Blog

Welcome to the ALDinHE blog aimed at all those working in the field of learning development. If you would like to write a blog, please email admin@aldinhe.ac.uk

Collective Diary 15 May 2023

Published: 15/05/2023 - Reading Time: 18 min

Categories: Collective Diary |

On the 15th of each month, we are inviting those working in the field of learning development to share their day. Write up what you have done on the 15th of the month (or your nearest working day to this date) (plus reflections) and share it with us via this short submission form. The entries will be shared on the ALDinHE blog. In 2010-11 and 2014-15, the ALDinHE website was previously used for a collective online journal by members of the LD community. You can read the journal entries for each month. The shared experiences and ideas have helped shape CPD resources developed for […]

diary

Join the ALDinHE Steering Group

Published: 04/05/2023 - Reading Time: 1 min

Categories: Events |

Notice is hereby given of the Annual General Meeting of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education, to be held online  at 16.20 on Friday 9 June 2023. Further details about the AGM are available here. Location details to follow. A key matter for the AGM is the election of new members to the Steering Group of the Association. Self-nominations are now invited from members of ALDinHE who have the enthusiasm and experience to enable the Association to flourish, working with friendly and supportive colleagues on the Steering Group. Further details about the Steering Group and a self-nomination form are attached. Please […]

purple steering wheel

#Take5 #86 Taking Positive Steps for Learning and Teaching: Movement for Learner Developers.

Published: 04/05/2023 - Reading Time: 12 min

Categories: Research | Playful and Creative Learning | Take5 | Wellbeing |

This #Take5 is brought to you from Lisa Clughen, Nottingham Trent University. It is both about the importance of movement in HE – and an invitation to participate in a small research project focussing on qigong-based mindful movement in HE. #Take5 steps? Taking Positive Steps in Learning and Teaching: An Invitation to Participate in Mindful Movement Research. Image: Lisa Clughen doing some Mindful Movement at the Lourve-Lens, France If you could do a very short activity during your working day that, research suggests, could reap wide-ranging rewards for your physical, cognitive and mental health and wellbeing, and in fact for […]

Lisa Clughen doing some Mindful Movement at the Lourve-Lens, France

New EDI Working Group

Published: 03/05/2023 - Reading Time: 1 min

Categories: Communities | Equality, Diversity, Inclusion | Inclusivity and Differentiation | Widening Participation |

Join us in the new EDI working group We are establishing a working group to focus on our approach to EDI as an association and a community of practice. We know excellent work is going on within our community and we feel it is important to bring together colleagues to create a vision of how we might embrace EDI work. The Steering Group has been discussing the concept of an EDI working group for a while, but we felt that it is important the community makes these decisions. Therefore, we would like to invite colleagues who are interested to fill in our form so […]

illustration to represent equality, diversity and inclusion with different coloured human heads

Fostering a growth mindset in higher education for inclusive learning for all

Published: 02/05/2023 - Reading Time: 3 min

Categories: Widening Participation | Equality, Diversity, Inclusion | Inclusivity and Differentiation | JLDHE | Study Skills |

Frantzeska Kolyda provides an overview of her article published in issue 27 of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education which aims to encourage educators and universities to explore interventions and practices that cultivate a growth mindset to reduce inequality in the academic success of students and the central role that learning development plays in achieving this. ‘I am not good at maths’, ‘I am not good at this’, ‘my classmates are smarter than me and get things quicker’, ‘I feel like an imposter’; educators may hear students saying. Students’ beliefs about their competence, intelligence, and skills play an […]

a group of students collaborating in their study

Not tracked does not equate to not engaged!

Published: 28/04/2023 - Reading Time: 2 min

Categories: Communities | Digital Literacy | Education | JLDHE | Learning Spaces and Learning Communities | Wellbeing | Widening Participation |

Authors Professor Debbie Holley and Dr David Biggins provide an overview of their research published in issue 27 of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. Their paper is titled: Designing for student wellbeing: challenging assumptions about where our students learn. Our work started with students reporting ‘technostress’ during the pandemic (and yes staff experienced this as well) and reporting that they turned to family and friends to seek support, with only 18% turning to the excellent online materials and signposting Universities offered in lockdown. Digital equity remains an issue across the board, and intersectionality of class, race and […]

grid of health icon symbols representing activities to support wellbeing

#Take5 #85 What the Learning Developer Did Next

Published: 27/04/2023 - Reading Time: 5 min

Categories: Communities | Learning Spaces and Learning Communities | Study Skills | Take5 |

Reflecting on who we are: the evolution and growth of Manchester Met’s Learner Development team This #Take5 blog is brought to you by Avril Buchanan, Chad McDonald, and Kate Haley from the Learning Development team at Manchester Metropolitan University following their recent takeover of ALDinHE’s Twitter account.  The post can be seen as a follow up to last week’s #Take5 – which explored finding your feet as a new learning developer. This post constitutes a ‘what the learner developer did next’ – providing some musings on MMU’s LDU’s  evolution, how they currently work and why—and as they say: “recognising that […]

illustration of students giving feedback

Take5 #84 What the Learning Developer needs to know

Published: 20/04/2023 - Reading Time: 28 min

Categories: Communities | Employability | Inclusivity and Differentiation | Peer Assisted Learning and Mentoring | Study Skills | Take5 |

This #Take5 is brought to you from Joy Igiebor a Learning Development Tutor within the School of Law at Birkbeck, University of London. This is especially for the newbie LDer who feels a bit lost… who thinks that everybody else knows exactly how to ‘do’ Learning Development whilst they alone are thrashing about in the dark. Joy offers very helpful guidelines on workshops and tutorials – a beginner’s guide to Learning Development. Next week we have a post from the team at MMU – what the learning developer needs to know next. A one – two – three of LD I am […]

LD Post It Notes

LoveLD Magazine – issue 2

Published: 05/04/2023 - Reading Time: 1 min

Categories: LoveLD magazine | ALDinHE communications |

We are very happy to share issue 2 of the #LoveLD Magazine. You’ll find plenty of interest, and perhaps it will inspire you to contribute in the future! We hope you enjoy catching up with what’s going on in the community and if you have any feedback, please send us an email. Thank you to all our contributors – we couldn’t have done this without you.

LoveLD Magazine Issue 2

Take5 #83 The LD Health Hive Mind presents Collaborative Reading Circles

Published: 31/03/2023 - Reading Time: 7 min

Categories: Learning Spaces and Learning Communities | Digital Literacy | Take5 | Visual Literacy and Presentation Skills |

This #Take5 has been brought to you from Tasha Cooper from UWE, Bristol and Anne-Marie Langford from the University of Northampton. In this post,  Anne-Marie describes the creation of a brand new ALDinHE community of practice (CoP) focused on Health and Social Care programmes. This CoP is particularly interesting in being online and asynchronous. In this post they focus particularly on the responses curated from a recent community activity that looked at Collaborative Reading Circles. LD Health CoP: Background The LD Health CoP started as a conversation at the ALDinHE conference in June 2022, where I, Anne-Marie, noticed that there were […]

Illustration of people holding a jigsaw puzzle
Skip to content