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Ignite the Spark: Inspiring Student Engagement and Motivation
The call is now open
We are pleased to open the call for Abstracts, for the annual Learning at City St George’s Conference, which will place on Thursday 3rd July 2025 at City St George’s, University of London – Clerkenwell campus. The conference will provide an opportunity to engage in discussion and debate with colleagues on how to engage and support student motivation.
Student engagement and motivation is central to ensuring our institutions remain student-centred and also involving students in decisions about their education. Learning should be social, active, engaging, authentic and collaborative. We want students to engage and enjoy their learning. We also need to ensure it is inclusive and flexible.
Whilst institutions have used a range of approaches to collect student feedback such as surveys, focus groups and student-staff liaison committees the feedback focuses on what students think is positive but also what changes might be needed. It does not often ask students about what motivates and engages them to learn nor do we always include them in research and development to enhance this aspect. Students as partners schemes are one approach to providing students with an opportunity to be able to share their views on engagement and be involved in making change. Co-creation of learning experiences is another.
Lowe (2023) refers to students continuing to change the way they learn, use resources and engage with each other and staff who provide and support their education. The importance of recognising this and involving “students as being mutual producers of knowledge” (Lowe 2023:289) and “fully participating as partners in making changes in our universities” (Lowe 2023:289) is essential to future engagement of students in their education.
You can submit an abstract to share your practice and learning in relation to student engagement and motivation. Share what has worked, what might not have gone so well, and, any solutions you have. Do consider presenting with students where they may have been involved in changing your approaches.
Within this theme there are a range of sub-themes you could focus upon for your abstract and these include:
- Co-design of modules and programmes
- Learning and teaching approaches that engage students
- Peer and group assessment and how to engage students
- Engaging students in assessment design
- Extra-curricula activities to support learning
- Fostering Inclusion: Embracing a Diversity of Experiences
We anticipate that this topical theme will provide excellent opportunities for discussion and, debate during the conference. Proposals for papers and posters are invited which relate to the overall theme and at least one sub-theme. We will have a maximum of five parallel sessions running so do think about which format might be most appropriate for you to present your work.
Papers/presentations
(These will be for 15 minutes with three in each session and 5 minutes for questions on each paper)
Papers can be published or in progress, but you are not required to submit the paper for this conference. Presentations without papers can be on completed projects/work, including innovations, case studies, new implementations, etc. All submissions in this category should plan to present your work for no more than 15 minutes and then have 5 minutes for questions. All submissions are encouraged to present slides, or similar materials to accompany an oral presentation. You should have some questions prepared to stimulate discussion if needed.
Lightning talks
(These will be for 7 minutes each with six in each session and a few minutes for questions)
A Lightning talk can be a work in progress or a completed activity with the focus on the key details. The presentation should be only 7 minutes with 2 minutes for questions after each talk. All presenters are encouraged to use slides, or similar materials to accompany the talk.
Workshops
(These sessions are for 60 minutes)
If you are providing a workshop then try to keep your overview to 20 minutes and then have around 30 minutes as activity including feedback and sharing and, permit 10 minutes for questions at the end.
Posters
(Maximum size should be A0)
Posters will be available for participants to view throughout the conference. However, there will be a scheduled poster session in the programme so that you can discuss your posters with colleagues.
Submitting your proposal
Proposals should be completed on the Abstract Submission Template and then submitted via the online form.
The Closing date for abstracts is Friday 4th April 2025.
Criteria for acceptance of proposals
Each proposal will be reviewed for acceptance at the conference against the following criteria:
- Relevance to conference theme and sub-themes clearly stated;
- Clarity and coherence of the proposal;
- Evidence of relevance to others across the University and beyond;
- Contribution to development, enhancement and scholarship related to the theme.
Feedback and Guidance
Once the proposals have been peer reviewed feedback will be sent to applicants by Friday 25th April 2025.
References
Lowe T (2023) (Ed) Advancing Student Engagement in Higher Education. Reflection, Critique and Challenge London Routledge Taylor & Francis group