AKU’s Network of Teaching and Learning hosted its first Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference, starting August 20, at the University’s Centre for Innovation in Medical Education for faculty, the Aga Khan Development Network and partners.
Offered as both a virtual and on-the-ground two-day conference, Engaged Teaching for Engaged Learning, it provided an opportunity to over 150 participants from Karachi, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and London to create a community of practitioners who c
an contribute to the body of knowledge about teaching and learning as well as benefit from the experience of others.
This was the first time such a large gathering of AKU faculty came together from different disciplines, including medicine, nursing and education along with teachers from Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan Education Services.
In his opening remarks, Dr Greg Moran, Provost, AKU reflected on his personal experience as a new and young faculty member and the challenges he faced in the classroom, challenges that led him to understand the importance of support for teaching for faculty.
“In AKU’s desire to be a student-centred and research led university of and for the developing world, the TL_net is critical to the improvement of the University’s teaching to enhance student experience in three very specific areas: teaching and learning support; promoting the scholarship of teaching and learning; and evaluation, accountability and outreach on teaching and learning,” he added.
Dr Tashmin Khamis, Director, TL_net set the scene, explaining why the Network had invested in SoTL. “Research shows that the most effective methods of academic development comes from peer support, mentorship and partaking in communities of practice. This SoTL conference is the first step in this direction, and we will continue to offer such opportunities to AKU faculty in future as well,” she said.
The most significant barrier to dramatic and sustained innovation in teaching and learning is a quiet barrier that few consider said Professor Arshad Ahmad of the Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning, McMaster University in his keynote address.
While there is research and evidence that points to both teachers and students to experience learning environments that are more responsive, engaging and effective than ever before, few of these innovations are making it into classrooms and learning environments. “Fewer still are being employed in concerted effort with evaluation and measurement that feed back into the ongoing improvement of teaching and learning practice,” he added. “It is time for education to catch up.”
He continued on this theme and spoke of the process of turning ideas and research into refined practical applications, its “translation” and the most promising solutions to this surmountable obstacle.
Keynote presentation by Professor Janet Welch from University of Alberta was on rethinking teaching, how one can incorporate technology to create rich and rewarding learning environments. She offered several basic strategies for creating a learning-centred classroom and from shifting from passive to active teaching.
Nasir Shah, Director Quality Assurance, Higher Education Commission of Pakistan suggested, during the discussions, that AKU should take a lead in enhancing teaching and learning in Pakistan.
The conference hosted several parallel paper presentation sessions, seven capacity building workshops and presented participants with an opportunity to present their posters on the themes of innovative pedagogies, assessment for learning, and teaching with technology.
