2026 UCT Teaching and Learning Conference
Connection, reconfigured: Reimagining teaching and learning with artificial intelligence
The University of Cape Town’s (UCT) annual Teaching and Learning Conference provides an opportunity for the university’s community to focus on teaching and learning. Co-hosted by the Centre for Higher Education Development and the UCT AI Initiative, the 2026 UCT Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC2026) is scheduled to take place from 17 to 18 November 2026 and will be preceded by workshops on the 16th.
Connection, reconfigured: reimagining teaching and learning with artificial intelligence
TLC2026 aims to build capacity, connect stakeholders in the education project and promote critical reflection and questioning as we reconfigure and reimagine higher education in the age of artificial intelligence.
Conference Reception – Tuesday 17 November 2026
For the first time ever, UCT’s Teaching and Learning Conference will include a reception hosted by Professor Brandon Collier-Reed (Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning), scheduled to take place at the Baxter Theatre Concert Hall after the close of the first day of the conference.
| The programme for the reception is as follows: | |
|---|---|
| 16:30 – 17:00 | An excerpt from Autoplay, an immersive hybrid performance by Darkroom Contemporary |
| 17:00 – 17:15 | Reflection from Darkroom Contemporary’s Director, Louise Coetzer, on the creative process and response from a discussant, Dr Mbongeni Mtshali (Director of Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies at UCT) |
| 17:15 – 17:55 | Short talk by Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning followed by reflections by Distinguished Teacher Award recipients |
| 17:55 – 20:00 | Networking, canapés and drinks |
Explore the conference theme with UCT's Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, Professor Brandon Collier-Reed
Teaching and Learning Conference 2026
Artificial intelligence in education
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the landscape of higher education. Its integration into teaching, learning and research raises questions that are as much about what it means to be human as they are about technology and tools. TLC2026 asks: what does it mean to be human, as an educator, as a student, as a knowledge producer, in a world where artificial intelligence can increasingly do what we once thought was distinctively ours?
The conference will be immersive and participatory, allowing participants to not only hear about artificial intelligence, but to encounter it, question it, play with it and push back against it, in sessions designed to provoke, connect and produce something tangible. UCT educators, students, researchers and professional staff will explore, debate, critique and reimagine education in the age of artificial intelligence.
Why this, why now
UCT's Strategy 2030 acknowledges the challenges arising from the adoption and utilisation of artificial intelligence in higher education and beyond. The UCT AI in Education Framework and the UCT AI in Education Community of Practice provide an institutional foundation, but the harder work is being done, day by day, in classrooms, tutorials, research, supervisory meetings and self-study sessions across the university.
TLC2026 is an opportunity for UCT to take stock of where we are, to share what we have learned so far, from innovation grants, from experiments that worked and those that did not, and to ask together what kind of university we want to be as this technology continues to evolve.
The question is not whether artificial intelligence will shape UCT's future. It already is. The question is whether we shape that future together, with intention, care and a clear sense of what a UCT education is for.
Key themes
We welcome submissions related to the following:
- Relationships and the Relational
- Student Agency and Voice
- Equity, Access and the Uneven Landscape
- Critical and Ethical Perspectives
- Disciplinary Identities and AI
- Co-creation, Collaboration and Social AI
- The Future of the University
- Wild card submissions
- Other (if you would like to nominate a different genre, format or time, we welcome suggestions.)
Range of formats
The main conference programme will feature a range of formats to accommodate different kinds of contribution and engagement:
- Scholarly, higher education research and project-based presentations (20 + 10 mins)
- Show & tell / stand up presentations (10 + 5 mins)
- Panels (At least three speakers, 45 mins)
- Posters & Interactive visualisation
- Workshops (up to 120 minutes)
Important dates
28 May: call for proposals opens28 May: registration opens29 July: workshop -Refining your TLC Proposal31 August: submissions close & proposal review begins21 September: presenters are notified of outcome6 October: workshop - preparing to present at TLC2026- 2 November: final programme & digital book of abstracts are released
- 9 November: registration closes
- 16 November: pre-conference workshop day
- 17 and 18 November: conference days
Featured keynote speaker
 | Professor Phillip Dawson Research Professor Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia |
Professor Phillip (Phill) Dawson is a Research Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He has worked in higher education learning and teaching for more than 20 years. Before joining Monash, he was at Deakin University's Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE), first as Associate Director and, from 2022, as Co-Director. CRADLE is regarded as the world's leading higher education assessment research group by publications and citations.
His research addresses two problems: how to help people make the most of feedback, and how to assess students when artificial intelligence can do so much of what universities have traditionally assessed. He has led an Australian Research Council project on students' feedback literacy, a longitudinal study that uses behaviour change techniques from the health and social sciences. He was one of the leads on Australia's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency's (TEQSA) work on assessment reform for the age of Al, and has argued that universities should focus on whether assessments measure what they are meant to measure, rather than on cheating alone.
His books include Defending Assessment Security in a Digital World (Routledge, 2021) and the coedited Re-imagining University Assessment in a Digital World (Springer, 2020).
His work on assessment and Al, such as Assessment Reform for the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Lodge, Howard, Bearman, Dawson, et al., 2023) is highly cited, and he ranks among the leading researchers in higher education internationally. He contributes regularly to public debate. His work has been covered by the BBC, the Financial Times, Times Higher Education and ABC TV, and has been discussed in the Australian Parliament. He holds a PhD from the University of Wollongong.
Note that the keynote address will be livestreamed from Australia in the plenary session on Day 1 of the conference.
Web: https://philldawson.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philldawson/