Learning & Teaching

The call for proposals for presentations at the 20th Annual University of Glasgow Learning and Teaching Conference is now open. This year’s theme is ‘Reflecting on Twenty Years of Learning, Teaching and Assessment'. 

The 2027 conference will take place over two days. The first day will be an on-campus event in James McCune Smith Learning Hub on Tuesday 6th April 2027 and will consist of a series of interactive workshops. This day will be open for all staff at UofG to attend. 

The second day will be fully online on Thursday 8th April 2027 and will use a flipped model of delivery. Recordings of presentations will be streamed via the conference platform, with all presenters available on the day to take questions following their presentation. As well as all staff and students at UofG, this day will be open for external delegates to attend. 

 2027 marks the 20th year of the University of Glasgow’s Learning and Teaching Conference, providing us with an opportunity to look back across two decades of learning, teaching and assessment, reflect on how the landscape has changed and consider what this can tell us about where we might go next. 

At first glance, many of the topics that concern us today might seem remarkably familiar to those that concerned us twenty years ago. Questions about how students learn, how we teach, how we assess, and how we support an increasingly diverse student body are far from new. Yet while the broad questions may remain, the contexts in which we ask them, the challenges we face, and the ways in which we respond have changed considerably. 

Over the past twenty years, our understanding of learning and teaching has been shaped by changing technologies, educational policy, student expectations, institutional priorities and wider social and cultural developments. At the same time, we have acquired new evidence, approaches and tools with which to address longstanding questions. The lenses through which we view learning, teaching and assessment have changed – and so, inevitably, have the questions we ask. 

This conference invites us to reflect on where we have come from, what has changed, what has remained stubbornly familiar, and what we might learn from looking back. We invite contributions that explore the evolution of learning, teaching and assessment over the past twenty years, and that use this history to help us think critically and creatively about the next twenty. 

In order to explore and co-create responses to these questions, this year’s conference will be arranged into four subthemes, all chosen to align with the institutional priorities set out in the Learning & Teaching Strategy. 

Across all four subthemes, we particularly welcome contributions that explore what it means to work with students as partners, recognising students as active participants in shaping their learning, teaching and assessment. 

Themes: 

Transforming curricula 

Over the past twenty years, our curricula have evolved in response to changing student needs and a more diverse student body. This theme invites us to reflect on approaches to curriculum design and delivery, including interdisciplinary and inclusive curricula, emerging pedagogies, and the changing relationship between academic expertise and student experience. We particularly welcome contributions that explore students as partners and co-creators in shaping learning and teaching in the classroom and at course and programme level, as well as opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. 

Student skills and futures 

The skills and capabilities that students need for their futures have long been a focus of learning and teaching, but the nature of those futures – and our understanding of what students need to navigate them – continues to change. How can we move beyond preparing students for an uncertain future towards working with students as partners to develop the skills, confidence and agency to navigate, contribute to and shape their futures? 

We are seeking contributions that demonstrate how employability and skills are intentionally developed, made visible and connected to students’ futures through the curriculum; explore how students reflect on and articulate their learning; and consider how experiential learning helps students apply their knowledge and skills in new contexts. 

Learning Through Assessment 

Assessment has remained one of the most enduring features – and challenges – of higher education. This theme invites us to reflect on the evolution of assessment practices and to consider how assessment can support rather than simply measure learning. We are particularly interested in contributions that explore inclusive and meaningful assessment and feedback practices co-created with students. How might students as partners challenge or reshape our assumptions about assessment, feedback and success? All submissions must evidence how the Learning Through Assessment Framework has been used when designing those assessments. 

Student Voice 

The idea that students should have a voice in their education is not new, but the ways in which we understand and enact student voice have changed considerably. Over the past twenty years, approaches have developed from gathering student feedback towards more active forms of engagement, participation and students as partners. This theme asks what we mean when we talk about student voice, whose voices are heard, and what happens when we genuinely act on what students tell us. How have our approaches to listening, responding and working with students evolved? We invite contributions that explore student voice and partnership in learning, teaching and assessment, and that reflect critically on the opportunities, challenges and tensions involved in moving from doing things for students or to students, towards working with students as partners and co-creators of their learning. 

Full details are available on the Conference website. 

Call for abstracts 

We are soliciting proposals for: 

• Workshops for the campus day on Tuesday 6th of April, which will be in the form of one hour long interactive workshops. 

• Presentations for the second, online day which will be in the form of pre-recorded ten-minute video presentations which address the Conference theme, and which focus on one or more of the Conference sub-themes 

Please submit your abstracts by Friday 6th November 2026 via the Conference website. 

If you have any queries, please contact the Conference email inbox. 

Selection criteria 

Proposals will be evaluated against a set of publicly available criteria to ensure transparency and fairness. Full details are available on the Conference website. 

Registration 

Registration will open in the new year, when the full programme for both days will be announced. Full details will also be published on the Conference website. 

Building on the success of previous conferences, we look forward to your participation in what we are sure will prove to be, once again, a lively and engaging event. 

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First published: 22 October 2026