#Take5 #121 Celebrating Neurodiversity: Strategies, Successes, and Stories

This #Take 5 blog is brought to you by Ed Bickle, Steph Allen and Debbie Holley from Bournemouth University as they reflect on the ALDinHE regional event held in Bournemouth during September 2024. The day brought together a range of colleagues from across the sector to review, discuss, explore, and celebrate the context of neurodiversity in HE.

Friday 13th was lucky for learning developers, academics, professional services staff, doctoral students, and communities interested in neurodiversity in HE, because ALDinHE in collaboration with Bournemouth University led the way on #celebratingneurodiversity and thinking differently. The day provided an opportunity for colleagues to gather in an informal environment to discuss a variety of tip-of-the-iceberg topics and engage with activities that drew out collective interests, challenges, ideas, and inspiration. A very loud shout-out to everyone who made this event possible, with thirty-seven attendees taking part in a wider range of activities. Contributions included a fantastic keynote from Student Minds expert Michelle Morgan plus excellent contributions from Hilary Stepien, Kerry-Ann Randle, Alicja Syska, Carina Buckley, Leon Furze, wonderful colleagues, new friends, and, of course, the ducks. 

Neurodiversity Celebration Cake

The day starts after the bell.

After an unexpected fire drill as coffee was being drunk, the event was opened by a local secondary school student who highlighted the necessity of recognising and acknowledging that universities are made up from ‘every kind of people’, and as a representative of her school peers who are aiming for HE, it is important that educators understood upcoming and incoming students, how they communicate, and what they will need as they head towards the employment market. She thanked educators for working towards that.

The day unfolds

Dr Michelle Morgan, Dean of Students at the University of East London and an expert in student transitions into Higher Education, gave an inspiring keynote about the latest research and made recommendations about inclusivity and helping all our students to succeed with their studies. Slides available here

Debbie Holley outlined the policy context framing the day, being the Office for Students (OfS) B3 Conditions, which require Higher Education Institutions to demonstrate student completion progression into professional employment or further study. A link to Debbie’s slides are available here.

Sector-wide contributions around aspects of neurodiversity were presented in our Pecha Kucha sessions; Jenny Sanders talked about celebrating and supporting neurodiverse students (Nottingham Trent University); Enrico Sgroi (Bournemouth University) discussed Universal Design principles; Samual Ratzer-Willis covered compassionate pedagogy (University of West London) and finally Max Lowenstein (Bournemouth University) discussed the importance of valuing and navigating education with neurodiversity. 

AD 4nXd49tEdDCQWSzgX4rHOUagCRjsPns1SSJ73TH1CAwTTSplgJ5j2Q90JfBpqtb XtSRfOQTe FWeW2A1yhBY3A9TErDgJfvc
AD 4nXfen22ztn59nOctJXaWr46xk13SPMrUWfG fZoHftpEhociWKPNC3RfH0Cbb2YjBc15m5 6T3mGX
AD 4nXeUzVUYzKBDNCGhjS7 RnG7PVf IuCjD3iCzIhvF xF M4xiZDLsZ 8 rIUVWz5dM31zl4nsEqppLK4mSZ

For several doctoral candidates whose topics centre around neurodivergence/experiences/policy in HE this event provided a first presentation opportunity to address a specifically interested audience about their research. It was also possible to showcase BU’s wellbeing space for students known as The Retreat which received several positive comments. Additionally, there was a session to meet the editors of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education and discuss publishing. Several attendees spoke with the editors, and discussions are underway. 

AD 4nXcA7LXf2KaTxJbbNxrrbPluUpjsekfyuWmKpVZgU5pYhUi6MFhbRCP8TxXBlh7RXwQ 3JLxSH491y ZNsbUxskYPEei81qa rnAwd Eb1zT7C WSLUAb4kiE7DMDyk8DX KSvcwbcCKbytoaqtsruM?key=XUbK2Du7H0I6WfVOji9O7SWa

L-R Top row: Dr Michelle Morgan; event participants. Bottom row L-R: Ducks; Carina Buckley and Alicja Syska; Alicja Syska and participants.

The day concluded with a shared exercise where we pooled our knowledge and resources around neurodiversity. Shared knowledge included tips for:

  • Anxiety: [I] Always provide an interactive cue for the students when I meet them e.g. quotes, games, Lego, play-do etc – really good for Y1 students; Good stuff on BU Academic Skills Hub/ healthy study habits
  • ADHD: using GANTT charts to help map out the semester, workload or project planning for dissertations and assignments; working backwards from a deadline; quantifying effort that goes into a deadline and plan that in; sharing vulnerability and lived experience to normalise feelings; clear tasks; clear timelines, planning of meetings; a variety of activity, draft stages to help manage workload
  • Tourettes syndrome/ Tics: Warning ahead of session about any videos, images that might trigger
  • Autism: Fidget toys in all chill out zones; online spaces for autistic students to connect
  • Developmental language/disorder: Embed English language Support

Feedback and reflections:

Feedback from the day saw themes of a strong sense of community, idea generation, and new knowledge: 

  • today has been a beautiful day a room of likeminded people with the same moral and value base is always such a creative and exciting place – reducing labels and moving to inclusivity to all people is a huge take away
  • sense of community knowing there are neurodiverse LD professionals also pursuing doctoral studies and willing to share their experiences
  • lots of ideas to immediately take into my teaching 
  • I have got some new knowledge especially about ADHD that will help me move forward and shift some incorrect ideas I had
  • appreciation of what’s involved in supporting ND students and staff
  • inspiring and empowering allowed reflection on professional and academic practice

The ducks 

In true creative Learning Development style our ‘takeaway’ for the day was a gift of a little duck, with a tag round its neck, and the invitation to post a comment about the day onto the ALDinHE social media channels. 

For further information about the day, and to follow up, please contact Ed, Steph or Debbie.

A group of rubber ducks

Description automatically generated

Bios:

Ed Bickle (FHEA, CeLP) is a lecturer in Learning Development at Bournemouth University. He is co-lead of the ALDinHE research community of practice and a member of the ALDinHE steering group, as well as the research and scholarship working group. He is lead author of a book chapter in the core learning development textbook – How to Be a Learning Developer in Higher Education: Critical Perspectives, Community and Practice. He was recently Principal Investigator for a funded project entitled Examining Change: The future of Learning Development in Higher Education.   

Steph Allen (SFHEA CeLP) is a Principal Academic in Learning Development and Academic Integrity at Bournemouth University. She was a co-chair of the ALDinHE Artificial Intelligence Group and the Lead on the collaborative global Academic Integrity Speaker Series. Steph is the Chair for South and South-West Academic Integrity Network, and is on the QAA Academic Integrity Advisory Group. She writes for ALDinHE through articles, book chapters, and blogs and contributes to the ALDinHE conferences. Her research interests focus on Academic Integrity, GenAI, Student Experience, and Networking. 

Debbie Holley (NTF PFHEA SCMALT) is the Professor of Learning Development and Learning Innovation at Bournemouth University. She has extensive experience working with the ALDinHE community, through her keynotes, journal articles and contribution to their annual events. Debbie served on their national Committee for six years. Her research interests are around supporting the student experience, inside and outside the formal classrooms, and the use of technologies to access all areas of the curricula.

Leave a Comment

Skip to content