LTA Education Conference: dare to ask whether things could be done differently
What if we let students assess themselves, or awarded fewer grades? What if we held challenging discussions in public rather than in the classroom, or embraced AI? With ‘Free your mind’ as its theme, no idea was too outlandish at the Leiden Teachers’ Academy Education Conference.
This year’s conference was intended as an exploration of education that focuses on creating a meaningful learning experience for students, rather than on formal assessment, grades and qualifications. Universities have traditionally been organised around these kinds of end products, said assistant professor Astrid Van Weyenberg during the opening plenary session. ‘But that prominent role risks overshadowing what really matters: the process through which learning takes place. Because it’s in that process that students develop their academic skills.’
Reflecting on growth
To underline the theme of the day from the outset, participants discussed a real-life example that assistant professor and moderator Pieter Slaman said reminded him of a ‘crazy sociology experiment from the 1960s’: students awarding themselves a grade. But that is what Professor Maghiel van Crevel has been doing for years, he explained in a video shown during the session. His students determine 20 per cent of their final grade themselves.
‘It's in the process through which learning takes place that students develop their academic skills.’
The crux: Van Crevel does not just ask students to choose a number. Instead, he asks them to think about how much they think they have grown during the course (on a scale of one to ten). The students reflect on this weekly and have to explain their answer in a short justification. According to Van Crevel, this approach is paying off. ‘I see more awareness, engagement and attention to personal development.’
Unessay and ungrading
Many of the workshops were also designed to spark conversations about whether and how our teaching could be approached differently. The topics ranged from the concept of the unessay, which calls for other forms of assignment than the traditional written paper, to ungrading – because what does a single final grade really tell us about a student’s development? In a session on public dialogue (based on the Radio Palestine/Israel project), participants explored how students can be taught to have difficult conversations about controversial issues in public rather than behind closed classroom doors. Teaching staff looking for a more hands-on workshop could learn to build their own AI chatbot to support student learning.
Student magazine
‘And you’re probably all disappointed because you’ll miss 80 per cent of this fantastic workshop programme’, said Slaman. Fortunately, the organisers had come up with an innovative project of their own. ‘Instead of investing in a fancy keynote, we’ve put our energy this year into a magazine that will be published after the conference.’ Even better: the magazine will be written by student editors, who spent the day reporting on the various workshops.
Creating space
Later on, during the conference’s closing session, Sarah de Rijcke said that her role as Rector Magnificus unfortunately leaves her with little time for teaching. However, she welcomed the conference theme and the idea of creating space. ‘If, in our teaching, we can limit our tendency toward one-sided measurement and assessment to what is truly necessary’, she said, ‘perhaps we can give our students more opportunity to engage with scholarship as a culture and as a path toward becoming a richer human being – in the figurative sense of the word.’ This does not mean, she emphasised, that teaching staff should take a step back. ‘Because it is precisely within that newly created space that much important work has to be done.’
During his workshop, assistant professor Looi van Kessel was struck by the sheer amount of educational expertise already present in the room. ‘I think that if we as lecturers combine all our knowledge and experience, we can solve any educational challenges together. What we need, though, are more opportunities like this for colleagues from different faculties to exchange ideas.’ His words met with enthusiastic applause from the audience. And a suggestion was immediately made: why not hold LTA Education Conference twice a year instead of once?
Text: Evelien Flink
Photos: Danique ter Horst