The Inaugural SLAIHEE Conference was held on the 31st March 2005 at the University of Colombo from 9.30am to 4.00pm. It was organized jointly with the Staff Development Centre of the University of Colombo. The Conference Theme was "Teaching to Put Students First?.

Proceedings were conducted by Professor Suki Ekaratne, Director of the Staff Development Centre of the University of Colombo. Concurrent conference sessions were chaired by Dr Nilukshi Abeyasinghe, Mrs Shrinika Weerakoon, Professor Suki Ekaratne and Mr Chandana Dissanayake.

The Keynote was delivered by Dr Liz Beaty, Director / Learning & Teaching of the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE).

Other addresses were delivered by the following;

• the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Colombo, Professor Tilak Hettiarachchy
• the Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, Dr Tara de Mel
• the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Professor Ranjith Mendis

     Twenty one Oral and Poster presentations were accepted, and their Abstracts can be seen at Newsletter (click on "Volume 4"). The titles of these oral presentations that were delivered, and posters that were displayed, based on peer-refereed abstracts, were;

Oral presentations were titled as follows;

1. The Application of Constructive Alignment for Enhancing Learning Performance of a Group of Potential University Entrants: A Case with the Presidents? Guide Award by Liyanasuriya TR

2. Correlation between Continuous and Final Assessment Marks in a Student-centred Restructured Curriculum by Mahamithawa UD, Mettananda DSG, Senanayake MP & Lamabadusuriya SP

3. A Preliminary Assessment of Enhancing the linking of Information Literacy in Teaching through discussion study groups by Wijayasundera ND

4. Facilitating Learning Improvement in students of the Colombo Medical Faculty through Interventional Mechanisms adopted by medical faculty staff by Wijesundera WSS

5.  Achieving Higher Order Cognitive Skills through Student-centered Learning in Teaching Data Analysis to Undergraduates by Dias P

6.  Nurturing Undergraduates? Skill Development through Internship Programmes: The Case for its inclusion in an Effective Strategy by Udayashantha PDC & Dilhani KAN

7. Enhancement of Student Inclusivity and Constructive Alignment in Teaching ?Safety and Health? through the Factory Visit Method by Perera GDN & Chandrika KAC

8. Congruity Analysis of Bloom?s Taxonomy with Curriculum Design for courses in Management Studies & Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura by Kumara KHH, Ratnayake BRMN & Malkanthie MAS

9.  Impact of Learning Styles on Student Performance at the Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura by Wedage DM, Gunathilake PDHD, Weerakoon YMSK

10.  Developing Employability Skills in Students: A Case for Using Presentations as a Strategy by Weerakoon YMSK

11. Student Feedback as a Mechanism to Improve Reflective Practice in Students from Multiple Disciplines and Universities by Weerakoon YMSK

12.  Teaching to Put Students First: Identifying Skills and Approaches for Future University Development Strategies by Kottahachchy D

13.  From Lecturers to Excellent Teachers: Preliminary Results in Evaluating Scholarly Capacity of Humanities and Social Science Lecturers in Sri Lankan Universities by Gamage, SN

14. Enhancing Achievement of Learning Outcomes in Training Medical Students to Compile Medico-legal Reports through Activities in the Medico-legal Module by Abeyasinghe N

15. A First Round Study into using Lesson Plans to Promote Development of Student Skills Effectively by Wickramasooriya AK

16. Learning to Identify and Practice Methods to Improve Effective Teaching in Higher Education by Senathirajah A

17. A Preliminary Study of Training Needs for Effective Distance Teaching and Learning based on Teachers? and Students? Perceptions of required skills by Jayatillake BG

18. Peer Lecturing and Evaluation: A successful method for enhancing student presentation skills and deep learning by Ranaweera KKDS

19. Evaluating the validity of an assessment method for Undergraduate Seminar Presentations by Sivayogan N

Poster presentations

1. Improving the Quality of Learning by Teaching through Incomplete Handouts by Adikaram AS, Karunanayake KODS, Kesavan S, Kodituwakku PADE, Nishantha KP & Senaratne BAU
2. Identification of Student Employable Skills and Staff training needs in Biological Science Study Programme, University of Ruhuna by Gamage KR & Wegiriya HCE