Engaging Students in Learning
Following on from Research Day, academic staff are invited to gather on Thursday 5 June for the 2025 University of Divinity Teaching Conference. The theme for this year’s conference is Engaging Students in Learning.
Student engagement is one of the most important elements of higher education effectiveness and student success. With the disruptions of the last five years caused by the COVID pandemic, the subsequent shift to online learning, and the recent increase of the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence, there has been a dramatic impact to all facets of the teaching and learning environments.
This conference aims to highlight the successful holistic and agile approaches that have been implemented and tried at the Colleges and Schools of the University to support and enhance student experience and engagement. It also provides us with an opportunity to learn from each other and from the current advancement in teaching and learning techniques to support positive scaffolding of students’ learning experience. Our diverse and unique perspectives and pedagogies across the University allow for more relational communities to be built in our learning environments. This is worth showcasing.
This year we will also have a separate stream directed towards the Registrars and Student Services personnel, who will join the conference for the plenary then separately have their stream workshops and discussions for the rest of the day.
The University has consistently delivered ‘the best University study experience of any University in Australia’. This day will be an opportunity to demonstrate the high calibre of our learning and teaching practices, and celebrate our successes.
When:
Thursday 5 June 2025
Mode:
In-person or online
Location options:
- St Paschal Campus
(90 Albion Road Box Hill VIC) - Adelaide Hub
(hosted by Uniting College for Leadership and Theology – depending on levels of interest) - Online, via Zoom
The program
The Conference will have an external plenary speaker presenting in the morning session. This is followed by concurrent workshops session that is hands on and focusing on important learning and teaching approaches leading to lunch. After lunch there will be a concurrent presentations session highlighting various academics from all the Colleges and Schools of the university and their approaches to engage students effectively.
Schedule (all times are AEST)
| 10:00 am | Opening |
| 10:15 am | Plenary |
| 11:15 am | Morning Tea break |
| 11:45 am | Concurrent Workshops |
| 1:00 pm | Lunch |
| 1:45 pm | Concurrent presentation sessions (x3) 30 minutes each |
| 3:20 pm | Final plenary presentation and closure |
| 3:00 pm | Finish |
Expression of interest – call for workshops and papers
Expression of interest is now open for all academic and non-academic staff at the UD to present either a workshop, or a paper presentation, or both.
Workshops (75 minutes in total) could include:
- Fit for purpose assessment design and development
- Creative and engaging learning activities
- Supporting students with disability
- Using ARK effectively
Call for papers (30 minutes in total) could cover topics such as:
- Designing better assessments
- Engaging students with GenAI
- Creating a sense of student belonging
- Supporting students with disability
- Creative learning activities for blended learning
- Student participation
- Feedback for learning
- Using ARK effectively
- Supervising/mentoring new academics or academic assistants
- Student and academic resilience
- Applying Universal Design for Learning to theological studies
- Incorporating First Nations perspectives in teaching and learning
- Collaborative and facilitative teaching
- Using creative arts in teaching theology
- Teaching neurodiverse students
Please upload your abstract (200 – 300 words) indicating if you prefer a workshop or a paper presentation by 24 April. Presenters will be notified by 9 May of their session times.