Writing to learn: creative LD perspectives for Learning Developers and students

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi32.1396

Keywords:

writing, professional identity, collaboration, artificial intelligence, human intelligence

Abstract

Academic writing is a contested area, even more so in times of large language models and artificial intelligence (AI). This writing is tricky to navigate and master especially for newcomers – staff and students. Learning Developers almost uniquely play with writing as a practice of emergence and discovery. Academic writing is a process: we write to become academic. Students write to join their epistemic communities, and Learning Developers write to give birth to an emergent field.

Drawing on recent work by Syska and Buckley (2022) and Abegglen, Burns and Sinfield (2022; 2023), we argue that academic writing is an initiation into and participation in wider professional and academic discourses. We ‘write to learn’ rather than ‘learn to write’. In our practice with students, we know that we need to move beyond the ‘mechanics’ of writing and make the process meaningful, engaging, interactive, and fun. Similarly, Syska and Buckley (2022) have explored what makes Learning Developers ‘tick’ with respect to academic writing – revealing how, counterintuitively perhaps, academic writing can become an inclusive Learning Development space: our ‘happy place’. With this presentation, we opened the discussion on academic writing for building the Learning Development community.

Author Biographies

Sandra Abegglen, University of Calgary

Sandra Abegglen is a Researcher in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape at the University of Calgary where she explores online education, and learning and teaching in the design studio. She has a PhD in Education and has published widely on emancipatory learning and teaching practice, playful pedagogy, and remote education. She is a team member of TALON: Teaching and Learning Online Network.

Carina Buckley, Southampton Solent University

Carina Buckley leads the Learning Design Team at Southampton Solent University. She has a PhD in Archaeology and is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE. She is a researcher, with particular interest in the intersection of writing and identity, a co-host of the ‘Learning Development Project’ podcast, and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal for Learning Development in Higher Education.

Tom Burns, London Metropolitan University

Tom Burns is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Professional and Educational Development at London Metropolitan University. His passion is developing innovations with a special focus on praxes that ignite student curiosity and help develop their power and voice. Always interested in theatre and the arts, and their role in teaching and learning, Tom feeds arts-based practice into his learning, teaching, and assessment practices. Tom passed away on 23 October 2024, prior to the publication of this article.

Sandra Sinfield, London Metropolitan University

Sandra Sinfield is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Learning Development in the Centre for Professional and Educational Development at London Metropolitan University. She is a co-founder of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE). Sandra is interested in creativity as liberatory and holistic practice in higher education. She has developed theatre and film in unusual places and inhabited Second Life as a learning space.

Alicja Syska, University of Plymouth

Alicja Syska is a hybrid academic, combining the roles of Learning Developer and Lecturer in Education and History at the University of Plymouth. She has a PhD in American Studies. Alicja is a researcher, a co-host of the ‘Learning Development Project’ podcast, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal for Learning Development in Higher Education, with much of her work focusing on facilitating writing and publication.

References

Abegglen, S., Burns, T. and Sinfield, S. (2021) ‘Supporting student writing and other modes of learning and assessment: a staff guide’, Prism, University of Calgary. Available at: https://prism.ucalgary.ca/items/0c06ff1e-a2d3-4225-b2b3-3ff9b98910bb (Accessed: 29 September 2024).

Abegglen, S., Burns, T. and Sinfield, S. (2022) ‘Supporting university staff to develop student writing: collaborative writing as a method of inquiry’, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, 23, pp.1-14. Available at: https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi23.839

Abegglen, S., Burns, T. and Sinfield, S. (2023) ‘Developing student writing: write to learn’, OneHE. Available at: https://onehe.org/courses/developing-student-writing-write-to-learn (Accessed: 29 September 2024).

Badley, G. (2009) ‘Academic writing: contested knowledge in the making?’ Quality Assurance in Education, 17(2), pp.104-117. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880910951345

Buckley, C. and Syska, A. (2022) ‘#Take5 #76: Writing as liberatory practice’, #Take5. Available at: https://aldinhe.ac.uk/take5-76-writing-as-liberatory-practice (Accessed: 29 September 2024).

Buckley, C., Syska, A. and Heggie, L. (2024) ‘Grounded in liquidity: writing and identity in third space’, London Review of Education, 22(1), pp.1-13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.14324/LRE.22.1.26

Jandrić, P., Luke, T.W., Sturm, S., McLaren, P., Jackson, L., MacKenzie, A., Tesar, M., Stewart G.T. et al. (2023) ‘Collective writing: the continuous struggle for meaning-making’, in Jandrić, P., MacKenzie, A. and Knox, J. (eds.) Postdigital research: postdigital science and education. New York: Springer, pp.249-293. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-31299-1_14

Syska, A. and Buckley, C. (2022) ‘Writing as liberatory practice: unlocking knowledge to locate an academic field’, Teaching in Higher Education, 28(2), pp.439-454. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2022.2114337

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Published

31-10-2024

How to Cite

Abegglen, S. (2024) “Writing to learn: creative LD perspectives for Learning Developers and students”, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (32). doi: 10.47408/jldhe.vi32.1396.

Issue

No. 32 (2024): Special Edition, ALDinHE Conference Proceedings and Reflections

Section

Conference Proceedings

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