Please note the follwing information about the Context conference.

Partnerships in Context
Conference
University House, University of Leeds
Tuesday 11th January 2000

Context brings employers and educators together to make the 
learning real for higher education students. It is an innovative 
concept based on writing case materials, which help to improve the 
readiness of students for the world of work.

This national conference will bring together employers and 
academic staff who have an interest in developing the use of the 
case method. The conference will also provide an opportunity to 
hear from those already familiar with the concept.

The outline of the conference programme is shown below. The 
programme is designed to enable you to: 

* Find out more about Context;
* Make contacts with employers and academics;
* Learn about using the case method from experienced users;
* Consider how to develop cases appropriate to your needs;
* See the benefits to your business or your department of getting 
into Context.

There will be several themes for the parallel sessions:

Employer Partnerships
What can employers contribute towards the development and use 
of Case Materials? What factors (funds data writing, facilitating 
etc.) ensure successful partnerships?
How do we ensure that both employers and academic partners 
have their needs met? How do we ensure that students do gain real 
benefit?

Cases for Geographers
A range of cases has been developed at the University of Leeds for 
use in Geography, Environment and Management programmes.  
Five of these cases have been funded by the Environment Agency 
and one funded by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. 
How can these be built upon and used more widely?

Cases for Engineering
The School of Mechanical Engineering at Leeds has developed the 
case approach and several staff are now running cases in each of 
the first three years of their course. They are tackling the issue of 
the progressive development of skills such as team working, 
problem solving and presentation skills. The department of Civil 
Engineering is developing two cases at levels 3 and 4.
There is great potential for integrating the Context approach into 
engineering programmes of all kinds. What specific applications 
can we identify?

There will also be practitioner workshops. Academics and 
employers will present their experiences of working with the case 
method across a wide range of disciplines.

Who should attend
* Employers with an interest in working in partnerships with 
academics to make graduates more employable.
* Employers looking for ways of building bridges with universities.
* Employers looking for imaginative ways of promoting their 
business to students.
* Employers with an interest in influencing the learning process.
* Academics who use case materials and want to extend their use. 
* Academics who are thinking about using case materials for the 
first time.
* Academics who want to develop new case materials for use in 
the curriculum.
* Academics interested in making partnerships with employers.


Conference programme

10.30 Coffee
11.00 Introduction to the day
11.10 Keynote speaker: Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive, Association 
of Graduate Recruiters
Why Graduate Recruiters need to make Partnerships
11.30 Keynote speaker: Sue Otter
What are the student benefits of the Context approach to learning
11.50 Parallel workshops 1 Context in action
12.30 Lunch
1.15 Parallel workshops 2 Context in action
2.05 Planning in Context: Sally Brown, Institute of Learning and 
Teaching
An opportunity for Employers and Academics to discuss potential 
Context Cases
3.15 Plenary: Richard Brown, Director, Council of Industry and 
Higher Education
3.30  Close


To sign up please reply to Yvonne Smith, [log in to unmask]

Title:

Institution:

Address:

Email:

Telephone:

Information about projects can be obtained form Context Project 
manager Maggie Boyle ([log in to unmask]) or the Context 
web site http://context.tlsu.leeds.ac.uk


Maggie Boyle
Context
Project Manager
Learner Support Office
University of Leeds
LS2 9JT
Tel: 0113 2335306
email: [log in to unmask]
http://context.tlsu.leeds.ac.uk


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