Conference on higher education

LEADING educationalists from the US and Britain will be among experts debating the future of higher education in Ireland in a conference this week at Waterford Institute of Technology.

WIT’s second annual conference of the National Academy for the Integration of Research and Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) will take place on Thursday and Friday.

Attendance at the conference is free of charge but places are limited. Those interested in attending are urged to register online at www.nairtl.ie.

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Challenging Assumptions is the theme of the conference.

Of keen interest over the two-day session is a topical, thought-provoking debate between Prof Áine Hyland, Emeritus Professor of Education and former vice-president of UCC, and Martin O’Grady from the Network for Irish Educational Standards.

The motion, that improved student grades in higher education are a valid reflection of improvements in teaching and learning, is expected to generate debate among delegates on the topic of so-called grade inflation.

Further keynote speakers include Prof Erik Meyer, director of the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Research in Higher Education at Durham University, on the topic: Helping our students learning: meta-learning, and threshold concepts.

Learning development coordinator in the faculty of science at the University of Western Ontario, Tom Haffie, will speak on using personal response technology to enhance engagement.

Assessment as a Learning Experience is the title of Prof Margaret Price’s address. She is director of ASKe, Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning, at Oxford Brookes University.

Union of Students in Ireland president Shane Kelly will make an address entitled Understanding Student Feedback in the Quality Assurance Process.

The conference also includes a wide range of papers, workshops and posters of interest to all teaching and learning professionals.