Tuning Africa Symposium on Research and Good Practice in Competences-Based Student-Centred Approach in Higher Education Tuning Academy: Tuning—Africa II

1—Introduction
This is a call for a proposal for the Symposium on Research and Good Practice competences-based student-centred approach in higher education which will form part of the Tuning Africa II 3rd General Meeting planned to take place from 17 to 19 October 2016 in Accra, Ghana.

Participation is invited from

1. All Tuning Africa II project participants
2. Academics from the universities which form part of the Tuning Africa consortium
3. Academics and researchers from other African universities

All applicants will be expected to submit their full paper for publication (free of charge) to the Tuning Journal for Higher Education and attend the Symposium.

Successful applicants who are not members of the Tuning Africa II project will have their expenses (accommodation and travel) covered by the project.

2—Opportunities
The Tuning Africa Symposium will provide you an opportunity to present your research and good practice in the domain of competences-based student-centred approach in higher education.
If your proposal is accepted, you will have an opportunity to:

1. share your research and good practice with colleagues from other universities and countries, as well as with Tuning experts and researchers;
2. submit your paper for publication in Tuning Journal for Higher Education (TJHE), a peer-reviewed international journal;
3. provide you a platform to engage with policymakers from Africa and EU;
4. prepare a paper that you could submit as part of an application for a Tuning Research Scholarship in Deusto University, Spain.

3—Types of Proposals that will be Considered
A—Research on a competence-based student-centred approach in higher education and may include:

1. analysing and evaluating the impact/significance of Tuning projects at the level of particular higher education programmes/institutions/countries/regions;
2. approaches to learning, teaching and assessment of generic and subject-specific competences in higher education such as concrete examples supported by both theoretical perspectives and empirical data;
3. staff development initiatives that facilitate the implementation of competence-based approach;
4. curriculum reform and the incorporation of the Tuning approach in institutional and national policies.

B—Accounts of Good Practice: Accounts and examples of good practices in teaching, learning and assessment employed in implementing a competence-based student-centred approach in higher education. These include:

a)  Course Design which describes among others:

• competences design in your programme;
• learning outcomes design in your course unit;
• generic competences considered and why;
• entities involved in the process of course design

b)  Classroom Management which describes:

• how you managed your first day in class;
• what you asked students or what you shared with them;
• how you dealt with large classes (if you had any) and how you engaged students;
• how you connected learning with their future anticipated professional careers

c)    Teaching and learning methods which describes

• concrete examples of methods you used in the classroom, for example successful lecturing;
• strategies you implemented to engage students;
• ways in which you used problem based learning;
• approaches employed to technology in class;
• accounts of positive effects and impact of these strategies

d)    Learning styles which describes learning style you promoted in your teaching, including:

• active learning;
• engaging students in activities;
• e-learning, using online spaces;
• collaborative learning;
• working in groups;
• experiential learning;
• creating real field contexts or projects for students

e)    Assessment methods which include:

• how you developed competence-based assessment;
• what methods you used;
• peer assessment strategies you promoted in class;
• examples used in assessment for learning for formative purposes;
• ways in which you gave feedback to students on their assessment tasks

f.    Reflection on your teaching which describes how you collected feedback from students, how you developed a self-evaluation of your teaching, or examples of peer assessment among teaching colleagues.

4—Content/Structure of Abstracts

A— For research papers:
Provide the rationale, theoretical framework, research questions and anticipated methodology in not more than 500 words (excluding bibliography).
B— Accounts of Good Practice
Describe an example(s) of good practice you wish to present, providing the rationale (of practice declared as sound/good), players/actors (academics, administrators/under/postgraduate students), results (outcome/output), logistics (venue, space, resources), duration (time), and reflections on strengths and weaknesses, and possibilities for transferability and implementation Please do so in not more than 700 words (excluding bibliography).

5—Abstract Submission
To submit your abstract (online), please click on this link.

6—Deadline for Abstract Submission
15 June 2016

7—Post-selection
If your proposal is selected, you will be notified by 15 July 2016. Once you are notified or your selection, you need to agree to:

• present your research or practice in the Tuning Africa Symposium on Research and Good Practice (within the framework of Tuning Africa II  3rd General Meeting);
• register to do so before 10 September 2016;
• develop your proposal into a full paper and submitted prior to the presentation by 15 September 2016. (The length for the research manuscript is between 6,000 and 8,000 words; the narrative for good practice is between 3,000 and 5,000 words (in both cases) excluding bibliography.)8—Manuscript Submission
• Complete manuscripts will be submitted to the Tuning Journal for Higher Education through its online submission system, following the submission guidelines at www.tuningjournal.org/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions. They will then undergo the full review process.
• Minor changes, which emerge from the presentation at the Symposium, will be permitted. In such a case, the resulting papers will need to be resubmitted via the online submission system of the Journal by 10 December 2016.
• If your proposal is selected, your expenses that include travel and accommodation, will be covered by the Tuning Africa project.
• If your proposal is not selected, you are still welcome to participate in the Symposium and your travel and accommodation costs will be covered, however, only if you are a Tuning Africa II project participant.

9—Selection Panel
All proposals will be evaluated by an international scientific advisory board, composed of experts in the field, members of the Tuning Academy, editors and board members of the Tuning Journal for Higher Education.

10—Plan At a Glance