Excellence in Learning and Teaching Conference

Please note, this page has been archived and is no longer being updated.

Former NUS President Aaron Porter will be delivering the Keynote address at the annual SALT Excellence in Learning & Teaching Conference, which will take place on Monday July 2nd 2012 in the Glyndwr Building, Swansea University from 9.30 to 16.00. The aim of the day is to share and celebrate excellent teaching practice from Swansea University and further afield.

Aaron Porter is a higher education consultant and freelance journalist. He served as President of the National Union of Students in 2010-11, and has served as a non-executive board member for UCAS, the Higher Education Academy and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator. He was also the first NUS President to act as an observer to the HEFCE Board. Aaron graduated with a BA English from the University of Leicester, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. 

Aaron’s speech “Student Expectations, Engagement and the Changing Landscape of Higher Education”  will mention the fee environment, the student voice and student expectations when coming into university as well as other issues.

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Speight will be opening the conference at 10am with Aaron talking at 10:15am. The opening addresses will take place in Glyndwr D followed by workshops in other Glyndwr rooms.

The afternoon session will begin with a speech by Professor Kevin Bonnett Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience) of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Professor Kevin Bonnett took up the post of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Experience) in June 2008. His role emphasises the importance the University places on the student experience at MMU, particularly in a period where major changes in the student funding regime coincide with dramatic renewal in the University’s campuses and buildings, as well as in the portfolio of courses.

Prof Bonnett’s speech “ EQAL 2011: creating transformative change at MMU”  will focus on a major change initiative – Enhancing Quality and Assessment for Learning (EQAL), which he took the lead on: which involved the redesign of the whole undergraduate curriculum together with wide-ranging modernisation of student-facing systems and processes and radical improvements to the online learning environment and student portal.

There will be a number of examples of interesting initiatives from Swansea University including Enhancing Undergraduate Teaching through Social Media – ‘Teaching by Twitter’ from Dr Ben Evans and Keeping it Personal: The Impact of Audio Feedback by Michele Raithby. The conference will culminate in the announcement of this year’s recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Award by the Vice-Chancellor.

The conference is free to Swansea University staff and partners.

For more information about the conference please contact Chris Hall on 01792 513473 or c.m.hall@swansea.ac.uk