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 (TLC) is scheduled to take place from 17 to 18 November 2026 and will be preceded by workshops on the 16th.

This year's theme is:
Connection, reconfigured:
Reimagining teaching and learning with AI.

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 AI.

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AI 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 AI can increasingly do what we once thought was distinctively ours?

The conference will be immersive and participatory, allowing participants to not only hear about AI, 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 AI.  

We invite you to submit proposals responding to this call.

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Why this, why now

UCT's Strategy 2030 acknowledges the challenges arising from the adoption and utilisation of AI 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 AI 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.

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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.)

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Important dates

  • 1 June: Call for proposals opens
  • 1 June: Registration opens
  • End of July (Date TBD): Workshop: Refining your TLC proposal
  • 31 August: Submissions close & proposal review begins
  • 21 September: Presenters are notified of outcome
  • October (Date TBD): Workshop: Preparing to present at TLC2026
  • 12 October: Draft programme released
  • 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

 

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) 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)

Featured keynote speaker

Phillip DawsonProfessor Phillip Dawson     
Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE),
Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

"Artificial intelligence can now generate outputs that meet the requirements of high-stakes assessments across many disciplines. This has sparked concerns about students using AI inappropriately to complete tasks, misrepresenting their abilities. It also raises deeper questions about the sustainability and authenticity of current assessment practices".

This presentation examines how assessment must evolve in response to AI. It draws on the presenter’s work as one of the leaders of Assessment Reform for a Time of Artificial Intelligence, a major Australian project funded by the national higher education regulator. As AI becomes an ever-present part of professional and academic life, how do we design assessments that both uphold integrity and prepare students for this new reality?

Bio
Professor Phillip (Phill) Dawson is Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning (CRADLE) at Deakin University. His work focuses on improving assessment while addressing integrity challenges and emerging technologies.

His book Defending Assessment Security in a Digital World (Routledge, 2021), examines academic integrity in a digital age. In 2024, he co-edited the Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education special issue Challenging Cheating and published the provocative article Validity Matters More Than Cheating. His broader research spans assessment design and feedback.

Web: https://philldawson.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philldawson/

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