It’s been several decades since Dal last hosted Canada’s largest national conference on teaching and learning in higher education.
But that’s about to change next June as the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) comes to campus.
Dal will host the 2017 STLHE annual conference from June 20-23 alongside a consortium of Halifax post-secondary institutions: Saint Mary’s University, Mount Saint Vincent University, NSCAD University, the University of King’s College, NSCC and Université Sainte-Anne. The conference is expected to attract several hundred delegates from across Canada and beyond. (This year’s conference featured representatives from 10 different countries.)
The theme for the conference: “Gateways in Higher Education: Cultures, Transitions, Transformations.” Brad Wuetherick, executive director of teaching and learning at Dal, says the theme aims to draw out important topics such as the internationalization and indigenization of higher education, first-year student success, and classroom and program innovation, among others.
“It’s very relevant to what Dal is trying to do as we move forward in supporting teaching and learning, but also to the broader field in higher education,” explains Wuetherick, noting Dal’s Strategic Direction and its priority supporting innovation in program development as well excellence in teaching and pedagogy.
The conference also has a keynote speaker announced: David Boud, emeritus professor of the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. “He is one of the leading experts on assessment for learning,” says Wuetherick. Dr. Boud’s presentation will explore the ways in which assessment interacts with learning, and discuss ways to think differently about assessing students, with a focus on the importance of students developing the capacity to make effective judgements about their own work.
Members of the Dal community are encouraged to submit proposals for the conference by Monday, December 12. (.)
STLHE also administers several major national teaching awards, some of which — including the 3M National Student Fellowship and the Brightspace Innovation Award — have submission deadlines early in the new year. For more information, visit the or contact Dal’s Centre for Learning and Teaching.
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