A big thank you to Ellen Pope at Aston for organising the venue and delicious lunch and for hosting and supporting the event throughout. Positive comments were made about the central location in Birmingham which was easily accessible from both the north and south of the country. We had a total of 41 attendees including presenters from as far afield as Falmouth and Ulster. Of the 41 attendees, 27 were in Learning Development and Study Advice roles, and 9 were Disability Advisors or Dyslexia Tutors, with the rest being a mixture of Lecturers, Careers Advisors and Mentors. There was a lot of interest in the event, with at least 2 late inquiries that had to be turned away, and the number of attendees meant we were able to cover our budget. The PD Working Group will be drawing up a programme of similar one day events for 2012 to be advertised well in advance on the ALDinHE website and LDHEN list.
Details of presentations:
- Diana Aronstam – Head of Study Support at London College of Fashion. She has a background in learning development, with a particular emphasis on supporting students with dyslexia. Her interests lie in the experience of transition; academic writing within art and design contexts, and in developing materials for students using visual formats.
- Dr Angela Taylor “Supporting students with Asperger syndrome June 2011” Angela is a Chartered Psychologist with particular interest in autistic spectrum disorders. She has worked extensively with students who have Asperger syndrome and was instrumental in setting up a diagnostic and support service for them at the University of Reading.
- Dr Judy Turner Supporting students with dyspraxia and dyscalculia June 2011 Judy gained her PhD at Bristol in Experimental Psychology in 1982 after extensive research into short-term memory for numbers. She worked as a research fellow in Psychology Departments in York, Durham and Reading and researched memory, aphasia and baby vision before finding the perfect job and becoming a Study Adviser at the University of Reading. In addition to working in generic learning development she is a Chartered Educational Psychologist and assesses students for dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, ADHD and memory loss.