International speakers at higher education conference

International speakers at higher education conference

The Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) will have its 36th conference at AUT University starting Monday 1 July in AUT’s Sir Paul Reeves building - AUT’s newest learning space.

Keynote speakers for the conference, from 1 July to 4 July, include AUT’s own Dr Ella Henry and top international speakers, Ann Pendleton-Jullian from MIT Boston, Professor Alison Phipps from the University of Glasgow and Dr Geoff Mitchell from the Queensland University of Technology. http://herdsa.nz123.co.nz/speakers/

Some of the questions the conference sessions will address include the value of an on campus learning experience when so much is online, and the social and digital aspects of learning. The conference has a theme of, ‘the Place of Learning and Teaching’.

Dr Henry will be the conference closing keynote speaker. “I will discuss how spaces and places speak to heart, mind and culture, and in particular look at the new AUT building, named for our previous Chancellor, Sir Paul Reeves. The Māori custom of acknowledging our ancestors by naming buildings for them is something that adds a distinctive cultural and spiritual feel to AUT; it resonates on many levels, as all great architecture should.”

The conference will have two ‘dialogical space’ sessions to facilitate social engagement with the keynote topics and other ideas sparked off in the informal learning spaces that characterise the building.

AUT’s Dr Stanley Frielick is the conference convenor and says the building is the perfect place to host the event this year. The building’s innovation and design is centred on learning and teaching he says. “What better place to have it than the stunning new building.”

The official Twitter hashtag for the event is #herdsa13.

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