Developing issues associated with Masters level education within the GEES disciplines
10.00am-4.30pm, Tuesday, 26 February
University of Leicester, Charles Wilson Building
A GEES Subject Centre and SPatial Literacy IN Teaching (SPLINT) FREE 1 day conference In association with the RGS-IBG Higher Education Research Group and Journal of Geography in Higher Education
Contents
About the event
This event is designed to explore issues associated with Postgraduate Masters within the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES) disciplines. Building upon an event held at the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) in August 2007, it was identified that there was a real need to highlight and explore the many issues emerging within Post Graduate Teaching (PGT) programmes.
This conference is aimed at raising the profile of such issues, with the objective to identify the needs of the GEES community within this area to facilitate the future work and direction of the Subject Centre Special Interest Group on Postgraduate education. Three high profile keynote speakers will be presenting these issues from their own particular perspectives:
- Professor Howard Green (Co-Director of Postgraduate Directions and former Chair of the UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE)) will open the conference by providing an overview of pertinent issues.
- Beatrice Merrick (Director of Services & Research UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA)) will talk on a number of issues associated with postgraduate international students and, in particular, the Prime Minister’s Initiative for International Education recently announced by the Prime Minister.
- Dr Laura Bellingham (QAA Development Officer in the Development and Enhancement Group) will discuss the future of Masters provision within the UK from QAA’s perspective and provide an provide an update on issues such as the Bologna Agreement.
Programme
10.00 Registration and coffee
10.15 Welcome and introduction
10.30 – 11.30 Keynote address: Developing issues associated with taught postgraduate level education: Some initial observations (10kb PowerPoint) - Professor Howard Green
11.30 – 12.30: Parallel Sessions/workshops 1:
- a) Managing the Masters Student experience
- b) Learning and Teaching at level 7
12.30 – 13.15pm Keynote address: Beatrice Merrick
13.15 – 14.00 Lunch and networking
14.00 – 14.45 Keynote address: Dr Laura Bellingham
14.45 – 15.45: Parallel Sessions/workshops 2:
- c) Internationalisation
- d) Managing uncertainty of PGT provision
15.45 – 16.00 Coffee/tea break
16.00 – 16.30 approx Plenary and conclusions
Opportunities for Participation
You can participate in this free conference in two main ways:
- Attending and contributing to the discussion
- Delivering a 15-20 minute presentation in the themed sessions/workshops
The 15- 20 minute presentations/workshop events should debate issues and offer/share elements of good practice associated with the themes identified. A 100-word abstract should be provided by 28 January. Presentations can differ in approach – whether theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and reflective - depending on personal or institutional experiences of postgraduate taught education.
Session/workshop 1 Either ‘Learning or Teaching at level 7’ or ‘Managing the Masters Student experience’. For example contributions should relate to innovations in teaching and learning at level 7, (e.g. pedagogic developments, appropriate curricula, plagiarism etc), or identifying the student experience (e.g. the nature of PGT study, appropriate standards for Masters Courses)
Session/workshop 2 Either ‘The Internationalisation of PGT provision’ or ‘Managing uncertainty’ of PGT provision. For example papers should be associated with international student’s issues (e.g. induction, cultural barriers to learning etc), internationalisation of the curriculum or issues associated the diversity of students, (e.g. dealing with student support procedures, recruitment etc