What Works Conference on
Quality of Teaching in Higher education
OECD Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE)

12-13 October 2009
Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Istanbul, Turkey

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

In the context of the sustained growth and diversification of higher education systems, the civil society has increasing concerns about the quality of the programs offered to students. The quality of teaching is influenced by contextual shifts in the higher education environment, such as the current internationalisation of studies and the additional missions that education is being asked to perform – innovation, civic and regional development, producing an appropriately skilled workforce to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Institutions are trying to respond to the above challenges. They are supporting and implementing a range of schemes, processes or evaluation mechanisms to identify, promote and reward good teaching practices. The What Works Conference on Quality Teaching will focus on the quality, relevance and impact of such initiatives, bringing together researchers, academics, students, and institutional leaders from around the world to discuss methods of enhancing the quality of teaching.

Contributions can encompass research papers, but also papers reflecting on effective and innovative practice or featuring the scholarship of teaching and learning. Contributions with a reflective, evaluative or self-critical nature will be preferred.

This is a valuable opportunity for researchers, practitioners, academic leaders, students, educational developers, quality units and heads of services to showcase their experiences and research in the field. They will be reaching a high level audience from the academic world. The selected papers will be used to stimulate discussion and reflection during the parallel workshop group sessions.

Workshops will cover 3 overarching themes, each having a prevailing angle: teaching, learning and quality teaching at the institutional level. Under each overarching theme, a range of sub-themes have been identified (see annex I). Contributors are invited to address one of these sub-themes, noting that these can be tackled from different viewpoints (managers, academics, students…) or approach (research-based, practise-based…).

CONTRIBITIONS REQUIREMENTS
 

Contributions to be presented at the conference need to meet the following requirements in order for them to be included in the proceedings:

Format and language
All contributions must be submitted in New Times Roman size 12, formatted in a Word document. The language can be English or French. [Please note that the conference will be in English only.]

Abstract
The title must be followed by a 150 word abstract, before the full text.

Length
We recommend that the contribution does not exceed 2 500 words.

Slide presentations
Slide presentations may be included with the contribution. The first slide must have the same title as the contribution and the set of slides must be written in English. The slide presentation must last no longer than 15 minutes. Public-friendly presentations are welcome.

Publication
Papers may be selected for publication in the IMHE OECD’s Higher Education Management and Policy Journal (HEMP), provided the article fulfils the existing requirements (see www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/journal). The HEMP journal is distributed through OECD’s world-wide dissemination channels.
Please indicate if the contribution is only for the presentation at the conference or if you wish to submit a full paper for the publication review process. The authors of papers retained for publication will then be contacted by the journal Editor.

Deadline
Contributions are due by 21 September 2009.

Selection
Contributors will be notified if their proposal has been accepted by 2 October 2009  at the latest. The selection process is aimed at ensuring the relevance of the content and its compliance with the goals of the What Works conferences, notably the contribution must:
- Have a clear focus
- Be coherent and understandable to an international audience.

Contributions will be reviewed by the Steering Group for Quality Teaching review and by the IMHE Secretariat.