1.   KEYNOTE PANEL  |  Tuesday, 25 October

Topic:  How assessment practices can be changed to support a transformative student experience.

Panellists:

• Professor YANG Lan (University of Hong Kong)
• Professor Francois Cilliers (University of Cape Town)
• Professor Richard Stevens (Stellenbosch University)

For more information about the panellists’ biographies, topics and blurbs, click here.

click here to view the Keynote Panel Concept Note.

 

2.  KEYNOTE SPEAKER  |  Wednesday, 26 October

Speaker:  Professor Paul Ashwin

Biography:  Paul Ashwin is Professor of Higher Education and Head of the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University, United Kingdom.  Paul’s research focuses on teaching, learning and curriculum practices in higher education and how they are shaped by higher education policies.

His recent books include ‘Transforming University Education: A manifesto’ (Bloomsbury 2020) and he is the lead author of Reflective Teaching in Higher Education (2015, 2020 Bloomsbury), which is designed for all those working in higher education who are interested in further developing research-informed approaches to university teaching.

Paul is Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE), a coordinating editor for the international journal ‘Higher Education,’ and co-editor of the Bloomsbury book series ‘Understanding Student Experiences of Higher Education’.

Topic:  The role of assessment in a transformative university education

Conference Teaser Video

Blurb:  The Covid-19 global pandemic has led to widespread changes to university assessment practices. These changes in assessment practices have opened-up questions about the role that assessment plays in supporting a university education that can transform students’ sense of who they are and what they can do in the world.

In this keynote, I will examine the meaning of a transformative university education and the role that assessment plays in supporting this kind of education. I will argue that, in order for assessment to play this role, we need to have a clear understanding of the knowledge that students gain access to through their university education, the expertise of teachers in designing an environment that provides students with access to this knowledge, and the ways in which educational institutions provide a context in which this knowledge can be made available to students. I will examine how the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning can support the development of approaches to assessment that support a transformative university education and examine what practical steps can help us to introduce such approaches to assessment into our educational practices.