The first ENLIGHT Teaching and Learning Conference was hosted by Ghent University on November 18 and 19, 2021. The central conference theme was Learning from and with each other – peer learning across all levels of the university.The theme of peer learning referred to the educational method used in courses and programmes and to learning from each other during and after the conference.
Revisit the conference and award ceremony 2021
Watch the after movie below:
Have a look at the photographs of the event:
Overview of the programme
Keynote speaker: Prof. Eric Mazur
Eric Mazur is the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics and Area Chair of Applied Physics at Harvard University, Member of the Faculty of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Past President of the Optical Society. An internationally recognized scientist and researcher, he leads a vigorous research program in optical physics in the Physics Department at Harvard University. Mazur founded several companies and plays an active role in industry. More info on Professor Mazur via http://ericmazur.com
More info on the keynote speech and student lectures by Prof. Mazur: click to scroll down
- Watch the keynote speech on our YouTube channel.
- Find the abstract and slides via this link.
Eric Mazur gave a keynote speech on "Breaking down the classroom walls: Engaging student teams across time and space".
Professor Mazur also gave two hybrid student lectures during his presence at the conference. View both lectures on our YouTube channel.
Sessions, speakers and abstracts
We had the honour of welcoming 77 speakers from all 9 ENLIGHT universities. You can find the programme as well as the titles, abstracts and authors of all sessions below.
Teaching and Learning Award 2021
Did you miss the live ceremony? No problem! Watch it on our ENLIGHT YouTube channel. All information and videos of the nominated courses, can be found here.
University of Groningen wins the Award 2021
The winning course 'Practical Introduction to Research Methods' and the team behind the course: Roxana Bucur, Simon Dalley, Tom Downer, Liga Klavina & Laurent Krook received a beautiful artwork by Ghentian artist Nadine De Meester.
This is what the jury had to say about the winning team: click to scroll down
This course adapts to all criteria for the 2021 Teaching and Learning Award in the most convincing way. Peer mentorship is used as the basis for peer learning, tutoring and collaboration. Specially-trained Peer Mentors (senior students) provide feedback to students enrolled in the course thus optimizing a partnership with students on multiple levels. Students are also simulated to provide feedback as peers, allowing students to question their own work in a safe learning community. Finally, it stimulates students through activating teaching methods, which aligns with the educational aims in ENLIGHT.
This first-year course is a motivating introduction to research. It aims at helping students successfully transition to higher education and it places relationships at the heart of learning. The fact that such a multi-layered and community-building concept has been implemented successfully in the curriculum is impressive. Additionally, it is a real example of good practice when it comes to fostering academic socialization, but also to enhance the communicability of scientific action, one of the most important missions of higher education institutions.
The University of Bordeaux and Ghent University: runners up for the Award 2021
The first runner up course Smartphonics: from autonomous “Do It Yourself” labwork towards collaborative and peer learning experiments uses smartphones to carry out experiments in physics. The team behind this course is: Boudet, Bouy, Bouzdine, Chraibi, Delabre, Dobrijevic, Dumora, Gerbaux, Perrot, Villain-Guillot.
This is what the jury had to say about the winning team: click to scroll down
This convincing didactical design fully addressed the award criteria of peer learning, active teaching and the use of feedback. Overall, the jury was deeply impressed by the scholarly approach that is used to continuously monitor, reflect, and improve the course; surely this approach can inspire others to apply such a scholarly perspective themselves in their teaching. It is also important to highlight that this course has initiated national and international collaborations with high schools and universities to transfer these new teaching practices. This first year course makes students engaged learners from the very start of their degree and reflects the student-centered nature of its design.
The second runner up is the course Smart Product Design from Ghent University with the course team: Jelle Saldien, Steven Verstockt and Francis wyffels.
This is what the jury had to say about the winning team: click to scroll down
This course was a strong example of how creativity and openness can foster the emergence of impressive student projects. Moreover, it nicely demonstrates how the teaching philosophies of a teaching team can shape the outcome of a course. This proposal stands out for its interactive character and challenge-based approach. Students benefit from stimulating methods and receive much feedback, which enables them to create and explore the possibilities of their own work.
In the course, students receive a project which needs to solve a specific challenge, which they need to deliver as a team at the end of the semester. They not only have to be creative in their approach, but also economical on a tight budget, which requires excellent teamwork. Furthermore, the challenges are linked to external partners which was appreciated by the jury for the opportunity to develop employability skills in a safe environment. Unsurprisingly, the best practices shown in the proposal prove its broad impact.
Be inspired by the other nominees!
All ENLIGHT Universities nominated a course for the Award 2021, we showcased these during the ceremony. You can watch them here.