I must have been slightly insane pitching a workshop for the EdD conference on the 20th of July. Not due to the scope and aims of this conference but because it was the day after our end-of-term celebrations, I was shocked and frightened when I received the email telling me that the workshop proposal had been accepted and that I would be the last presentation of the day.
Having been accepted, the time I had to prepare was important to create a workshop that was wholly inclusive despite the varying contexts of where the audience/participants/lecturers/doctors/professors/students currently worked. Most are on or teach on the EdD course so a highly academically alert crowd was the demographic of the day.
The topic of the workshop would be around the co-construction of curriculum, student voice and its many possibilities, and limitations with a brief section on its history. The idea was that the session was interactive and grounded in the principles of participatory education and democratic engagement. It provides a framework for understanding student voice initiatives and, importantly, offers a platform to share your experiences and research strategies. This collaborative approach would support the creation of platforms for student expression, involvement, and a sense of belonging. With this in mind I came up with three session aims to promote at the start:
1) Understanding theoretical and practical aspects of student voice.
2) Discussing tools and strategies for utilising student voice effectively.
3) Networking and sharing insights from a diverse range of contexts.
Before presenting I reached out for some advice from those who have had experiences of running workshops at conferences, I had only one conference appearance from last year and within that, I was facilitating discussion. Arguably a less onerous task. The most solid piece of advice that I had came from a fellow performer, academic and Canadian teacher, this was, "Don't be intimidated and remember that you are the expert, create a safe space for discussion and share examples of your evolution of thought. We have all been guilty of bad practice". As I was presenting these things came to be truths and I felt more comfortable as talking and answering questions as the session went on.
I thoroughly enjoyed delivering the session and had some lovely feedback from those who were taking part. I certainly enjoyed the questions and hopefully invoking critical thought and discussions around a topic that I am truly passionate about. This is certainly something I would like to do more of in the future and gave me a small insight of what lecturing/delivering sessions to academic adults was like!
I have included the proposal, slides and scripted sections below.
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