Diversity, Distance, Digitalisation: Inclusive and supportive practices in ALL
Charles Darwin University is a remote education provider in the Northern Territory, and like other regional, remote universities across Australia, caters to a culturally and linguistically diverse cohort of students, many of whom study online or remotely. Our remote locations as higher education providers paired with our non-traditional student cohorts bring with it unique challenges for supporting students in their academic language and learning. These challenges often relate to individual student diversity within the cohort, distance from the university and the different educational experiences they bring to their studies. This diversity means academic language and learning specialists need to work collaboratively to provide equitable education opportunities.
Therefore, we encourage enabling education academics, English language teachers, curriculum specialists, Indigenous education practitioners and students, who are all consumers of ALL practices, to join us at AALL 2021 conference, to be held virtually and hosted by Charles Darwin University from November 17-19, 2021.
The conference will include presentations on the following areas within the theme of Diversity, Distance, Digitalisation: Inclusive and supportive practices in ALL:
This theme aims to question the extent to which our practices are inclusive of diverse learners or whether we are in fact hindering them with our current practices. Topics include:
- Multimodal learning
- Academic literacies across different cultural and language backgrounds
- Supporting diverse learners and their learning, and strategies for success
- Retention and empowerment
Massification of education is impacting both students and ALL staff, both often being pushed to the margins of institutional priorities at the expense of quality student learning and experiences. Topics include:
- Pedagogies of supporting distance, isolation and wellbeing
- Social aspects of learning
- ALL practitioners’ role in student wellbeing
- Regional and remote experiences
- First year experience
The drive towards equitable education for culturally and linguistically diverse students continues to be a priority for many universities. Topics include:
- Diverse learning pedagogies and ways of knowing and learning
- Decolonising practices
- Multilingual/bilingual ALL practices
- Indigenous perspectives and practices in ALL
This theme interrogates the shifting discourse around students as clients, service consumers and tradable commodities within the following topics:
- Online learning/ Virtual learning environments
- Interpersonal tensions
- Avatars
- Gamification and technology
The website for the online 15th Biennial AALL Conference is now live.
For all your conference information, updates and registration, go to: https://aallconference2021.cdu.edu.au/