ALDinHE 2022: The Learning Development Conference
10 June 2022 (Online) & 14-15 June 2022 University of Northampton
Join us for three days of stimulating discussion and inspiring sessions!
This year, we’ll be running the conference both virtually and physically.
Our online day will be Friday, 10 June, and our in-person days will be Tuesday and Wednesday, 14-15 June in Northampton*.
*If we are unable to hold the physical conference, we will run it virtually across the same three days.
This year we have three broad strands we encourage you to consider aligning with:
- Balancing the digital and the physical.
- Education for sustainability.
- Wellbeing in Learning Development.
The conference will offer plenty of CPD opportunities, including research development, CeP/CeLP guidance, opportunities to learn more about ALDinHE’s work, and the chance to get involved with a working group and/or a community of practice.
The deadline for proposal submission is Monday 17 January 2022 by 5pm.
Please read the guidelines below then submit your proposal here.
We particularly welcome creative and imaginative proposals which make good use of flexible learning space, including outdoor spaces. If you would like to discuss these possibilities, please contact Sheryl Mansfield (sheryl.mansfield@northampton.ac.uk).
You may choose to submit a proposal for a:
60-minute workshop
250 word abstract + session plan
Is your topic comprehensive enough to fill a 60-minute session?
Are there enough and opportunities for active involvement of participants?
How will you make it interactive and engage participants?
Think about what the objective is and make sure your abstract shows how you are going to achieve it.
Workshops should provide participants with a tangible take-away of information; this doesn’t have to be paper based – it can be an idea, an inspiration, or an action point.
20-minute paper presentation
250 word abstract
A paper presentation can be used to present the findings of some research that you have been working on. Many people engaged in research take the opportunity of presenting papers at a conference as a preliminary to getting a full piece of work published, but that isn’t always the case.
Abstracts for conference papers should meet the review criteria and the conference themes. The review panel will want to know what is important about your research and why delegates will be interested. The ALDinHE conference has a strong practice orientation so reviewers and delegates will want to know ‘what is the value of your findings and can it be used to inform practice?’
If you are not engaged in research activity, you can use the paper presentation format to report on interesting examples of practice or developments in service provision.
Please note, the paper presentation slots are 20 minutes presentation plus 5 minutes Q & A/discussion.
5-minute lightning talk
100 word topic outline
These are short presentations delivered in a Pecha Kucha style. This style of conference session has been introduced in the last few years and has proven very popular. Presentations have to be delivered within a five minute time period, with questions and discussion taking place after all the presenters have finished.
If you are interested in presenting a short lightning talk at the conference, the outline should make it clear that your topic can be delivered in such a clear and concise way.
Poster
100 word topic outline
If you haven’t created a poster before (experienced colleagues very welcome too), this is an ideal opportunity to submit a poster proposal. The possibilities are wide open and we would like to see poster proposals that show:
- Particular aspects of your work – solo or team – that you are especially enthusiastic about and want to share
- Projects or initiatives where you would like to share ideas and get feedback
- Research, including accounts of research in progress
- Presentations about themes or concepts that you are exploring
- Student development or staff development, in the context of student learning development
- Student perspectives, including posters by students about their experience of student learning development
- Any aspect of your work where you are keen to share ideas and build links with colleagues at other universities or colleges
Please note, posters are in digital format only. You will be provided with instructions on how to create your poster and supporting audio.
Resource showcase
100 word outline
This is designed to be an informal opportunity for practitioners to share Learning Development resources. You are invited to bring a favourite resource you have discovered or created yourself. You will briefly introduce your resource and outline how you use it and why it is particularly effective.
Expert practitioner mini-keynote
150 word outline of your area of expertise + 3 prompt questions
This will take place during the Tuesday morning plenary and will run in a ‘speed dating’ style. We invite you to present your area of expertise (5 minutes) and prepare 3 discussion prompts of contention or debate (10 minutes) for a small group. After 15 minutes you will move to another group and repeat the process. There will be 3 iterations in total.
A 30-minute plenary will follow, led by the ALDinHE chair.
Wild Card
250 word outline
We invite you to be creative and imaginative and submit a proposal with a difference. We particularly welcome proposals which make effective use of Northampton’s innovative campus space. If you would like to discuss these possibilities, please contact Sheryl Mansfield (sheryl.mansfield@northampton.ac.uk).
Proposal mentoring
If you haven’t presented at the ALDinHE conference before, you can request a mentor to guide you through the submission* process and preparation processes. A mentor could support you in terms of:
Preparing a proposal
- Discussing the format of previous ALDinHE conference sessions.
- Talking through your ideas for a submission.
- Offering informal feedback on an abstract draft
- Discussing how to approach any requested revisions
Preparing your session
- Providing feedback on draft slides
- Watching a practice run of your session online and giving you feedback
- Technical aspects of poster preparation
The deadline to request a proposal mentor is Wednesday, 1st December 2021 by 5pm.
This will give us enough time to ensure we can find you a suitable mentor and that your mentor can help you with your proposal.
*Please note that a conference mentor does not guarantee that a submission will be accepted.
If you would like to request a mentor, please contact admin@aldinhe.ac.uk.
The ALDinHE conference is a supportive and welcoming environment that promotes creative collaboration between learning developers and is always popular, with a regular attendance of around 200 delegates from the UK and beyond.
Delegate Fees
Registration will open on the 31st March 2022. The ticket prices for ALDcon22 are shown below.
| ALDinHE members | Non-members | |
| Full conference | £190 | £230 |
| Two days in-person | £150 | £180 |
| One day in-person + online | £120 | £145 |
| One day in-person | £80 | £95 |
| Online | £50 | £60 |
Fee Waiver Scheme
We will once again be opening a fee waiver scheme for those whose institutions will not fund the cost of a conference place. These will be on an application-only basis. Further details will follow separately.
Please address any queries to admin@aldinhe.ac.uk