Category: SLAIHEE CONFERENCES

The 20^th Annual SLAIHEE conference on Higher Education was held on 26^th July 2024 at Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) School of Computing, Colombo 03.   The theme of the conference this year was “Giving students a voice: evidence to have facilitated student voice generation through teaching” and it was organized by SLAIHEE and supported by IIT. The inauguration commenced with Professor Sunethra Perera, Immediate Past President, SLAIHEE giving the opening remarks. It was followed by Dr Iroja Caldera, President, SLAIHEE, welcoming the participants who were from several state and private sector universities. Following this welcome note, she invited the Guest of Honour, Mr Mohan Fernando, CEO of IIT and Professor Suki Ekaratne to launch the Academy for Learning & Teaching Effectiveness Facilitation (ALTEF) at IIT. Following the inauguration, Mr Mohan Fernando was invited to address the audience. Thereafter, Professor Suki Ekaratne, founder president of SLAIHEE and the founding Director of ALTEF delivered the keynote address on “Giving students a voice: evidence to have facilitated student voice generation through teaching”. Following the keynote address, Prof Suki Ekaratne introduced the Dr Shrinika Weerakoon Memorial Award for the Best Paper in Changing Higher Education Student Skills. Then the 2023 award recipients; Ms. Shalini Kaduwela and Ms. Abarnah Kirupananda received the awards from the Guest of Honor. The inauguration concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr Jinendra Dissanayake, President-Elect, SLAIHEE. Eight peer reviewed papers were presented this year leading to lively discussions during the Q&A sessions. The papers focused on how teaching practices were improved by Sri Lankan university academics. in order to develop voicing skills in their students. The Conference was followed by the AGM of SLAIHEE.

This year the conference also included a post-lunch workshop facilitated by Prof Suki Ekaratne, titled “How can we get students to ‘understand well’ what we teach them”. It was attended nearly 80 participants. The workshop included group work and discussion which drew an enthusiastic response from participants.

Download 2024 Conference Keynote Speech by Professor Suki Ekaratne

Download 2024 Conference abstract book

The 19th Annual SLAIHEE conference was held on 28th July 2023 at Informatics Institute of Technology (IIT) School of Computing, Colombo 04.  Held in face-to-face mode following three years of being held online, the conference was organized by SLAIHEE and supported by IIT.  The theme this year was “Outcome-based higher education for developing knowledge-based procedures in students”. The inauguration commenced with Professor Sunethra Perera, Immediate Past President, SLAIHEE giving the opening remarks which was followed by Dr Iroja Caldera, President, SLAIHEE, welcoming the participants who were from several state and private universities. Following this welcome note, she invited the Guest of Honour, Mr Mohan Fernando, CEO of IIT to address the audience. Thereafter, Ms. Sajeewani D Somaratna, Acting Librarian, University of Colombo, delivered the keynote address on “Outcome-based higher education for developing knowledge-based procedures”. The inauguration concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr Jinendra Dissanayake, President-Elect, SLAIHEE.Ten (10) peer reviewed papers were presented this year and these led to lively discussions during the Q&A sessions. The papers focused  on how teaching practices were improved by Sri Lankan university academics and secondary school teachers in relation to how specified higher education skills are developed. The Conference was followed by the AGM of SLAIHEE.

This year the conference also included a post-lunch mini workshop facilitated by Prof Suki Ekaratne, Titled ‘Designing plans to improve selected student skills’ it included a group work session which had an enthusiastic response from participants. A 2-3 hour follow-up workshop is being planned for the same participants and based on what participants had completed at this mini-workshop,”

Download 2023 Conference Keynote Speech by Ms. Sajeewani D Somaratna

Download 2023 Conference abstract book

The 18th Annual SLAIHEE conference was held on 29th July 2022, online via Zoom. The theme this year was “Improving HE Student Skills for Work & Life Performance Readiness”. The inauguration commenced with Professor Sunethra Perera, SLAIHEE President, welcoming the participants who came from several Sri Lankan universities. Following this welcome, Professor Nelun de Silva, Department of Microbiology, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, delivered the keynote address on “Improving HE Student Skills for Work & Life Performance Readiness”. The inauguration concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr Iroja Caldera, President-Elect, SLAIHEE. This year, ten (10) peer reviewed papers were accepted and presented. These were on how teaching practices were improved by Sri Lankan university academics in relation to improving the skills of their students. The Conference was followed by the AGM of SLAIHEE.

Download Conference Keynote Speech by Professor Nelun de Silva

Download 2022 Conference Book

The 17th Annual SLAIHEE conference was held on the 30th of July 2021, online via Zoom. The theme this year was “Developing self-aware and self-directed students and staff”. Professor Sunethra Perera, the President SLAIHEE, welcomed the participants who came from several Sri Lankan universities and schools. Following the welcome address,  Professor Pulani Lanerolle, Professor in Nutrition and Chair, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Colombo,  delivered the keynote address on “Towards Excellence: Effective Reflection”. The inauguration concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr Iroja Caldera, President Elect, SLAIHEE. This year, twenty two (22) peer reviewed papers were accepted and presented. These were on how teaching practices were improved by Sri Lankan university academics and a paper by a secondary school teacher for improving HE-readiness in her students. The Conference was followed by the AGM of SLAIHEE.

Download Conference Keynote Speech by Prof. Pulani Lanerolle

Download 2021 Conference book

The 16th Annual SLAIHEE conference was held on the 24^th of July, 2020 online via Zoom. The theme this year was “Developing & Sustaining Teaching and Learning Practices to meet Higher Education Needs”. Dr T. Sivakumar, the president SLAIHEE, welcomed the gathering. Following the welcome address, Professor Suki Ekaratne, Founding President of SLAIHEE, introduced the “Dr Shrinika Weerakoon Memorial Award for the Best Paper in Changing Higher Education Student Skills” and announced the 2019 winners.  Dr Panduka Karunanayake, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Medicine, University of Colombo, graced the conference as the Chief Guest and delivered the keynote address on “Education’s ‘Three E’s’ and the McUniversities: Some Heretical Thoughts”. The inauguration concluded with a vote of thanks delivered by Dr Sunethra Perera, President Elect, SLAIHEE. This year, fourteen (14) peer reviewed papers were presented.

Download 2020 Conference Keynote Speech by Dr. Panduka Karunanayake

Download 2020 Conference abstract book

The 15th Annual SLAIHEE conference was held on the 26th of July, 2019 at the Department of Transport and Logistics Management, University of Moratuwa. The theme this year was “Fostering the Demand for Quality Teaching and Learning in Higher education”. Dr. D.P. Chandrasekara, the director of the Staff Development Centre, University of Moratuwa, welcomed the gathering. Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda graced the conference as the keynote speaker. The topic of his address was “The Need to Retrieve an Abandoned Value in Higher Education – Intellectual Integrity”. Following the keynote speech, the recipients of the Dr Shrinika Weerakoon memorial award received their certificates from Professor Kapila Perera, Vice Chancellor, University of Moratuwa.

This year, sixteen (16) peer reviewed papers were presented; these can be downloaded from [here]. The workshop “How lecturers change ways of thinking and practice to foster quality teaching and learning in higher education” was offered to all conference participants. This was conducted jointly by Professor S. U. K. Ekaratne and the three Dr. Shrinika Weerakoon memorial award winners. This workshop provided participants with a sound insight to identify and implement incremental changes to improve their courses.

Download 2019 Conference Keynote Speech by Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda

Download 2019 Conference abstract book

The 14th Conference of SLAIHEE was held, with over 100 enthusiastic participants, at the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Innovation (CETLI) of the Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC), TRACE Expert City, Colombo 10, Sri Lanka on 26th July 2018.The Keynote Speaker was Professor P.S.M. Guneratne (Vice-Chariman, UGC) who delivered a very inspiring keynote address. Very lively discussions took place following the keynote and the 19 papers that were presented.

CETLI has been set up to improve skills and performances of educators across the education sector, and will strive to enhance quality and effectiveness, inducing modern teaching techniques and principles through a series of courses, workshops, conferences and one-on-one communication.  2018 conference aimed to look back on improvements made towards  skilling graduates, and was therefore organised under the theme “Creating graduates for positive change: the evidence of changed perceptions and practices”.

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The 13th Joint Conference of the SDC & SLAIHEE was held at the Open University of Sri Lanka on 23th June 2017. It was organized jointly by the Staff Development Centre (SDC) of the Open University of Sri Lanka and SLAIHEE.

The conference theme was ‘Lectures & Beyond: Delivering Higher Education through Learning Experiences’. The conference was inaugurated by Dr. Prasanna Ratnaweera, President of SLAIHEE. The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Uma Coomaraswamy, Director, Center for Gender Equity Equality, University Grants Commission. Prof. Anbahan Ariadurai, Vice-Chancellor, The Open University of Sri Lanka graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour. Continue reading “13^th Conference 2017″ →

The 12th Joint Conference of the SDC & SLAIHEE was held at the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka on 17th June 2016. It was organized jointly by the Staff Development Centre (SDC) of Wayamba University and SLAIHEE. Continue reading “12^th Conference 2016″ →

The eleventh annual conference jointly organised by the SDC, University of Colombo, and SLAIHEE was held at University of Colombo on Friday 26th June 2015.  The SDC & SLAIHEE joint conference theme was “Outcome-based higher education: achievements, challenges and potential”. Continue reading “11^th Conference 2015″ →