Context and themes
The University of Tomorrow
De Montfort University began life as a simple idea, "to afford authoritative instruction in art to the people of Leicester". By March 1870, the first classes were held in a former warehouse. Men and women from the gentry were taught during the day, while workers came to evening classes. 150 years later, we are facing exponential changes in technology. Emerging digital technology has changed the way we live and work forever. People are calling it the 'fourth industrial revolution'. What will the university of tomorrow look like? Will institutions be unbound by time, space and distance? Will universities offer fully flexible learning in real time from anywhere? Will we offer personally tailored study in multiple modes, using artificial intelligence, augmented reality and other digital learning innovations?
The university students of tomorrow will look very different to those of today. Having never known a pre-internet world, our future students will be digitally fluent; a hyper cognitive generation, able to rapidly collect and cross-reference multiple sources of digital information, with a capability to integrate virtual and offline experiences. Or will there be a huge digital divide? As teachers, how well prepared are we for this seismic shift in learning? What innovations are we already delivering? And what can we do now to better prepare ourselves for University 4.0?
Using learning trajectories for the future, the conference will build on digital and technological changes with the following three strands:
1. Disruptive Pedagogy
Disruptive Pedagogy aims to challenge the status quo of teaching in Higher Education and offer dynamic, creative and chaotic delivery at its best. Disruptive pedagogies are practices that challenge, inspire, and motivate with sessions happening anytime, in any location, and we allow technology to fulfil its promise, allowing students the freedom to explore the vertical ideas as well as the horizontal ideas of their discipline through conducive environments that drive creative thinking. Our voices have no limits, our learning spaces have no walls, our footprints stretch far and wide above and beyond campus. We are the game changers, we are #DisruptiveDMU.
2. DecolonisingDMU
Decolonising the university has a direct impact on teaching and learning because it creates space within the curriculum and within the wider university to disrupt traditional cannons of thought. It equips students with the critical tools of analysis and a knowledge base that can address the social problems of our contemporary time.
Through exchange and collaboration between students, activists, researchers and academics, this conference will look at the ways in which decolonising DMU can be driven through the development of disruptive, transformative and justice orientated teaching and learning practices.
As we move to active consideration of holistically addressing issues relating to race and institutional discrimination, the role of teaching and learning practise in considering counter narratives that support decolonisation and provide a platform for globally created knowledge is critical. The conference will seek to consider the issues of structures, resources and development that will both stimulate debate and equip those attending with an understanding of how to embed Decolonising DMU within their own academic specialisms.
3. Learning for Good: Student Experience and Social Impact
What role should teaching and learning at DMU play in tackling current and emerging societal challenges? How can studying at DMU empower students to make a difference, as engaged citizens and professionals? How can partnerships with external organisations, from local businesses to the United Nations, both enhance students' learning and enable positive societal impact? This year's conference theme invites participants to explore these questions. This could be through initiatives addressing 'Sustainable Development Goals' such as gender equality and climate action; practices that tackle racial inequalities by decolonising the curriculum; or any other activities that combine student learning with social good.
This conference was hosted by:
