Presented my work on cultivating students sense of belonging at the UNSW Education Festival 2024, here is the abstract for my talk:

"While extra-curricular initiatives that improve students’ sense of belonging are important, belonging is elusive and can mean different things to different students. One thing is clear though that all students need to feel a sense of belonging to the course they are studying, how they study that course must reflect personal interests, and how they are expected to demonstrate their learning should also be personalised.

Designing teaching and learning strategies where every student ‘belongs’ regardless of their backgrounds is sometimes challenging, however focusing on the basics of teaching can provide the foundation to make all students feel as they belong and are connected. Many of these strategies involve forging connections between students, between students and teaching staff and more recently between students and technology tools such as A.I. Conversational pedagogy implemented meaningfully has been used successfully in both large and smaller classes, and in lectures and workshops to help students feel connected, and within assessments to provide empowerment to the students.

This presentation will share some common and easy to implement strategies that can be implemented in most classes to improve students’ sense of belonging to the course, and therefore more broadly beyond their courses."