In April the CCSE held the first CCSE Festival, a series of events spanning three days during which the Centre came together to share and discuss research. The festival gave new CCSE members the opportunity integrate with the group, introduced visiting researchers, and allowed the whole Centre to reconnect after a long, stressful period of being apart.

We spent the entirety of Tuesday hearing from each other. Everyone who was available gave a five-minute talk on the work they are and have been doing, followed by five minutes of discussion and Q&A. It was fantastic to hear the broad range of topics being worked on. Many of us have overlap and concurrent themes, but no two talks were on the same topic. Being reminded of the breadth of research in our community was grounding and encouraging.

Across the day we heard 22 short talks across a range of topics, from new ideas in learning analytics to epistemic practices in CSed to TA experiences and challenges. The condensed, quick-fire nature of the talks made them easily digestible, and frequent breaks and pauses gave members a chance to assimilate and reflect between speakers. Many members remarked that it was not only great to hear what other CCSE members were doing their research on, but also noted that there were several interesting threads through our research that we hadn't picked up on in isolation.

Aside from hearing everyone's summaries of their own work, it was good to be co-located again. Between talks, the serendipitous discussions over coffee and lunch were stimulating and enjoyable. It was also great to hear from our visitors – Lauren Margulieux from Georgia State University and Leo Porter and Ismail Villegas Molina from the University of California San Diego – who provided interesting insights on our work, shared additional perspectives and overall encouraged new avenues of thought and discussion.

After the many presentations, we shared some drinks and food in the common room and continued to talk and learn.

First published: 29 March 2022

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