The Teaching, Learning and Employability Exchange looks forward to welcoming you at this year 's UAL staff summer Education Conference. This is a two-day conference that received nearly twice as many proposals as usual, so firstly we want to thank you for your generosity and willingness to share your practice and research this year. There are over 90 speakers this year.
The conference will be hosted across Teams and we are treating the online spaces as 'rooms' which will be open for the duration of the conference. Please see our Attendee Guidance for more information and notes on conference etiquette.
The Open Call for ExEd 22 has meant that your contributions have defined the conference agenda and themes. We are happy to announce the four inter-connecting themes of:
Creative Experiments, Critical Digital Pedagogy, Student Learning & Change!
Creative Experiments features some of the innovative approaches and experiments from across the Colleges. Critical Digital Pedagogy foregrounds criticality and new perspectives on pedagogy. Student Learning showcases both student-centred practices and student experience. Change! presentations tackle systemic discrimination, global challenges and again creativity across personal, political and professional contexts.
Given the extraordinary global challenges our students face, both now and in the future, we will begin each day with an Arts SU presentation to help keep a student perspective in mind. Yemi Gbajobi, Chief Executive of the SU, and Deputy CE Christina Kennedy, will start the Conference this year with a keynote conversation discussing their current priorities and including valuable information about the new Arts SU strategy.
Day two will begin with an Arts SU presentation that will highlight the neglected issue of ‘Freelancing as an International Student at UAL’ explaining how visa restrictions limit international students’ art and design practice and employment, and what can be done about this.
Networking – in person and online
Given your willingness to contribute, this year we positively encourage active connections and networking with colleagues old and new for developing further conversation and collaboration outside of the sessions. There will therefore be two organised in-person events, one at the end of each day, in spacious venues to allow for more staff attendance without overcrowding. There is also the online Collective Space, for a shared lunch and chat! This collective space is where the online Keynotes take place and will be open all day, to allow you to rendezvous outside of a session and talk further if need be.
The main conference programme is online via Teams -for both days- where you can comment in the chat or add questions for the Q+A, which usually takes place at the end of each presentation, or, collectively at the end of the session. However, look out for the presentation that is in-person on Day One, and those innovative sessions that allow for some off-line experiences.
Booking – in person and online
When booking for the Conference do select all the events that interest you. There will be the option of adding to your booking:
- Day 1 & 2, General Admission, all online sessions
- Day 1, Dye Garden Workshop
- Day 1, Networking Event, CSM Rooftop
- Day 2, Conference Keynote, eprg (experimental pedagogies research group) platform event and Social Reception at LCF
To give us an accurate count of numbers for making the spaces accommodating for all we strongly encourage registering your attendance to our in-person elements. Your Eventbrite booking will enable us to organise catering at the Networking event at end of day one and our special in-person Keynote and Social event ending the conference on day two. Please book early! (You may be able to attend without prior booking if capacity permits but we cannot guarantee entry).
Final note
With your support we would like to create an expanded opportunity for depth of engagement, sharing of experience across Colleges and developing new networks of critical friendship and collaboration, renewing our hopes and plans for the coming year.
We especially want the conference to be one of those, still rare, cross University social events at which you can catch up with colleagues you may not have seen face-to-face for some time! The Exchange would also like to extend a warm welcome to new colleagues in person. We appreciate and celebrate our considerable collective efforts this academic year.