Selected Contributions from the Inaugural Conference of the European Society of Psychology Learning and Teaching (ESPLAT)

Abstract

In September 2019, the inaugural conference of the newly founded European Society of Psychology Learning and Teaching (ESPLAT) took place in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Participants from all over the world were gathered in order to engage in scientific exchange about learning and teaching in Psychology. ESPLAT continues the work of the preceding EuroPlat conferences and provides a platform for all researchers and practitioners in Europe and worldwide. While the second ESPLAT conference with the theme of “Teaching and Learning Psychology in Times of COVID and Beyond” is already scheduled for September 2 and 3, 2021 (see https://www.esplat.org/esplat2021; make sure to log on to this online conference!), this special issue includes papers and reports based on contributions from the first ESPLAT conference. With a broad conference focus on all possible topics of learning and teaching in psychology, the call for submissions for this special issue was not limited to a particular field or area. Nevertheless, we put here an emphasis on theory and evidence-based research within the field, based upon the principles of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) incorporating quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches to research, as well as review work on empirical studies. Following the tradition of the PLAT journal, all submitted papers had to undergo the rigorous double-blind peer review process separately from the conference review process.