Keele University has launched a new institute to bring together experts from across the university to shape educational delivery and deliver enhanced education outcomes for both students and staff.

The Keele Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence (KIITE) is a cross-cutting Institute, working across all learning communities and learning spaces at Keele University, shaping educational delivery and evaluation; with academics, with students and with external partners.

Over 140 delegates gathered for the launch of the Institute, which took place at the Keele Learning & Teaching Conference 2019. The conference explored one of the core Institute themes of ‘social learning’ - with a keynote delivered by Simon Thomson, Director of the Centre for Innovation in Education, University of Liverpool.

Cross-disciplinary presentations from over 20 academic and professional staff at Keele explored various elements of ‘social learning’, ranging from the external-facing dimensions of the ‘civic curriculum’ to the dynamics of active learning and student co-design, and the importance of designing wellbeing into the curriculum. Live project workshops offered the opportunity to contribute to priority Keele education projects.

Dr Rafe Hallett, Director of the Keele Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence, commented:

“I’m delighted that we have officially launched the Keele Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence. Bringing all of these expert teams together within one Institute allows us to strengthen our networks of pedagogical debate and action research, and raise the profile of our brilliant educators.

“Together, our academic developers, student learning experts, learning technologists and employability consultants form a unique Programme Design Consultancy that, working with academic leads, designs and underpins our Distinctive Keele Curriculum, and works in the spirit of the New Keele Deal to construct a Civic Curriculum that engages with the region and develops collective skills and knowledge.”

Professor Helen O’Sullivan, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education at Keele University, commented:

“Today was a really important day for Education at Keele. The Keele Institute for Innovation and Teaching Excellence is a critical element in delivering the vision for Education; to enhance excellence and improve outcomes for all of our students. Rafe and his team created a conference programme that showcased the very best of current activity at Keele and demonstrated how social learning is being embedded at Keele.”