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Developing engaged students who understand strategies for success is known to help them in transitioning into higher education. However, this brings about a number of challenges for their teachers, as student characteristics in the 21st century are complicated by the range and variety of technologies they engage with. Most students are technologically connected and grazing (surface learning), and the role of the teacher is to encourage them into engaging with a dining experience (deep learning). Understanding their characteristics is essential in enabling students to develop learning strategies. The session will focus on developing an understanding of student characteristics in 2019, and how those characteristics can be recognised (both by teachers and students), and used to promote learning success. This knowledge will empower students to understand what factors are associated with success in learning when transitioning to HE, and empower teachers to establish and sustain a collaborative community of engaged students. This interactive workshop reflects the shifting nature of pedagogy within a technologically connected global community of liminal students. The interactive workshop intends to be engaging and stimulating. Using the design principles of a world cafe methodology (identified as an effective and flexible format for hosting dialogue within large groups, Brown & Isaacs, 2005), it will provide participants with the foundations of a toolkit to identify student characteristics and the strategies which can be employed to engage them in their learning. It will also consider how to facilitate students in understanding their own characteristics, and what this means in their learning journey, particularly when moving into HE. We will begin with an interactive overview of student types and their characteristics from the pedagogic literature. Following this, delegates will work with accessible and fun resources (based on emojis) on student typologies and their own experiences, to identify multi-layered characteristics. To develop a range of practical actions (a toolkit), small group discussions will focus on identifying strategies teachers can adopt to successfully engage with a variety of student types. This will encourage participants to have the confidence to experiment with strategies which are tailored to their individual teaching needs. There will also be a small group discussion around how to empower students to understand their own characteristics, to encourage the types of learning behaviours which are associated with success. The audience is any teacher with an interest in developing their identity and skills. The format and elements of the world cafe in this workshop will enable delegates to develop the foundations of their toolkit. Through the sharing of insights, delegates will develop an holistic appreciation of how they can build effective learning communities. Learning outcomes Delegates attending this session will:
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