Wednesday 17th May 2023 – 9.00am-12.30pm
We are delighted to welcome Dr. Karen Gravett (University of Surrey, UK) as our keynote speaker for the final LTExChange Symposium of the year entitled ‘Mattering and belonging in student engagement’ – book you place here.
Outline of Karen Gravett’s keynote talk:
‘Mattering and Belonging in and for Student Engagement’
Our recent times have upended the way we think about student learning. With the shift online and now to increasingly blended teaching practices, or following increased concerns about students’ attendance, educators have focused upon questions relating to students’ engagement and sense of belonging. In this keynote presentation, I will share some of my recent research and practice examining belonging and student engagement, enabling participants to think about students’ experiences of higher education in new ways. Specifically, I consider how we might think about belonging as a process, thinking about how belonging evolves, what belonging makes possible, and why it might be that some students do not wish to belong. I will consider different perspectives on belonging and argue for the value of an approach to teaching that notices the situated, day-to-day, practices of students’ learning. I will think about how belonging plays out in the ‘micro moments’ of learning and teaching, and how relational pedagogies may be helpful in fostering engagement and connection. I also explore the concept of mattering in learning: thinking about who and what matters within these learning moments. This presentation will conclude with exploring practical approaches for supporting students, as I explore how we can draw upon evidence-based research to assist our work in maximising students’ potential and fostering belonging for a diversity of students in contemporary higher education.
Institutional Insights – share your practice!
The symposium event will culminate in a panel discussion comprised of our keynote speaker and selected colleagues from across the university to explore and discuss emergent issues and ideas from the symposium itself.
The panel discussion aims to provide a forum for bringing together and sharing ongoing work from across central and academic departments at the university that promote and share a focus on advancing the ideas of engagement, mattering, and belonging as key features of the student learning experience.
To this end, colleagues are invited to submit a short expression of interest to showcase and discuss their practice-based work as a panel member.
To register an expression of interest to contribute to the disciplinary insights section of the symposium please submit a 150-word (maximum) outline of the practice-based work you wish to share to Professor Sam Elkington (s.elkington@tees.ac.uk) by 5pm on Friday 5th May.
Biography of our keynote speaker Karen Gravett
Dr Karen Gravett is Senior Lecturer at the Surrey Institute of Education at the University of Surrey, UK, where her research focuses on the theory and practice of learning in higher education, and explores the areas of student engagement, belonging, digital education, and relational pedagogies. Karen is Director of the Language, Literacies and Learning research group, a member of the SRHE Governing Council, and a member of the editorial board for Teaching in Higher Education. Her work has been funded by the Society for Research in Higher Education, the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education, the British Association for Applied Linguistics, the UK Literacy Association and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Karen is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE.
Karen’s work is published in leading journals including Studies in Higher Education, Teaching in Higher Education, and Higher Education. Her latest books are: Gravett, K. (2023) Relational Pedagogies: Connections and mattering in higher education, Kinchin, I. M. and Gravett, K. (2022) Dominant discourses in higher education: Critical perspectives, cartographies and practice, and Gravett, K., Yakovchuk, N. and Kinchin, I.M. (Eds.) (2020) Enhancing student-centred teaching in higher education: The landscape of student-staff partnerships.