Diverse facets of higher education pedagogy in the spotlight
In collaboration with the Higher Education Pedagogy Subcommittee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA PTB), the Institute of Research on Adult Learning and Knowledge Management of ELTE's Faculty of Education and Psychology organised the second edition of the Higher Education and Pedagogy Conference on 11 October 2024. This year's programme focused on the diversity in higher education pedagogy, which was well reflected in the diverse organisational background of the participants. Dean Anikó Zsolnai welcomed the participants at the opening ceremony, the chair of the conference was Institute Director Helga Dorner.
The keynote lecture was delivered by Franziska Zellweger Moser, researcher at the Centre for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the Pädagogische Hochschule in Zurich. The visiting professor reflected on the pressures on higher education,
which call for a rethinking of the roles of educators as well as for collaboration at all levels.
In order to improve teaching and learning in higher education, she stressed the importance of having significant conversations at the level of teaching communities and programmes, as well as at the institutional level. The presentation highlighted the need for organisational learning within higher education institutions, the integration of pedagogical practices according to the needs of different disciplines, the potential of lateral leadership, and the importance of evidence-based development and a culture of feedback.
The plenary session was followed by a roundtable discussion on the development and challenges of higher education pedagogy with the participation of Olga Csillik (Corvinus University of Budapest), Viktória Kövecsesné Gősi (Széchenyi István University), Annamária Tátrai (ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences) and Róbert Lévai (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design), moderated by György Fábri (ELTE Faculty of Education and Psychology) (on the cover photo). Participants discussed the aims and methods of academic development work together with the questions of the academic developer identity. They also reflected on the development practices of their institutions, the methods of addressing disciplinary specificities, opportunities for taking student needs into account, as well as the state of academic development scholarship.
In parallel, doctoral students Natia Bendeliani and Beste Yildirim from the Adult Learning an Education programme of ELTE’s Doctoral School of Education, facilitated a workshop titled Teaching while doing your PhD, focusing on teaching challenges and academic development opportunities for doctoral students. Together, workshop participants discussed strategies that can help create a balance between early career teaching and research, also providing opportunities to integrate diverse teaching methods.
In the afternoon session, Ildikó Dén-Nagy, Judit Kovács and Viktória Pajor (Budapest Business University) held a workshop focusing on action learning and its application in organisational development in higher education. Participants were introduced to the Action Learning method, which supports both individual-level learning and organisational development through a participative, active involvement of staff.The facilitators drew on the experience of a successful action learning project at Budapest Business University.
In parallel, Alexa Luca Erdei (ELTE Faculty of Education and Psychology) and Georgina Kasza (Tempus Public Foundation) led a session on International student mobility and higher education pedagogy, highlighting the relationship between organisational learning in higher education and internationalisation. Participants were able to learn about the factors and trends affecting international student mobility and reflect on the pedagogical factors that determine student mobility in higher education.
The final session focused on the productive combination of teaching and research through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), facilitated by Helga Dorner, Kinga Káplár-Kodácsy (ELTE Faculty of Education and Psychology) and Zsófia Frányó (Budapest Business University). Participants were able to discuss in small groups how they can scientifically investigate classroom-level and departmental development processes (such as the introduction of a new teaching method), monitor the effectiveness of such a process and publish the results in scientific journals. Closing the session, Helga Dorner stressed that the institute would like to continue working and thinking together on this topic through creating SoTL communities of practice in Hungary, where interested academics can work together and develop methods to address problems in teaching while receiving professional support in turning their methodological developments into research. In her closing words, she also highlighted that the institute will organise the Higher Education Pedagogy Conference again next year.
This report was written in collaboration with the students of the Human Resource Counselling MA programme (Kristóf Fejes, Kíra Krupánszki, Liza Lázi Laura, Csenge Török) and of the Doctoral School of Education (Bo Nang Sagawah Win, Manal Mohammed Youse Hamarsha).