LD Reading Groups

Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (JLDHE) Reading Club

The JLDHE Reading Club meets bi-monthly, on the second Wednesday evening of the month for a stimulating and thought-provoking hour together discussing the latest research in Learning Development. The group’s goal is to create a space for collaborative discussion of shared reading that is open to everyone no matter their role or level of experience. If you would like to join the group, please book via our events calendar.

The group exists to build stronger links with our JLDHE community of readers and engage our readers and the wider learning development community. We wanted to create a space and opportunity where learning developers and others can get together to discuss research and share ideas on published work in JLDHE.

A unique aspect of the JLDHE Reading Club is that we invite authors of the Journal’s papers to join us and get involved in conversations about their work. Having the author involved is a great opportunity for our readers to ask questions and dig deeper into the findings, recommendations and methodological approach of the articles. It’s a great learning opportunity for new and experienced learning developers alike and has helped to create a real sense of a community of practice where we can all learn and benefit from each others’ experience.

Before each JLDHE, we always send an invitation to vote on what you want to read and discuss in the upcoming meeting. We believe this helps to ensure we discuss what is most relevant to attendees at that time – and stops us from arbitrarily picking a paper at random!

Once the paper has been chosen, we generally ask attendees to consider three questions when reading the paper:

  • How do the ideas intersect with your own role?
  • Is there a particular extract you found interesting and want to discuss with the group?
  • Do you have any lingering questions or ideas after reading this piece?

We don’t stick rigidly to these discussion points and are happy to ‘go with the flow’ of the conversation, depending on what readers want to discuss and any questions they have for the authors.

After the meeting, we write up a brief summary of the discussions (which attendees are always invited to contribute to) to share with those who wanted to come along, but couldn’t find the time. These summaries are shared in the Reading Club section on JLDHE’s website.

If you would like to join the group, please book via our events calendar.

Picture shows five ladies sat around a table
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