News & Events

ENLIGHT Teaching and Learning Conference 2024

The fourth ENLIGHT Teaching and Learning Conference took place at the University of Tartu from 7 to 9 October 2024. The conference theme was Innovation and Creativity in Higher Education.

  2024 UT TLC group by Andres Tennus

(Group photo by Andres Tennus)

About

The ENLIGHT Teaching and Learning Conference engages participants in open, international and interdisciplinary discussions. Applicants will contribute via oral presentations, poster presentation sessions, interactive and/or co-creative workshops, or roundtables.

Academics, students, alumni, educational developers, and administrative and support staff from within the ENLIGHT universities can share their experiences and ideas on how it is possible to connect the ENLIGHT educational goals and concepts with teaching and learning practice.  

The conference held in Tartu began with a pre-conference on 7 October, when longer workshops were held on topics related to the conference theme. The pre-conference was aimed for a smaller audience of 80 participants. The following days of the conference were dedicated to presentations, shorter workshops, poster presentations, and roundtable discussions. The two keynote speakers were Laura-Maija HeroPrincipal Research Scientist at HAMK Edu research unit, who spoke about the design-based approach in teaching and its connection to foster student creativity and innovation, and Jaan Aru, Associate Professor in Computational Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Tartu, who delivered the presentation “Brain learning, creativity and students’ motivation”, in which he discussed how to support creativity and motivation in studying.

The opening ceremony, award ceremony and some of the presentations can be rewatched on ENLIGHT YouTube channel. (will be added soon)

Visit the conference website: ENLIGHT Teaching & Learning Conference 2024 in Tartu

The next teaching and learning conference will take place in 2025 in Uppsala.

 

Teaching & Learning Award 2024

On 8 October, the Teaching and Learning Award was given to a course which has implemented innovative teaching practices related to the educational goals of ENLIGHT. This year, the award went to the Bratislava Comenius University for their course Policy making in Slovakia. It is a practical and challenge-based course transformed by PhD Dr Daniel Klimovský that focuses on critical thinking and has a problem-solving approach. It develops creativity and pro-innovative attitudes among students.

The second place went to the University of Galway for their courseEquity and Sustainability Transitions” and the third place to the University of the Basque Country for the courseConnecting Cultures: Sustainability, Travel, Translation & Migration”.

 

The winning team (Photo by Zeinäb Mirzojeva)

The nominees were: 

 

Creativity and Innovation

Creativity is the ability to produce new, diverse, and unique ideas. It is the practice of thinking outside of the box. Creativity empowers students to find innovative solutions to complex challenges. While creativity is the ability to produce new and unique ideas, innovation is the implementation of that creativity. 

Education strives to prepare students for a world of constant change. Beyond traditional academic knowledge, students must develop essential skills that will equip them to thrive in this dynamic landscape. Students propose innovative solutions to a situation or problem, undertake novel actions and show initiative and resolution capacity. It means students can look at a problem from multiple perspectives — including those others may not see.

Teaching should cater to developing students’ creative and innovative skills by incorporating active learning, challenge-based education, project-based learning, problem-solving, arts-based tasks and critical thinking. Collaboration and communication are crucial, as are considerations for equity to ensure access for all students. 

The conference offers an excellent opportunity to share ideas and experiences on how innovation and creativity have been supported in universities and how to do so in the future.

The sub-themes of the conference were:   

  • Supporting creativity and innovation in education through active learning and engagement
  • Designing learning environments that foster creativity and innovation
  • GenAI’s impact on creativity
  • Society's expectations for a creative university
  • Failure or a Creative Idea? 
  • Challenges in assessing innovation and creativity

Contact

For additional questions and information, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Social Media official hashtag: #TL24ENLIGHT

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