Festival of Learning and Teaching 2021

The theme for the 2021 Festival of Learning and Teaching wasBlended Futures.

We define blended learning asface-to-face learning supported by digital content and online activities. The ˲Ʊ approach will prioritise high-engagement face-to-face learning experiences, underpinned by best-practice digital content delivery and online activities.

Thank you to all who participated in, and attendedthe 2021 Festival.

This year’s event was held over two half days Tuesday 28 September (on campus) and Wednesday 29 September(online).

The focus of this year’s Festival was“Blended Futures”,providing an opportunity for us to celebrate and share new approaches to blended learning at ˲Ʊ, and to explore future directions. It is an exciting time for education delivery and practice across the sector, with the disruption of 2020 widely recognised as a catalysing, ‘no going back’ moment in the digitalisation of learning, teaching and assessment. Flexible, blended learning models are here to stay, with high-engagement face-to-face learning experiences underpinned by best-practice digital content delivery and online activities.

What new models of blended learning are ˲Ʊ educators developing, across the disciplines, informed by the 2020-21 student and staff experience? What are we learning from our growing experience of online learning and teaching? How can we use digital technologies both online and in the face-to-face classroom to build strong learner engagement? How can we best support equity, diversity and inclusion in blended learning, and our students’ wellbeing? What are the new opportunities to enhance students’ engagement with industry, and their experiences of assessment and feedback in learning? What are the challenges of supporting mixed cohorts of face-to-face and remote learners? As we shape new approaches, it will be timely, too, to reflect on foundational values and principles. The FOLT provided an opportunity to explore these questions and more with colleagues and students from ˲Ʊ and with two International Keynote Speakers who are both leading experts in digital higher education.

Rapid Fire Presentations andWorkshops featured, focussing on any aspect ofBlended Futures,with a special focus on the sub-themes of:

  • Innovations in Blended Learning
  • Embedding Work-Integrated Learning
  • Innovations in Assessment and Feedback

Professor Phil Levy
Former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Student Learning)

Presenter Information

  • Day 1 | Keynote speaker: Professor Sian Bayne. Anticipating futures for digital education.
    Sian Bayne

    Professor Sian Bayne
    Professor of Digital Education and Director of Education at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, the University of Edinburgh.

    Title: Anticipating futures for digital education

    My keynote will discuss a range of possible futures for digital education as we emerge out of COVID-19. I will discuss some of the emergent sector-wide trends we are seeing, and explore how these might might impact on the way we think about teaching within universities.

    I will discuss a particular example of digital education ‘futures’ work I led at the University of Edinburgh. This aimed to enable a wide conversation to take place among students and staff around how we would like to see digital education grow over the coming decades, and from that to build a vision for the university which balances technological change with the values of our academic and student body.

    By sharing lessons from this work and from research and development across the sector I will argue that, post-COVID, academic communities need to be active in defining a preferred future according to our values, at a time when rapid technological change is often assumed to be driving the way we teach and learn.

    Biography

    Sian Bayne is Professor of Digital Education and Director of Education at the ,the University of Edinburgh.

    She directs the at the University of Edinburgh, where her research is currently focused on higher education futures, interdisciplinary approaches to researching digital education and digital pedagogy. She is also Assistant Principal for Digital Education at the university.

    She is one of the authors of , recently published by MIT Press. She led the to design a values-based future for digital education.

    More information about her work is on her web site: .

    Sian gives regular keynotes on the future of digital education, publishes widely and has conducted research funded by UKRI, Erasmus+, AdvanceHE and NESTA.

  • Day 2 | Keynote speaker: Dr Julie Greenwood. EdPlus@Arizona State University: Pathways for success through social innovation.
    Julie Greenwood

    Julie Greenwood
    Vice Dean for Educational Initiatives, EdPlus at Arizona State University (ASU)

    Title: EdPlus@Arizona State University: Pathways for success through social innovation.

    EdPlus is a central enterprise unit for Arizona State University (ASU) focused on the design and scalable delivery of digital teaching and learning models to increase student success and reduce barriers to achievement in higher education. Dr. Greenwood will present how the ASU Charter and EdPlus Culture drive innovation to create scaled access to high quality undergraduate degree programs, including STEM degrees, supporting both faculty and student success and leveraging corporate partnerships.

    Biography:

    As the Vice Dean for Educational Initiatives,EdPlus at Arizona State University, Dr. Greenwood works with the academic unitsat all ASU campuses, including deans, department chairs, faculty and staff to strengthenonline programming and drive course development that transforms student learningexperiences.

    In this ro