Learning & Teaching

The 19th Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, centred around the theme ‘Inclusive Education in a Changing Environment’, took place in-person and online across 30th March and 1st April.  

Sub-themes such as ‘Flexible Learning Pathways’ and ‘Learning through Assessment’ were chosen to align with L&T Strategy Workstreams and institutional priorities.  

The in-person session, attended by 250 colleagues and external visitors, was introduced by Moira Fischbacher-Smith, VP Learning and Teaching, and Ayush Garg, SRC VP Education. They discussed the importance of designing inclusive approaches to learning and teaching with and not just for our students and ensuring that the diversity of voices across our student body are heard. They also shared some of the recent successes at the University – including the development of ‘sticky’ spaces such as JMS to give students a place to dwell and study outwith their classes, and the collaborative work with the SRC on the Student Voice Framework. 

This was followed by a keynote by Dr Sam Ellis, Head of Undergraduate Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, who gave an inspiring talk entitled “The Discipline of Enough: rethinking inclusion through pedagogical restraint”. Sam talked about how genuine inclusion depends on clarity, focus, and how, through using restraint in the everyday decisions they make, educators can help to reduce cognitive overload and support diverse learners by modelling sustainable professional behaviour.  

You can catch up with Moira and Ayush’s opening introduction, and with the keynote on YouTube.  

Delegates then had a rich choice of ten workshops to choose from. These were designed and facilitated by nearly fifty colleagues from across the institution on a range of topics aligned to the Conference theme and sub-themes. We were also delighted to welcome Professor Andy Schofield, Principal and Vice Chancellor, who came along to chat with attendees over lunch.  

The day closed with a panel on the conference theme, chaired by Wendy Anderson, Assistant Vice-Principal of Learning & Teaching. Members of this panel were Ayush Garg from the SRC; Clare Parks from STEP (Scotland’s Tertiary Enhancement Programme, led by the QAA); Nic Kipar, Deputy Director of Academic & Digital Development; Sam Ellis from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; and Stephany Biello, Dean of Learning and Teaching in the College of Science and Engineering. 

We have set up a SharePoint folder to collate resources from the day, and colleagues are also continuing to develop existing resources on our Learning and Teaching web pages. In particular, following the Embedding Employability session - and in response to staff feedback - new resources have been added to the Embedding Employability Framework webpages. These include a visual of the Experiential Learning Continuum and additional case studies showcasing how academic staff use experiential learning across the University. 

At the online session on the 1st of April, we welcomed 150 attendees. Thanks again to Professor Moira Fischbacher-Smith, Vice-Principal of Learning and Teaching, and Ayush Garg, SRC VP Education, for opening the online conference. Following this, attendees were invited to choose from eight sessions throughout the day, two for each conference sub-theme. In total, there were 24 pre-recorded presentations and over 80 presenters listed on the Conference webpages.  

Planning for 2027 is now underway - watch this space to see what we have planned for next year to celebrate the 20th year of the conference! 

You can find more details on the University's 19th annual Learning & Teaching Conference on the webpages. 

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First published: 21 April 2026