Comment: The Director's Blog

Institute Director Professor Tina Overton recaps on a strong year for the LITE Community and looks forward to #SEC2020.

As we approach the end of a busy semester we hope that colleagues take the opportunity to recharge their education batteries before the start of semester 2.

There is no better way to achieve this than attending the Student Education Conference on January 6 and 7.

#SEC2020

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Student Success’, in its many forms.

We have a packed programme for you with keynotes, 10 minute orals, three minute snap sessions, workshops and exhibits.

For the first time the conference will be supported by an app through which you can build your individual programme, contribute to discussions, find venues and much more.

This is apart of our attempt to make the conference more sustainable so registration will involve just collecting a badge.

Don’t expect paper programmes or the usual conference freebies but we will still, of course, be providing delicious refreshments throughout the two days.

LITE Community

The Student Education Conference is just one of many activities that have kept LITE colleagues busy this semester.

We have organised a number of Share Adopt Adapt workshops, Masterclasses, and the regular Journal Club sessions.

We have also launched a series of Getting Started in Pedagogic Research workshops following the high demand for our intensive workshops last session.

You may also have noticed our growing number of Networks, lead by academic and professional colleagues and set up to meet needs within our community.

We are pleased to have been able to fund a second round of both LITE Fellowships and LITE Catalyst projects fund this session.

You can find details of successful projects here.

We also launched the new LITE Transferring Innovation Fund which provides modest funding for colleagues to work together to share innovative teaching or resources.

This fund has an open call, as do the Supporting Pedagogic Research fund and the conference fund, so do check those out too.

In the new year watch out for our relaunched LITE mentoring scheme which will have a focus on support for pedagogic research.

We will also have a focus on supporting and networking our affiliated networks.

LITE exists to support the education community at the University of Leeds and our programme of work is constantly evolving to meet your needs.

But do get involved.

Keep and eye on our website, follow us on Twitter and join our mailing list and do get in touch if you think there is something we can do to support you or your colleagues.

Merry Christmas and and happy new year from the team at LITE.