Photo of orange tip butterfly by Isobel Gowers
During the month of November 2022, the ALN ran three CPD webinars with an overall theme of Inclusive Communities, with all presenters being chapter authors of the ALN book: 100 Ideas for Active Learning. The sessions were very lively, and we have received a lot of positive feedback and suggestions for future improvements, giving us lots of things to think about. In particular, we did a lot of learning on our feet as facilitators, and we have spent some time as a group reflecting on the experience and talking about how we would improve things from a logistical point of view in the future. We are all in agreement about all of the presenters though – they were all superb bringing their idea for active learning ‘to life’ and giving participants the opportunity to consider how they might apply it to their own practice and context in the future. So in summary the feedback and levels of participation indicated the format worked well but we are giving consideration to fine-tuning the format in light of the much valued feedback.
We recorded the relevant parts of each session (the ‘presentation’ part of each, and not the break out activities), and uploaded them as a playlist to the ALN YouTube. You can find out more about the presenters, and watch each individual session, below.
Session 1: Inclusive Practice
This session was facilitated by Isobel Gowers, with three presenters from chapter 2a of the book, which was about inclusive practice. We had an amazing turn out for this, with 91 attending.
Attendee Badge: Earning criteria: To earn this page an individual attended the CPD session on Inclusive Practice and completed the evaluation.
Presenters
- Eugenia Tzoumaka: To agree or not to agree? Working towards consensus under conditions of mutual respect
- Alison G. Harvey: Scaffolding an event
- Jessica Clare Hancock: Student characters for a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach to university life
Session 2: Building Communities
This session was facilitated by Sarah Honeychurch. It was based mainly on chapter 2b of the book, with the first presenter (George) from chapter 2a due to logistics. We had an excellent turn out for this, with 53 attending.
Attendee badge: Earning criteria: To earn this page an individual attended the CPD session on Building Community and completed the evaluation.
Presenters
- George Kyparissiadis: ‘Put yourself in my shoes’: an active learning exercise for the instruction of diversity
- Victoria Wilson-Crane: International Pathways students: applied Learning Weeks build networks
- Kelly Trivedy: MS Teams: illuminating a research community
- Malgorzata Trella and Sophie Rutschmann: Interactive mind map – creating bonds among new learners
Session 3: Empowering Learners
This session was facilitated by Sarah Wilson-Medhurst. It was based on chapter 2c of the book, which was themed around empowering learners. This week we had a similar turn out to last week, with 58 attending.
Attendee Badge: Earning criteria: To earn this page an individual attended the CPD session on Empowering Learners and completed the evaluation.
Presenters
- Peter Finn: Democratising teaching: student votes and module case studies
- Margarita Steinberg: Boost learners’ confidence
- Marcus Pedersen: Handing over the key: students take ownership of the learning management system to create their own learning
What Next?
After each session, a link to an evaluation form was sent to each attendee, with the option to request a badge for completing this form. We are currently beavering away to fulfill all of these requests, and badges will shortly be issued to all who attended and completed evaluation. We also have a very special badge for all of the presenters and facilitators.
If you would like to earn a champion badge we are inviting you to create an artefact/event and submit it via a Google Form (this form will be sent by the end of February 2023).
This artefact/event will enable you to demonstrate the take-away learning outcome that you are able to design a learning session using your selection from the active learning ideas presented at any of the three events in series.
To demonstrate this and earn a Champion badge you are invited to produce an artefact or arrange an event that can be shared with the wider Active Learning Network community.
The artefact/event might be, but is not limited to, a blog post, a reflection, a podcast episode, a short video, run a workshop for your institution and invite ALN members, run a workshop for the ALN, produced guidance or resources, completed research that could be written up as an article. Please choose something that is relevant to you and your practice, and practice context.
The deadline for this is by 31st March 2023 and we will share further information about how you can share your artefact/event by end of February, but in the meantime please get designing! if you have any questions you can also email Active Learning Network noting that we aim to reply within 5 working days.
We are now plotting and planning the next round of webinars – watch this space – and, as ever, contact us via the ALN email address if you’d like to get involved.
The Active Learning Network 