How to enjoy a conference solo

Izzy Harvey is a Research Assistant at LITE.

Last week I had some of the most fun I have had at work all year. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy each and every day working at LITE, because I do! But being able to attend what some call ‘the conference of the year’, aligned fully to my PhD topic, was an opportunity not to be missed.

As some of the LITE team and other colleagues from Leeds jetted off to Groningen for EuroSoTL, I hopped on a short train ride to Manchester, home of the International Assessment in Higher Education conference. Knowing I was going alone, I had put in some groundwork and sent a handful of emails to some particular people I hoped to meet and talk across the three days. I was very lucky all these emails were met with very welcoming responses and gave me a boost of confidence despite attending solo.

I took something away from every session, but I will just mention a couple of highlights. Firstly, the two masterclass workshops. These were probably my favourite sessions, with Naomi Winstone and Robert Nash challenging us to delve deeper into the mysterious processes of what students are doing when they process feedback, or opening the ‘black box’ of feedback. This was an extremely engaging and thought-provoking session.

Enjoying a meal out with new conference friends

The second masterclass I attended was run by David Boud and James Wood and was crammed full of advice and guidance around ‘what is worth researching in assessment and feedback’. This included how to get noticed and published and when to follow trends and hot topics and when not. As an early career researcher, this session was invaluable to build my knowledge around this wider elements of becoming a successful researcher.

Other sessions I attended explored team feedback literacy, a conversational tool for supporting feedback dialogue, and ‘what if there were no grades?’. As a developing feedback enthusiast, I loved the variety of topics and being among fellow enthusiasts.

One final highlight to mention was being invited on my first evening to join the wonderful team at CRADLE, Deakin University for some social fun. They’re such successful researchers in the field, but also so friendly and welcoming. This gave me another great confidence boost to approach many new people throughout the whole conference. I'm already looking forward to the next time I get to attend AHE.