Conference Diversity and Success: engagement, well-being and empowerment

Introduction

Building on the first edition held in Nantes in 2024, the conference seeks to provide key insights into the diversity of learners in higher education and to present an overview of various mechanisms, initiatives and experiments based on greater openness, flexibility and inclusive practices to enhance the learning experience.

In a period of multiple transitions (social, digital and ecological), higher education institutions face the challenge of welcoming learners whose pathways, projects and needs are becoming increasingly diverse (European University Association, 2024). At the same time, these institutions are called upon to implement enhanced support and guidance measures to personalise education whilst supporting the evolution of teaching practices and the development of tools that promote inclusion (e.g., transition to higher education, generative artificial intelligence, blended learning, co-modality, etc.).

Key Questions

How, in this complex, evolving context that generates tensions (declining public funding, multiple reforms, accumulation of tasks), is higher education coping? What is the reality and scale of the transformations being implemented? How do they contribute concretely to improving the learning experience of learners?

To address these questions, concepts such as engagement, well-being and empowerment will be explored throughout the conference.

In a period characterised by acceleration (Rosa, 2010), how do the various stakeholders manage to remain engaged? Engagement (Fredricks et al., 2004), a concept referring to an individual's investment in an activity, role or project and involving cognitive, affective and behavioural components, appears to be a key variable for understanding the motivational dynamics at work in higher education.

From the learners' perspective, we can examine the diversity of their expectations and perceptions of their education: How can we characterise the engagement of different learner populations? What meaning do they find in their studies? What outcomes do they perceive (degree, skills, micro-credentials, etc.)?

For teaching staff, engagement can also be questioned: How does learner support fit within the teaching mission? How are the professional identity of teaching staff and their approaches evolving? Can different pathways be identified? How can we support teaching staff engagement in a dynamic of professional development? How are inclusive teaching practices being implemented in higher education?

Furthermore, the COVID-19 health crisis brought to light mental health and well-being issues within the student population. Since then, new concerns about learner well-being in education have emerged in relation to new relationships with learning spaces and times: How can we design learning experiences based on the principles of emancipatory well-being? How can we measure well-being in education? What are the relationships between well-being and success? Are there inequalities in learner well-being? How do distance learning and well-being in education interact? How can spaces support the learning process by providing conditions for optimising students' full potential?

Finally, improving the learning experience from an inclusive perspective requires examining not only the opportunities offered by the environment but also individuals' capacity to take advantage of them: indeed, the mere existence of a support mechanism does not ensure that students will choose to use it. The concept of empowerment refers precisely to an individual's or collective's capacity to develop their agency (Fernagu, 2022; Sen, 2001): How do learners perceive student success support mechanisms? How do they engage with them? Similarly, how do teaching teams make use of available resources (professional training, learner success dashboards, learning analytics, leave for educational projects, etc.) to evolve their practices and work towards improving education?

Proposals are therefore expected to address issues related to stakeholder engagement, well-being in higher education, or empowerment through the lens of diversity.

Themes

DIRES 2026 invites you to submit a presentation (oral/poster) or a workshop based on the following themes, which are illustrated by a range of questions:

• Well-being and success: How, in a context of diversifying learner populations, can we support and guide pathways to success? How is higher education addressing well-being issues in education? How can we combine learner success support with the well-being of teaching teams?
• Inclusive design: How are teaching teams adopting the principles of Universal Design for Learning (CAST, 2024)? How do learners take advantage of the opportunities offered and how effective are they?
• Professional development of teaching staff: What factors can foster the engagement of teaching staff in developing inclusive practices in response to diversifying populations?
• Engagement and persistence: How can we strengthen learner engagement and persistence in a context where the gaps between motivations, expectations and plans regarding higher education are becoming increasingly pronounced?
• Enabling environment: How do learners perceive the initiatives and mechanisms put in place to help them succeed? How can we support learners who have the least familiarity with the implicit codes and norms of higher education?
• Spaces and learning: How does the diversification of learning spaces benefit learners? Is it a source of inequalities? How can it strengthen the engagement of learners and teaching staff?
• Flexible provision: What forms of flexible provision are being implemented to strengthen learner inclusion? How are these forms perceived and used?
• Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) and learning: How is GAI changing the relationship with learning, the relationship with learning itself? What are the uses by learners and teaching staff? In what ways and how do these new practices support engagement and well-being in education?

References

• CAST (2024) Universal Design for Learning guidelines version 3.0. Wakefield, MA: Author.
• European University Association (2024). Trends 2024 European higher education institutions in times of transition. Brussels: EUA: European university association.
• Fernagu, S. (2022). The capability approach in the field of work and training: towards a definition of enabling environments?, Work and Learning, 1(23), 40-69.
• Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of educational research, 74(1), 59-109.
• Rosa, H. (2010). Acceleration. A social critique of time. La Découverte.
• Sen, A. (2001). Ethics and economics. Paris: PUF (reprint "Quadrige")

Click here to submit a proposal

Organisers

Université Laval and Nantes Université are joining forces for this second edition of the conference Diversity and Success: engagement, well-being and empowerment.

Our partners

This event is supported by various partners.