Raising the profile of Learning Development: thinking forwards

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi32.1416

Keywords:

professional identity, collaboration, raising profile

Abstract

Following an article comparing ‘study skills’ provision to J.M. Barrie’s Tinkerbell (Richards and Pilcher, 2023), discussions – and emotions – were stirred again this year regarding how Learning Development is understood among academic and third-space colleagues. Inspired by White and Webster’s (2023) session at last year’s ALDcon, the Study Advice service at the University of Reading, in collaboration with Dr Helen Webster from the University of Oxford, decided to run an ALDinHE regional event to address this very question: how do Learning Developers promote a better understanding of what we do, and raise our profile in our institutions?

This presentation reported back from this regional event, sharing both the barriers and proposed solutions to raising our profile. But there is still work to do. Together we hope to create a useful action plan from this work. We discussed whom we need to communicate with, what we feel these messages should be, and how we claim our expertise. Finally, we considered what we can do as a cross-institutional collective to ensure that we are seen as a profession with our own expertise and identity.

Author Biographies

Sonia Hood, The University of Reading

Sonia Hood is the Study Advice Manager at the University of Reading. Her research interests are in improving students' self-efficacy with regard to their academic writing and transitions to university.

Edward Powell, University of Reading

Edward Powell is a Study Adviser at the University of Reading. His research interests are in the role of learning developers in decolonising the curriculum, and in the professionalisation of learning development.

References

Hakim, A. and Wingate, U. (2024) ‘Collaborative approaches to embedding academic literacy instruction in the curriculum: examples from UK universities’, Studies in Higher Education, pp. 1-13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2397695.

Richards, K. and Pilcher, N. (2021) ‘Study skills are not the answer to students’ academic woes’, WONKHE, 17 June. Available at: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/study-skills-are-not-the-answer-to-students-academic-woes/

Richards, K. and Pilcher, N. (2023) ‘Study Skills: neoliberalism’s perfect Tinkerbell’, Teaching in Higher Education, 28(3), pp. 580–596. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1839745.

White, S. and Webster, H. (2023) ‘Hey you! They’re calling you Tinkerbell! What are you going to do about it?’, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (29). Available at: https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi29.1120.

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Published

31-10-2024

How to Cite

Hood, S. and Powell, E. (2024) “Raising the profile of Learning Development: thinking forwards”, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (32). doi: 10.47408/jldhe.vi32.1416.