PHELC Symposium 2024
Project Title: Sixth Pedagogy for Higher Education Large Classes (PHELC) Symposium 2024, www.phelc.ie
Team Member(s): Ann Marie Farrell, Anna Logan
Faculty/Audience/: DCU Institute of Education
Aims/Objectives: The overall goal of PHELC is to enhance pedagogical practice in teaching and learning at scale across disciplines in higher education (HE). The rationale is to support those who teach and those who support HE teaching and learning in developing the knowledge, insights, and skills required for effective and inclusive practices in large HE classes.
Instigated in response to the challenges we experienced in our own professional practice in teaching large classes at DCUIoE, the focus on teaching and learning at scale and the inter- and transdisciplinary approach we have taken renders PHELC highly relevant to enhancing the quality of teaching and learning experiences across and beyond DCU.
The core objectives are to 1) Enhance pedagogical practice in teaching and learning at scale across HE disciplines, 2) Identify pedagogical and assessment possibilities appropriate for large classes that maximise student learning, engagement, and participation, 3) Provide a forum for sharing evidence-based practices in relation to curriculum, teaching, learning, and assessment large classes.
Since 2019, PHELC has provided a forum to share evidence-based practice in relation to large-class pedagogy through an annual symposium and published proceedings. PHELC specifically addresses the perceived challenges and limitations associated with teaching large class cohorts ( defined as 100 or more students), aiming to counter the view that such settings restrict innovative pedagogical approaches and hinder learner engagement. This work is intentionally interdisciplinary reflecting our belief in and commitment to collaboration with academics from diverse subject disciplines as well as collaboration between academic staff and all those who support learning and teaching in HE.
Over the past six years we have organised six symposia and published six sets of proceedings achieving significant international reach and impact and enhancing DCU’s reputation for innovation and flexibility in curriculum and pedagogy in HE. To date, one inter-institutional seminar and six PHELC symposia have taken place. PHELC has consistently provided a platform to maximise national and international access for those who teach and support teaching and learning in HE. PHELC events serve as a forum for academics, academic developers, teaching assistants, and researchers to collaborate in sharing evidence-based practices related to curriculum, teaching, learning, and assessment in large class contexts and address challenges relating to equality, diversity and inclusion and academic integrity.
Open Access Resource Development: A significant development is the creation of an open-access resource hub on Zenodo ensuring broad dissemination and ongoing professional development for educators globally. In addition to a full set of proceedings for each symposium, all refereed papers are published open access on the PHELC Community on Zenodo with digital object identifiers (DOIs). In addition, all presentations from the symposia are recorded and made available on the PHELC website (www.phelc.ie).
Global Reach and Impact: The project has achieved considerable international reach, with hundreds attending the live events and more accessing the online papers and presentations asynchronously. This extensive engagement has led to an exponential impact on enhancing the quality of the student experience in large class teaching and learning.
Enhanced Reputation and Collaboration: PHELC has significantly contributed to DCU's reputation, associating the university with proactive and innovative approaches to large class pedagogy. In recognition of our leadership in this field we were invited keynote speakers at the Higher Education Advances (HEAd) 2023 Conference in Valencia and at a staff development event at Mary Immaculate College in May 2025. Furthermore, PHELC has developed a strong network, fostering international and interdisciplinary collaborations in teaching and research, exemplified by initiatives such as the PHELC-IDEA-UMINHO webinar.