Enhancement Themes Conference 2009: ‘Developing Graduates for the 21st Century’

A Call for Workshop and Poster Proposals

Background

This is a call for the submission of proposals to run workshops and/or present posters at the 6th Enhancement Themes Conference. This Conference, which is sponsored by The Scottish Higher Education Enhancement Committee (SHEEC), will be held at the Edinburgh Conference Centre, Heriot-Watt University, on Thursday 5 March and Friday 6 March 2009. The Conference is one of the major events in the Scottish higher education calendar and is expected to attract major keynote speakers and over three hundred other participants from Scotland and beyond. As in previous years an important component of the conference will be a wide range of workshops and a display of posters to present and share practical examples of the enhancement of learning and teaching from across the Scottish HE sector. 

Integrating previous Enhancement Themes

However, the 2009 Conference will differ from its five predecessors in that it is intended to build on and integrate work from all the previous (2003 to 2008) Enhancement Themes.  In doing this the Conference will complement the next Enhancement Theme, to be launched early in 2009 and provisionally titled ‘Developing Graduates for the 21st Century’ (see accompanying briefing on the Theme).

The outputs from the previous Themes on:

  • Assessment and Integrative Assessment
  • Responding to Student Needs,
  • Employability
  • Flexible Delivery
  • The First Year and
  • Research-Teaching Linkages

are available at http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/ and constitute a significant resource.

Clearly the topics and issues addressed by these Themes do not sit in isolation from each other.  Each has tackled aspects of a common issue, namely how best to engage, empower and develop effective learners and graduates.  This new integrating Theme will provide an important opportunity for higher education institutions to consider how best the outcomes from the previous Themes can be linked, integrated and used in ways that can most effectively enhance the development of effective learners and achievement of graduate attributes. Ideally, workshops at the Conference should reflect such linkages.

The integrating Theme will address overarching questions such as: what are the attributes of a graduate from Scottish Higher Education in the 21st century and how can the achievement of these attributes best be supported?  Given the importance of ‘graduate attributes’ to the new Theme, the Conference will include specially commissioned workshops on this topic.

Related Work - ‘Supporting Student Success’

Another important strand to integrative enhancement activity that will feature at the Conference is the work of SHEEC’s International Benchmarking Working Group on ‘Supporting Student Success’. The Group has been benchmarking the provision of student support services in HEIs in Scotland with practice internationally, including the rest of the UK, with the overall aim of helping to support the Scottish HE sector in comparing with and learning from practice elsewhere. Key aspects addressed in the benchmarking have been:

  • institution-wide integration of student support roles and services (across the academic and service units) and
  • diversity of the student population and student needs.

This ongoing work, which has recently been discussed at a Conference on 14th November 2008, is clearly relevant to the development of effective learners and achievement of graduate attributes and will also feature in the 2009 Enhancement Themes Conference.

Workshop Proposals

Colleagues in the Scottish Higher Education sector are now invited to submit outline proposals for workshops for the 2009 Enhancement Conference.  Workshops should focus on how HEIs have used or built on one or more of the previous Enhancement Themes to enhance the student experience in developing effective learners and graduate attributes.  This might involve building on the work of a single Theme or, ideally, on integrating strands from two or more Themes. The emphasis will be on sharing practice – both successful practice and perhaps less successful examples where there are lessons for the future to learn and share.

Length and format of workshops

Workshops are expected to be one hour in duration; some may be repeated to allow greater choice to conference participants.  Feedback from previous conferences has shown that participants prefer workshops to strike a balance between presentation and opportunities to take part in, for example, small group activities and/or plenary discussion, so please bear the need for interactivity in mind when framing your proposal.

Writing your proposal:

Please provide on the Workshop Submission Form an outline of the proposed workshop with the following information

  • Name and Institution of Main Presenter(s)/Facilitators
  • Contact details  
  • Workshop Title
  • Brief (circa 100 words) description of the nature and content of the workshop, how it meets the integrative aims of the conference, its intended outcomes and how active participation of those attending will be encouraged.
  • Special features. An OHP and flipchart which will be provided in each workshop room. Indicate if you would be planning to bring any other equipment.
  • Availability on March 5th and 6th and willingness to repeat the Workshop if necessary. (Please note: It is a requirement that presenters register as conference delegates for one or both days; named presenters would be expected to be available at the workshop session(s) identified in the conference programme.) 

Please return the Workshop Submission Form electronically to QAA at enhancement@qaa.ac.uk to arrive no later than Monday 19th January 2009

Poster Proposals

Colleagues in the Scottish Higher Education sector are invited to submit abstract proposals for poster presentations. This is an opportunity for colleagues (including those from disciplines, and those with differing roles and responsibilities) from across the sector to share developments and practice under the broad headings of enhancing the quality of the student learning experience in developing effective learners and graduate attributes. Poster presentations provide an opportunity to present graphically material associated with examples of practice from across the sector and therefore extend the representation of the conference.  We would particularly welcome contributions from students and student associations.

The purposes of the poster presentations include:

  • sharing practice
  • promoting collaboration
  • raising awareness and facilitating peer input and interaction to aid the development of projects.

The poster presentations should be reflective of current and past Themes with, where possible, emphasis on how the outcomes from one or more of the Themes have been used to enhance the development of effective learners and the achievement of graduate attributes.

Poster abstracts must be submitted electronically to QAA at enhancement@qaa.ac.uk on the Poster Submission Form no later than Monday, 19 January 2009. Poster presentations will be chosen from abstracts submitted.

Guidelines
The proposal should adhere to the following guidelines:

  • the abstract should be no more than 500 words
  • Arial size 11, single line spacing and with no headers or footers.
  • include title, author(s) names and full contact details of main author
  • please indicate Enhancement Theme(s) to which abstract is relevant
  • please indicate which day(s) of the conference you will be attending. (Please note: It is a requirement that all presenters register as conference delegates for one or both days and would be expected to be available at the poster sessions identified in conference programme.)  

Poster Dimensions

  • Poster size –recommend poster size: A1 (59.46cm x 84.09cm).

Criteria for acceptance of posters
Each poster will be reviewed for acceptance at the conference against the following criteria:

  • relevance to the Enhancement Themes
  • clarity and coherence of the abstract
  • interesting and Innovative practice

What happens next? 

Workshop Proposals
If you are submitting a workshop proposal, you will be contacted early in the New Year. If your workshop is selected for inclusion, you will be asked to confirm that you are still able to offer it and to provide any further information required. You will also have the opportunity to discuss any queries you have

Poster Proposals
If you are submitting an abstract for a poster presentation you will be contacted as soon as possible after the submission deadline of Monday, 19 January 2009. Those chosen will be given further information on preparation of their posters.  Accepted poster abstracts will be included as part of the conference papers which will be circulated and posted on the Enhancement Theme website.

We look forward to receiving a wide range of workshop and poster proposals. 

Thank you very much for your time.