bioCEED at ICED2018

The International Consortium for Educational Development Conference (ICED) 2018 was held in Atlanta in June, with the theme Institutional Change: Voices, Identities, Power, and Outcomes. bioCEED was well represented at the conference, presenting 3 papers. The Collegial Project Course – a systematic way towards institutional change,  and a discussion piece of the debate around the introduction on teaching reward systems in Norway – What is it with education that make many critics leave their role as an informed researcher and argue on the basis of personal opinions?

Along with our partners in NOKUT, we also presented the Norwegian Centres for Excellence in Education – How can a top-down initiative support change and development bottom-up? 

Roy Andersson (bioCEED/Lund University) presenting the Collegial Project Cours

Helen Bråten (NOKUT) and Oddfrid Førland (bioCEED) presenting the Norwegian Centres for Excellence in Education

Featuring over 500 papers presented by educational developer colleagues from around the world, this conference was an inspiring learning experience for the bioCEED and NOKUT delegates, and also a confirmation that we belong to the international educational and academic development community. As a bonus, we got to visit the Georgia aquarium for the conference dinner.

On the way to ICED in Atlanta, we also visited the Center for Instructional Excellence  at Purdue University, where we had a tour and discussions on active learning rooms with center director Chantal Levesque-Bristol and her colleagues. The CIE is situaded in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center  – a student-centered facility with a range of active learning room in different designs and sizes.

Although we are far away from having facilities like the WALC, we were inspired by the diversity of rooms, and especially by the way the CIE works with teachers to promote transformative, evidence-based teaching. Check out their web pages and be inspired too!