by Elke Van Ael, KU Leuven, Belgium.
On June 17, 2025, amidst exotic lounge music and tropical temperatures to match, a select group of globetrotters were welcomed to a facility tucked away between serene Belgian woods and open fields.
The reason? Not an early start to Belgium’s world-class festival season, but the pre-conference workshop for this year’s Media & Learning Conference. Entitled ‘Maximising the impact of Centres for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Institutions’, it was organised by KU Leuven Learning Lab (Belgium) and Npuls (the Netherlands).
Media & Learning’s director, Monika Theron, kicked things off with a philosophical question: “To CTL or to CLT…? That is the question.” Or – to paraphrase – what’s in a name? Well, quite a lot, as it turns out.
The question, of course, alludes to the immense diversity in Centres for Teaching and Learning (CTLs), both in name and approach. This tied in perfectly with the first part of the workshop, in which three speakers explained how their CTL works.
The first, Armagan Ateskan from Bilkent University (Turkey), proved heroic in two respects by first of all standing in at the last moment for Charlotte Meijer from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (the Netherlands) who was delayed by a train strike. In addition, Armagan and just one other colleague run Bilkent University’s CTL. Through peer tutoring and other clever collaboration strategies, they support their university’s faculty and students with an impressive range of seminars and workshops. Topics went from motivation, academic skills and addressing loneliness (for students) to AI, neurodiversity and mental health awareness (for faculty), …
Jana Herwig was next, sharing that the University of Vienna (Austria) has a centralised CTL with different teams. They focus on digital teaching, higher education teaching competences, administration, evaluation (testing, exams, and self-assessment) and writing and peer learning. Jana highlighted the CTL’s digital teaching team, which also has a decentralised component. Centrally, the team houses 11 staff members, including two video producers, a team lead and a coordinator to oversee 34 student mentees who provide (decentralised) in-faculty support. The digital teaching team is made up of 7 didactic experts, supporting hybrid teaching, blended learning, teaching development, media didactics and OER knowledge transfer.
Anneleen Cosemans wrapped up the first part of the workshop, casting light on KU Leuven’s hybrid approach. The university’s central CTL forms part of KU Leuven Learning Lab, a network connecting it to educational expertise within faculties and services. The CTL consists of 17 different teams grouped into three clusters. 5 teams make up its central teaching and learning strategy cluster, focusing on communication, strategic policy, innovation projects, data analysis and logistical support. It supports the two remaining clusters. The first, teaching and learning processes, consists of 5 teams. They focus on admissions, enrolment, administrative processes and programme administration, as well as on tuition fees and mobility. The second cluster, teaching and learning development, consists of 7 teams. They handle quality assurance, the study program offer, academic development, educational support strategy, online course design, and multimedia services and production.
Next up was a tour of several KU Leuven multimedia services, sweetened by some well-deserved vitamin D, coffee and cake. The participants visited the lending service, the multi-camera, knowledge clip and vodcast/podcast studios, as well as media rooms for top camera recording and editing.
The workshop ended with a knowledge café, facilitated by Alexandra Mihai from Maastricht University (the Netherlands). Everyone first rotated to different discussion tables, after which table hosts recapped the takeaways on each topic.
These included that CTLs see it as their central mission to improve teaching, engagement and learning, acting as agents, negotiators and testers of change and innovation. But also as networkers, strengthening ties and instilling ownership within faculties. Often in creative ways…
Participants also identified advantages linked to different organisational approaches. These included the consistent learning-experience support that central CTLs can offer, the direct interaction with faculties achievable by decentralised CTLs, and the blending and fluid transfer between the two approaches that hybrid CTLs can leverage.
CTL visibility, it was agreed, can be enhanced in many ways. Passively, of course, through tutorials, shareable QR codes, websites, newsletters, promo swag, etc. But also actively. By offering time and energy in the form of training and informal advising. By truly claiming the CTL’s role in building university teaching qualifications, which keeps teachers engaged with a clear visualisation of their progress. Through involvement in curriculum review processes, external audits and rectorate promotions. By bringing teaching support desk staff into CTL activities, they can help spread the word. And by building strategic relationships with student unions and other (international) partners.
A final takeaway was the necessity of a good culture fit. CTLs need resilient individuals, willing to innovate and open to building relationships and multidisciplinary collaboration. To overcome ever-changing challenges, to evolve and to keep universities thriving for years to come.
Author
Elke Van Ael, KU Leuven, Belgium and member of the Media & Learning Advisory Committee.
