13 February 2024
Bilbao Campus
The University of Deusto brings together the academic vice-rectors and heads of the various areas related to teaching and learning at Spanish universities. Around 150 people will meet at the 3rd CRUE-Docencia Conference on 13 and 14 February to discuss key issues for higher education such as the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, institutional accreditation, virtual education or university microcredentials.
This meeting was officially opened by the Rector of Deusto, Juan José Etxeberria; the Deputy Minister for Universities and Research of the Basque Government, Adolfo Morais; the Vice-Rector for Learning and Digital Transformation at Deusto, Elena Auzmendi; and the Executive Secretary of CRUE-Docencia and the University of Cantabria, Ernesto Anabitarte. In his speech, the Rector pointed out that Deusto has a specific multidisciplinary team to address the many challenges posed by AI. One of the initiatives has been to define our current stance on its use in teaching and learning processes to take advantage of its potential and ensure that it helps students to acquire the skills they need.
Regarding institutional accreditation, he pointed out that Deusto has been the first university in Spain to renew one of its institutional accreditations, specifically that of the Deusto Law School in 2023. As regards the implementation of microcredentials, he said that Deusto is starting to do so based on the experience gained in the design and delivery of traditional continuing education short courses. Finally, on the issue of online education, he said that we are committed to providing resources to train and support academic staff, thus ensuring the quality of their work, and also to supporting students. Full speech.
This was followed by the keynote speech entitled: “El impacto de la IA en la transformación de los entornos de E-A en educación Superior”, by Javier Nó Sánchez, from Loyola University Andalusia. This lecture led to a roundtable discussion where, experts from the various universities and students provided insight into specific elements of the impact of AI on university teaching and learning, such as academic staff training, the difficult decisions regarding the tools to be used, the impact on students and on teaching-learning processes, and the institutional perspective.
In the afternoon, the conference was attended by representatives of four quality agencies - Andalusia, Catalonia, Unibasq and ANECA. This roundtable focused on future institutional accreditation renewal processes, already underway in several autonomous communities such as the Basque Country. Participants will also debate the current models and how to move forward in the future.
Microcredentials and virtual degrees
A further roundtable discussion entitled "Presente y futuro de las Microcredenciales Universitarias" will round off the day with representatives from the different universities addressing some of the key issues in the development of university microcredentials. These include, for example, quality assurance or digital certification, the role of microcredentials in employment policies, or the case of microcredentials in European university partnerships.
The CRUE-Docencia Conference will continue on 14 February with a roundtable entitled “Metodologías docentes y sistemas de evaluación en las titulaciones en modalidad virtual”, in which five university heads will share the results of the survey carried out by the Crue-Docencia Online Teaching working group in relation to teaching methodologies and innovative assessment models in online degrees. They will also present the innovative experiences in virtual teaching and assessment implemented in their institutions.
