Advancing Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Innovation, Adaptation, and Scholarship

Teaching and Learning in Higher Education continues to receive increased attention from academics: in innovating the daily implementation of teaching and learning for students, in addressing the many challenges of the ongoing health crisis, in advancing the scholarship of teaching effects, and in providing a platform to discuss current trends in the Higher Education profession. This section aims to serve as a platform for cross-institutional, interdisciplinary, and international exchange about the challenges, practice, and salience of innovation in Higher Education teaching and learning. The section brings together scholars with an interest in teaching and learning, focusing on one of the following aspects: i) critical discussion on meta-trends, ii) pedagogical scholarship and iii) best-practice sharing. Our Panels are devoted to discussing both new and established ways of teaching political science and to reflecting on overall trends in Higher Education. We invite contributions that analyse experiences with using new mediums, online teaching, blended courses and similar methods that facilitate teaching to large groups of students, enable collaborative learning and cater to the needs of less traditional student groups, including students with families, disabled students, distance learners and professionals advancing in their careers. We invite contributions that focus on what can be learned from other cognisant disciplines, and those less frequently used learning activities and methods. We will particularly encourage contributions that discuss topics such as assessment of/for student learning and that speak to issues that go beyond individual practice. Panels may focus on but are not limited to the following topics: ● Innovating Political Science Teaching The purpose of this panel is to discuss examples of innovative approaches to teaching and learning in various Political Science courses. We particularly welcome papers that discuss experiences with novel pedagogic methods and ways of learning and provide evidence in the context of existing literature on teaching and learning in higher education. The contributors can discuss issues such as the ways of overcoming existing barriers, disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives and practices, use of non-traditional assessment methods and examples of problem based-learning among others. We expect the contributors to showcase examples of good practices whilst providing inspiration and encouragement for improving existing ways of teaching and learning. ● Digitalisation and the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on teaching and learning Today’s connected and shared learning experiences are no longer confined to the classroom walls due to the ongoing pandemic and government restrictions. Though unprecedented, this provides new opportunities for learning design. This panel aims to discuss such emerging possibilities and the challenges they pose, and encourages an exchange of ideas, experiences, and concepts such as dedicated learning spaces, blended and online learning, teaching with MOOCs, audience interaction software, Big Data, or the role of learning analytics in designing and delivering unique learning experiences. A special attention will be given to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on teaching and learning and the challenges associated with the shift to remote/online teaching. ● Evidence-based teaching in political science This panel is conceived in the best traditions of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL), building upon the recognition of the reciprocal relationship between teaching and research. Acknowledging that most teachers in higher education have a strong identity as researchers, SOTL encourages teaching staff to use their disciplinary research skills and apply them in order to investigate the effectiveness of their teaching on student learning. Therefore, the purpose of the panel is to propagate scholarly enquiry into the teaching and learning process – an idea that stands at the heart of the activities of the Teaching and Learning Politics standing group. The panel will consist of one or two papers that discuss the best practices in SOTL and research papers in which panelists inquire into their own classroom practice and its outcomes on student learning and show how SOTL principles can be applied into practice in Political Science teaching. ● Teaching in an inclusive manner This panel in particular invites contributions about inclusiveness in teaching, either by problematizing political and societal exclusion mechanisms in their teaching or by showcasing how teaching practice can take inclusiveness seriously. With this panel we aim to follow up on a collaboration with the Standing Group on Gender and Politics and to offer a platform to continue the discussion triggered by a jointly organized workshop in January 2020 entitled “New Frontiers in Teaching Politics, Gender, and Sexuality” ● Open Panel This panel invites contributions that are not aiming towards a pre-defined topic and where authors can investigate what they consider their main concern in teaching and learning design or implementation. ● Join us for a “walk-in clinic” Based on feedback from our standing group members on previous conferences, we want to experiment with a flexible panel set up. We invite colleagues to walk-in with particular questions or challenges they encounter in teaching or preparation of teaching material for the new academic year, or simply attend if they want to hear more about how colleagues teach certain subjects. We will promote this “walk-in” before the conference to ensure we have sufficient interest and attendance. We will also reach out to other ECPR standing groups to discuss possible collaborations for this session.