On 14th-15th February, the 2019 European Learning & Teaching Forum entitled “Towards successful learning: Controversies and common ground” will be held at the University of Warsaw. The event is organised by the European University Association (EUA). UW is a member of EUA.
The University of Warsaw is an individual full member of the European University Association. EUA comprises over 800 universities and national rectors’ conferences in 48 European countries. EUA plays a key role in the Bologna Process and in influencing EU policies on higher education, research and innovation.
On 14th-15th February, EUA will organise “2019 European Learning & Teaching Forum”. The conference will be hosted by the University of Warsaw. More than 250 vice-rectors for academic affairs, deans, programme directors, academic staff and researchers will participate in discussions, along with policy-makers, students and other stakeholders in higher education.
“In recent years, the enhancement of learning and teaching has become a priority, not only for higher education institutions, but also for national governments, the European Union and the Bologna Process,” explains Michael Murphy, EUA Board member and Learning & Teaching Steering Committee Chair. “It is very important for the higher education community and policy-makers to come together and share experiences and knowledge on this topic and across higher education systems in order to make progress.
Participants of the event will try to explore controversies and find common ground on how to engage and empower students and teachers in developing their learning and teaching. More specifically, drawing on the work of the EUA thematic peer groups in 2018, participants will be invited to reflect on how to facilitate:
- better learning in European universities through institutional promotion of active learning;
- support for teachers to develop their teaching skills and engage in exchange of experience;
- promotion of career progression in teaching;
- rethinking how learning and teaching is evaluated.
The forum will be divided into three plenary sessions. In the beginning Prof. Marcin Pałys, rector of UW, and Prof. Michael Murphy, Chair of the EUA Learning & Teaching Steering Committee will welcome all participants. During the first plenary session entitled “The goal(s) of learning in higher education”, speakers will discuss how the goals of learning, including critical thinking, are reflected in curriculum design and teaching. The second panel discussion will review European L&T policies and their envisaged impact on universities. A debate facilitated by the EUA Secretariat, inviting the audience to participate through a voting tool. The purpose is to find controversies on the differences between policy decisions and grass-root level realities, but also to see where common ground can be found. The last plenary session will trigger a debate on the pros and cons of different approaches to L&T in universities with speakers from two universities, the University of Oslo and the University College Cork, that have followed different paths towards developing their teaching portfolios and profiles.
Notably, the event will host the launch of the unique publication “Promoting a European dimension to teaching enhancement. A feasibility study from the European Forum for Enhanced Collaboration in Teaching (EFFECT) project.”
This study aims to summarise the main outcomes and lessons learnt from the European EFFECT project, which explored how pedagogical staff development and learning and teaching developments in general could be enhanced and supported through European-level action.