COVID19, networks and significant conversations: Influencing teaching and learning cultures in higher education COVID19 has dramatically disrupted higher education. We’ve seen wide and increased use in educational technologies to help facilitate remote and online learning. Across our sector, we’ve also seen more visible conversations about important issues related to workload, fatigue, burnout, stress, well-being, equity, access, inclusion and diversity. The challenges we have and continue to face because of the global pandemic are complex, often requiring quick decisions and actions that impact teaching and learning cultures, communities, and practices across multiple organizational levels. These decisions and actions have required us to draw upon scholarship and our collective wisdom of experience and practice to find hope and solutions through meaningful conversations about teaching and learning, within and beyond our institutional boundaries. Building upon the seminal work of Roxå & Mårtensson (2009) and Roxå et al. (2011), this session will explore some of the key issues and challenges we have faced during the global pandemic, and the role of formal processes and informal activities (e.g., significant conversations, relationships and networks), in influencing teaching and learning cultures in higher education.

Roxå, T., & Mårtensson, K. (2009). Significant conversations and significant networks–exploring the backstage of the teaching arena. Studies in Higher Education, 34(5), 547-559.

Roxå, T., Mårtensson, K., & Alveteg, M. (2011). Understanding and influencing teaching and learning cultures at university: A network approach. Higher Education, 62(1), 99-111.

About the Presenter

Natasha Kenny holds a PhD in Land Resource Science and is Senior Director of the University of Calgary’s Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning (TI). In her role, Natasha leads and collaborates with colleagues across the TI and university to strengthen teaching and learning practices, cultures and communities. In 2018, she was awarded the Educational Developers Caucus of Canada Distinguished Educational Development Career Award for helping to advance the field of educational development locally and nationally. Her research interests relate to educational leadership, well-being in higher education, the scholarship and practice of educational development, and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). She is committed to giving back to the community, as a leader in UCalgary’s United Way Campaign and a past member of the Educational Developers Caucus of Canada’s Executive. In her spare time, Natasha can be found exploring nature, and running/cycling trails within and around Calgary.