Programme

日程

Keynote Speech:

What Have We Learned From Learning Online?

Abstract

The covid 19 pandemic drove us as a HE community (rather more rapidly than we would ordinarily plan) to adapt our approaches to learning and teaching: having travelled so far, will we continue that journey or return to the practices of the past? What if we were to take time and reflect on what we have learned and seek to improve not just the quality of the teaching and learning, of the student experience but also the way in which we provide wider student support services to enrich and sustain it? We will explore the negative perceptions of online experience, the established and evolving benefits, the challenges that we addressed and those that remain. Our students have articulated to us that while they value the accessibility and flexibility that can be facilitated by digital technology, they also need access to conducive learning spaces and supportive and affirmative human contact as a regular part of the student experience. As the Director of a large professional student service, what has become clear to me is that the changes wrought to the learning environment have made it critical that we respond innovatively and supportively to sustain the wider concept of the student experience. I will discuss how a wider view of the total student experience should help us address the challenges and build on the positives highlighted by this monumental shift in learning delivery so that we can offer more transformational, sustainable and carefully constructed learning opportunities for our students.


Biography

Ms McLaughlin joined Northumbria University as Academic Registrar and Director of Student, Library and Academic Services in September 2021. Ms McLaughlin leads an array of professional services supporting the student journey. And work with 500+ staff members covering the following services: Quality and Teaching Excellence, Registry Records and Returns, Academic Support, Student Engagement, Student Life and Wellbeing, Northumbria Language Centre, University Library, Graduate Futures. Working closely with the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education), we support the development and implementation of the Education Strategy. This includes policies and aligned services to support student voice, student progression and student outcomes, the day-to-day management of quality and standards and compliance with external regulatory requirements, as well as preparations for TEF.

Ms McLaughlin have worked in the HE sector since 1989 and held senior administrative positions, both central and faculty based, in seven UK universities (Manchester Metropolitan, Liverpool, UWE, South Wales, Gloucestershire, Warwick and Northumbria) as well as the post of Manager of the Committee Secretariat/Clerk to Council at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. Ms McLaughlin have a long history of working in quality assurance and enhancement nationally, joining QAA in 2009 as an Assistant Director leading on the training and deployment of reviewers, the introduction of student reviewers in England and NI reviews. Ms McLaughlin led review teams in UK and overseas reviews of UK higher education provision in Singapore, China and Macao. She returned to QAA in autumn 2015 as Head of Universities and Standards, working with cross Agency teams to develop and deliver stakeholder engagement, institutional liaison programme, the redevelopment of the UK Quality Code, and the development and delivery of services, events and activities for QAA’s key stakeholders: students, institutions and PSRBs.