Time

Presenters

1:00-1:05pm

Welcome and opening remarks

Elise Gear

1:05 – 1:30pm

Talk 1 - Tips and tricks for effective teaching delivery

Within higher education, teaching spans a broad range of learning environments from small scale seminars to large scale lectures. Dependent upon numerous factors, teaching delivery varies across these environments and pitching level of delivery is vital for fostering a positive learning environment. With a PGCE and experience teaching within primary, secondary and higher education, I will draw upon my own training and teaching experiences to present tips and tricks for teaching delivery within a higher education setting.

Dr. Beatrice Hayes

1:30 – 1:55pm

Talk 2 - Developing student-teacher relationships and the use of humour in teaching

Positive student-teacher relationships can support engagement in higher education. This talk will outline evidence-based methods to foster productive student-teacher relationships, drawing on the experiences of PGR teaching staff. These methods will be considered in context of online teaching delivery methods necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and how teaching staff can build relationships with students using online tools. Finally, the role of humour will be explored in the context of developing rapport between teaching staff and students. The importance of student-teacher relationships will be considered in context of educational and wellbeing outcomes.

Alex Lloyd

1:55 – 2.30pm

Talk 3 - Being an autistic teacher in higher education 

Searching for sources about autism in education reveals a lot of information about teaching autistic people, and little about what it is like to teach when you are autistic. Teaching involves an understanding of the needs of students, and presenting information in a way that students can understand. This might lead people to wonder how it’s possible for an autistic person to teach effectively. In this talk, I (a late-diagnosed autistic woman) discuss the benefits and barriers of being autistic, and teaching in higher education. Evidence regarding improving diversity and representation in the classroom will be discussed, along with personal examples from myself, and other autistic teachers. 

Louisa Thomas