The LTExChange Network: Focus and themes for 2022-23
The LTExChange Network – what is the purpose of the network?
Intended primarily as an online community of practice, the new LTExChange Network will bring together education and service-based practitioners working across the University to inform, support, and share learning and teaching practice innovations and initiatives
The Network is staff-focused, providing and supporting relevant and worthwhile opportunities for academic and professional service staff to share and discuss learning and teaching practices, projects, and initiatives, as well as the chance to co-host and co-facilitate LTExChange symposia.
Focus for 2022-23: “Inclusive Communities of Learning”
As the post-pandemic higher education landscape changes, our systems and practices must find new forms, not just acting in response to current circumstances and trends or repeating dominant patterns of thinking in digital settings. Recent events have reinforced the strategic importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) work being done at universities, both within and beyond the classroom. Integral to this work is the development of an inclusive curriculum focused on improving the learning experiences, performance, and attainment of all students, including those in protected characteristic groups.
With the pandemic shedding light on many of the pre-existing inequalities of traditional delivery methods, universities must take steps to ensure that the principles of inclusivity are embedded within all aspects of the academic cycle and the wider learning environment. The challenge is to devise proactive approaches to embedding EDI practice and support that encourage staff to adapt different approaches through inclusive and accessible learning communities by emphasising relevance, valuing diversity, and celebrating difference alongside the need to be innovative. To this end, during the 2022-23, the LTExChange Network will focus on supporting and advancing “Inclusive Communities of Learning”.
The LTExChange Symposia Series will provide the primary vehicle for this work, bringing together and engaging key stakeholders to support new thinking and share practice innovations as we consider the prospects of Inclusive Communities of Learning in HE through the prism of three interrelated themes: 1) The Compassionate curriculum; 2) Decolonising learning and teaching; 3) Mattering and belonging in student engagement. Each of these themes will form the focus for a hybrid LTExChange Symposium event:
- ‘The compassionate curriculum’ – November 30th, 2022 (13:00 – 15:00) – This event will be an exposition of relational approaches to pedagogic practice and learning design for a truly inclusive future facing higher education. Keynote speaker: Professor Peter Felton (Elon University, US).
- ‘Decolonising learning and teaching’ – March 29th, 2023 (09:00 – 12:30) – This event explores ideas of equality, diversity, and identity as a lens for inclusive pedagogic practices. Keynote speaker: Professor Sally Everett (Kings College London, UK).
- ‘Mattering and belonging in student engagement’ – May 17th, 2023 (09:00 – 12:30) – This event will critically consider what it means to meaningfully engage students and staff in increasingly digital communities of learning. Keynote speaker: Karen Gravett (University of Surrey, UK).
The LTExChange Symposia Series is well-positioned for capturing, collating, and considering stakeholder insights around current best practice, as well as future potential for developing inclusive communities of learning at Teesside. The Symposia Series will also create considerable potential for drawing on the LTExChange Network as a community of practice and the shared learning produced to support a more holistic understanding of both synergies and possibilities for decision-making around inclusive policy and practice.
Why Get Involved?
The LTExChange symposium events series aims to provide TU colleagues with an accessible, open, and supportive environment for peer networking and sharing innovative learning and teaching practice and initiatives. It also provides a platform for staff to develop their work for wider (external) dissemination and publication. This might include progressing work to be presented at the TU annual Future Facing Learning Conference, and/or disseminating work through linked conference opportunities such as the annual North-East Three Rivers Conference.
To get involved with the LTExChange Network and receive information on Network activities and events please contact Professor Sam Elkington: s.elkington@tees.ac.uk