Blog

This #Take5 post is brought to you from Ed Bickle from the LDU at Bournemouth University and Ralitsa Kantcheva, a Study Skills Adviser at Bangor University. They are reflecting on their involvement in one of ALDinHE’s CoP (Community of Practice  – see https://aldinhe.ac.uk/networking/communities-of-practice/): The Research CoP. The Research CoP is a group of LDers on diverse contracts who came together to support themselves as researchers in the field of Learning Development. Key words: collaborative writing, learning development research, autoethnography, non-hierarchical Reflecting on participation in our research collaborative writing project This blog post offers the reflections of an academic non-hierarchical research collaborative writing […]

Thursday 24 February 11am – 12 noon. We all have the capacity and the potential to influence others and bring about change, even if it doesn’t always feel like it. Working in partnership with students to empower them and negotiate change is a form of leadership that arguably every learning developer utilises. Why, then, can it be so difficult to think of ourselves as leaders in relation to our colleagues or have our leadership recognised by wider university management?  In this session, Carina Buckley and Kate Coulson invite you to reflect on how you might already influence others, and use […]

February 22 @ 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm Workshop content and aims We will present an overview of our process of involving students as partners in the development of our academic and study skills service. Alongside course tutors, library colleagues, and e-learning developers, we designed and implemented an online diagnostic tool for students to complete which assessed their competence in a range of Academic Writing skills (critical writing, structure, and using evidence) and Harvard Referencing. Upon completion of this diagnostic, students were directed to select which workshops they would attend in a mini-conference format; options available depended on how students performed in the diagnostic […]

In this blog post, Alicja Syska, Editor, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education reflects on the experience of producing the Compendium of Innovative Practice: Learning Development in a Time of Disruption, the most recent Special Edition of JLDHE.  A Recipe for a Scrumptious Compendium With profound gratitude to all our authors, reviewers, and readers, without whom nothing we do would ever make sense.  To paraphrase the unparalleled life philosopher Forrest Gump (while seeking forgiveness for doing so from my fellow Editors), Learning Development practice is like a box of chocolates – you truly never know what you will get! Unsurprisingly then, […]

As a Learning Developer how do you influence University policy and practice? This #Take5 post is brought to you from Carina Buckley, Instructional Design Manager at Solent University, and Kate Coulson, Head of Learning and Teaching Enhancement (formerly Head of Learning Development), at the University of Northampton. Here they share their experiences of influencing strategy and the long-term visions at their institutions, or at least trying to! The blog post concludes with an invitation to join the emerging Leadership and management Community of Practice. Sound and vision: Introducing leadership “Influencing”, “Visions” and “Strategy” – all seemingly ethereal concepts when you are […]

This #Take5 blog is brought to you from Debbie Holley and David Biggins, two researchers from Bournemouth University who are interested in the digital experiences of students, with a focus on digital wellbeing and support. Mind the gap “Be more mindful about the situation, be more kind”. Advice to academic staff from an undergraduate student. “Be better at supporting students who need help or who are behind” “Be more understanding especially with non-visible disabilities and health issues!” This blog post reports on a piece of work we carried out in May-June 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic where we asked students […]

Reading, JLDHE and You This #Take5 is brought to you from Craig Morley and Jenny Hillman, members of the Journal of Learning in Higher Education’s (JLDHE) editorial board. It is designed to introduce ALDinHE/JLDHE’s new Reading Club and encourage you to get involved! Read all about it! JLDHE’s Reading Club had its inaugural event in #ALDCon21, and since then we have got together another three times. In May, we discussed Sam King’s article on metadiscourse; in July, we had the opportunity to find out more about Nathalie Sheridan’s Guerrilla Research Tactics; and in September, we exchanged views on collaborating with academic staff when […]

Session abstract:  The Open University Business School is leading a research project on online learning and strategic planning through, and post, lockdown in English secondary schools. This workshop focuses on one of the key themes that has emerged from the qualitative research: wellbeing of educators through the pandemic. The workshop provides an engaging and motivational look at how learning developers move into recovery beyond Covid-19. There are a series of slides interspersed with questions for participants to pause, reflect and take part in group discussion. The workshop shares the latest research exploring developments in positive psychology, neuroscience and resilience to […]

On your marks, get set, sprint This Blog post for Take5, (edited by Sandra Sinfield) is on Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU) design sprints – in particular on how educational developers support the disciplines’ design teams in working on emergent course (programme) design. It has been kindly written by Ellie Kennedy, NTU. NTU design sprints: making course design more developmental Design sprints at NTU take a supportive, developmental approach to course (programme) design. Whereas course design was often previously “hidden” work done by the course team outside core hours, the sprint model – developed and organised by the Centre for Academic Development […]

Make like an ant? This #Take5 post is brought to you from Dr Katharine Jewitt from The Open University who shares what we can learn for our teaching and learning online from ants. Katharine is looking back at what we have adapted to this year – highlighting the lessons learned that we can take forward in our practice – especially for those of us who will continue with some (or all) online delivery next year.  For those of you who already feel a bit too ant like in the version of Technology Enhanced Learning that is emerging post-pivot – please […]