University of Edinburgh Learning & Teaching Conference

The annual University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference brings together staff and students to celebrate and share good practice and innovation in learning and teaching. The 2023 Conference took place on 27-28 June 2023. The Conference will be paused for 2024.

Conference Update - September 23

A decision has been taken to pause the University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference for the next academic year. There will be no annual conference held in Summer 2024. Please check this page in future for any further updates on future iterations of the Conference.

Learning and Teaching Conference 2023 - ‘Investigate, inquire, innovate: exploring research-informed teaching practice’

About the conference

The University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference took place on 27-28 June 2023.

Day 1 (27 June) was held at Nucleus, King’s Buildings campus, with opportunities to watch online. The day focussed on keynote talks, panel discussions, workshops, paper presentations, walkshops, exhibitor stands, poster pitches, and opportunities to network.

Day 2 (28 June) will take place online. This day showcased keynote talks, paper presentations, panel discussions, workshops, short talks and storytelling.

Conference theme

The aim of the conference was to bring together staff and students from across the institution to share good practice, to take a scholarly look at learning and teaching, and to continue to raise the profile of learning and teaching at The University of Edinburgh.

The theme for the 2023 Conference was ‘Scholarship of Teaching and Learning SoTL (SoTL)’. While the definition of SoTL has a somewhat contested history, for the purpose of this Conference, we understand SoTL as thinking, talking, reading, and writing about our learning and teaching in a thoughtful way.

Sub-themes

Research-informed teaching: How have you used educational research to improve your practice? Submissions could include examples of how educational research is used to inform or improve teaching practices and methods of inquiry. This could be data-driven (e.g., learning analytics) or theory-driven (e.g., conceptual theories). You do not need to have necessarily conducted your own research or collected original data.

Innovation and creativity in teaching: Have you been motivated to do something different than what has been done before to inform or improve your teaching practice? Submissions could include examples of innovative and creative approaches, with a focus on the outcome of the inquiry (e.g., developing new pedagogies; ways of teaching) or a focus on the process of the inquiry (e.g., new methodologies).

Partnership: How can we learn from partnerships? Submissions could include reflections or research on engaging in collaboration and partnership to improve teaching methods, practice, and methods of inquiry. This could include partnerships with students, industry, community organisations, colleagues from other disciplines, or professional services; and can include examples of co-research.

SoTL case studies: Have you conducted a case study of learning and teaching scholarship within a disciplinary or inter-disciplinary context? Submissions should show the whole process of inquiry, including data collection, methods, and findings.

2023 conference materials - recordings and resources

Please visit the conference website below to access the Conference recordings and resources, which enable continued engagement with ideas and insights shared during the Conference.

Learning & Teaching Conference 2023 - recordings and resources

To contact the conference organising team with any questions, please email lt.conference@ed.ac.uk

Images from the on-campus Day 1 of the 2022 Conference

McEwan Hall Bristo Square — Learning and Teaching Conference 2022 venue, McEwan Hall, Bristo Square

Learning and Teaching Conference Welcome presentation — Conference Welcome from the Vice Principal for Students

Vice Principal Colm Harmon — Vice Principal for Students Professor Colm Harmon

Professor Catherine Bovill gave the first Keynote of the day

Professor Catherine Bovill plus sign language interpreter on stage — Keynote: Shaping the Future Curriculum With Students, with British Sign Language interpretation

Professor Peter Mathieson — The Principal also provided a Conference Welcome talk mid-morning

Conference Poster and Exhibitors' Pitch Session introduction — Exhibitors and poster presenters had the opportunity to present 1-minute pitches, introduced here by Dr Jenny Scoles

Conference audience in a session — Audience members in McEwan Hall

Conference panel of speakers on stage — Breakout session - Edinburgh Student Vision: Dialogue, hearing and co-creating

Shaping Sustainable Futures panel speakers — Breakout session - Shaping sustainable futures

Conference attendees discussing — The first day of the 3-day conference was in person, on campus

Cellist plays at conference — Delegates enjoyed welcome and exit cello music through the day in the main McEwan Hall auditorium

Sketch artist in action at conference — A sketch artist visually captured and recorded delegate ideas, thoughts and perspectives...

Finished sketch and illustrations of conference — ...to create this beautiful visual record from the Conference day.

Conference exhibitors stalls — Exhibitors attended from support services and initiatives around the University of Edinburgh

repair.ed team at work — Sustainability in action - Staff and volunteers from Repair.Ed team were on hand to help delegates learn how to repair their stuff!

Second conference keynote panel on stage — Keynote Two - "What even is a University anyway?” Students, staff and enacting co-creation in the era of Generation Z

Second conference keynote speakers in conversation — Keynote Two - Tara Gold (EUSA Vice President Education 21/22) and Ellen MacRae (EUSA President 20/22) in conversation

Conference delegate asking a question — Delegates had the opportunity to ask questions to speakers and panellists

Conference panel speaker on stage — Afternoon breakout sessions were: Transitions and widening participation: Successes and challenges; Wellbeing across the academic community; and an Assessment & Feedback Workshop

Previous Conference Information and Resources

2022 Conference Resources - Shaping Our Futures

The University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference 2022 took place 14-16 June 2022. Day 1 (14 June) was held in the McEwan Hall with opportunities to watch online. This day focussed on keynote presentations, panel talks, poster presentations, and opportunities to network. Days 2 and 3 (15 & 16 June) took place online. These shorter days showcased paper presentations, workshops, short talks, panel discussions, and storytelling.

The conference aims to celebrate our teaching and share practice around the theme, 'Shaping Our Futures'. The sub-themes for the Conference 2022 were as follows:

Building community
Teaching data skills, data ethics and AI
Sustainability
Interdisciplinary teaching
Hybridity reimagined: Teaching experientially in outdoor, indoor and online places
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Challenging accepted ways of thinking
Student-Staff co-creation curriculum work
Engaging employers, community, and alumni.

Keynote speakers:

Professor Catherine Bovill, Senior Lecturer in Student Engagement at the Institute for Academic Development (IAD), University of Edinburgh
Tara Gold, EUSA Vice-President Education 2021-22 and Ellen MacRae, EUSA President 2020-22
Andreas Schleicher, Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paris.

Materials from many of the session presentations are available:

View the video resources from the Learning and Teaching Conference 2022 here.

2021 Conference Resources - Curriculum As A Site For Transformation

The University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference 2021 was hosted online and ran over 3 days (15th - 17th June 2021 ) with the first day being open to colleagues outside the University to attend.

Presentations focused on 'curriculum as a site for transformation', and the following sub-themes:

Building community
Innovation in science teaching
Equality, diversity, inclusion and social justice
Experiential, place-based and problem-based learning
Assessment and feedback for the future
New lessons in digital teaching – insights from hybrid and online learning
Student engagement and involvement
Interdisciplinary learning and teaching: local and global challenges

Keynote speakers:

Prof Kerri-Lee Krause, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Students), University of Melbourne, Australia
Prof Rowena Arshad CBE, FEIS, Chair in Multi-cultural and Anti-racist Education - Professor Emerita with the University of Edinburgh

Materials from many of the session presentations are available:

View the resources on the 2021 Conference site

2020 Conference Resources - Curriculum Futures

We were delighted to have been able to make last years conference a fully online experience.

The theme of the 2020 conference was 'Curriculum Futures'.

Keynote speakers:

Prof Sian Bayne, Professor of Digital Education, the University of Edinburgh
Prof Colm Harmon, Vice-Principlan Students and personal chair in Applied Economics, the University of Edinburgh.

Sessions from the conference were recorded and recordings and accompanying resources can be access by University of Edinburgh staff on the Learning & Teaching Conference website:

Learning & Teaching Conference 2020 resources - watch and read now

2019 Conference Resources - Evidencing the Value of Learning and Teaching

The second Learning and Teaching Conference was held in 2019 in the John MacIntyre Conference Centre at Pollock Halls.

The theme for the 2019 conference was 'Evidencing the Value of Learning and Teaching'.

Keynote speakers:

Professor Peter Felten, Professor of History, Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning, and Executive Director of the Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University, North Carolina, USA.

Peter Felten's keynote presentation slides (PDF)