption of remote teaching technology. What elements can and should be retained for the post-pandemic classroom?
5. Learning from Failure—No matter how well-defined their purpose, students will encounter failure at some point in their studies and beyond. How can we offer feedback that helps make failure a learning experience and prevents it from crippling student confidence?
6. Assessment: expectations and consequences—How can we convey course standards and expectations to students while still offering them the flexibility they may need to accurately display what they have learned? Are there ways to reach agreement among instructors and students on “what counts” in a course and to tailor assessment accordingly?
| Period | 12 Jul 2023 → 14 Jul 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Putrajaya, MalaysiaShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |