How Higher Education Feels: A workshop using poetry to reflect on the emotional dimensions of learning in higher education

This event is hosted by the Mindfulness for Learning CoP.

Workshop facilitator: Kathleen M Quinlan, PhD PFHEA, Honorary Professor of Higher Education, University of Kent

Session description: The aim of this workshop is to prompt reflection, dialogue and increased attention to the whole person in higher education, particularly the emotions associated with learning and growing in higher education. It will draw on poems solicited by Kathleen for her book, How Higher Education Feels: Commentaries on Poems that Illuminate Emotions in Learning and Teaching (2016). As compact case studies, the poems will be used as discussion starters for further reflection on our interests and themes as a community of practice.

Speaker bio: Kathleen M. Quinlan, PhD PFHEA, Honorary Professor of Higher Education at the University of Kent, UK, has held leadership or academic roles at the University of Kent, the University of Oxford, the Cornell Veterinary College, and the Australian National University. She has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, 14 book chapters, and edited two books, including How Higher Education Feels: Commentaries on Poems that Illuminate Emotion in Learning and Teaching (Sense, 2016) and Culturally Sensitive Curricula Scales: Researching, Evaluating and Enhancing Higher Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024, with Dave S. P. Thomas). Her research is broadly in the areas of learning, teaching, assessment, and student engagement in higher education. She specialises in research on students’ holistic development, including the ways in which curriculum and instruction can support students’ interest. As an educational developer, she works at the nexus of research and teaching, translating her research findings into practical, evidence-based guidance for university teachers. In 2023 she was awarded an Accolade for Contribution to the Field by the Society for Research into Higher Education Award.

For any questions, please contact the Mindfulness for Learning co-leads: jack.rundell@easterneducationgroup.ac.uk and e.forster@hud.ac.uk