I tend to go with Leonard on this one - 'support' can take many forms and degrees and its absence does not necessarily result in collapse. I think the value of the word is in its general meaning and do not identify with the view that it implies an 'other' of the unsupported. I consider all students to be supported in various ways - and some members of staff to be more actively thinking about and offering support than others. And if it is a word in a job description, then that's great because the flexibility of the word can give a flexibility to the job and this is something that you can use to your advantage - the 'Keep it Vague' technique that environmental educators have long used to give themselves latitude.
I also agree that 'learn' words have become pretty 'gutted', but council us all to beware of the management starting to supplement 'customer' for 'student' or 'learner' - which will perhaps eventually turn us all into 'service providers'! arrgghhhh! - I would rather be a facilitator!
All the best
Ian
Dr. Ian Bride
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE)
School of Anthropology and Conservation (SAC)
University of Kent
Canterbury, Kent
CT2 7NS
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change"
C. Darwin (1809-1882)
"..... and therefore, the most creative!" Yours truly.
________________________________________
From: learning development in higher education network [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Leonard Holmes [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 June 2012 13:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The word 'support'
Yes, it is the associations of the word - or,perhaps (I would suggest), the fears that LDers have that they and their work might be 'tainted' with such un-PC associations. Yet the notion of 'support' does not necessarily carry the connotations that those who support do not themselves need support, nor that they are 'better' people because **in some specific arena** of human activity they have less need for support.
As I see it, the problem for LDHE community is that it has not developed a robust body of theory, and theoretically-informed practice, to present its jurisdictional claims (as Abbott would term it).
Yes to 'teaching' - to include a wide range of practices, not just formal, directive, instruction. I repeat my challenge to engage in the mind experiment of removing the word 'learning', and other word forms from 'learn', from the lexicon and then see how we can articulate what is taking place. Learning is a contaminated concept - (http://www.re-skill.org.uk/papers/contaminated.htm)
Oh, and yes, get rid of 'facilitating' - probably the one word that has most 'bewitched our intelligence' in this field.
Len
-------------------------
Dr Leonard Holmes
Reader in Management
University of Roehampton | London | SW15 5PJ
www.roehampton.ac.uk/staff/LeonardHolmes
Centre for Organizational Research
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8392 8151 |
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From: [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 June 2012 12:51
To: Leonard Holmes; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: The word 'support'
The problem is not the word or the concept itself but the associations that many people still bring to it ie as Haggis notes, the implication that there exists another/better bunch of people who don't need any support.
Personally I think everything 'we' (LD professionals or whatever) do sits perfectly well within the definition of 'teaching' - that word encompasses what I tried to do over many years as a teacher/tutor/lecturer/course leader within my own discipline, as well as when working with students in other courses, and more recently with new and experienced lecturers to help them teach/support their own students effectively.
As long as we don't call it 'facilitating'......
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Leonard Holmes
Sent: 20 June 2012 12:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The word 'support'
Seems to me to be a case of deja vu (or is it ecoute?)
There does seem to me that the LDHE community (wannabe profession?) has a fear of anything that smacks of 'remedial' work, as 'pathologising' (thought we'd been through all that stuff in the 70s and 80s and moved on ...). Seems to me to connect with naive Rogerian views about students knowing what is best for them and being able to judge the quality of their own studying (aka 'learning'), perhaps illustrated by the debates around 'independent study'.
I think it is interesting that IT departments seem to have no problem with the word 'support' in respect of what they do ie they support staff, students, departments, the university, in their use of IT systems and serviecs to achieve what they want to achieve.
Does LDHE, as a community with (claimed) expertise, have a problem with articulating what it can do to help students (and staff?) to achieve what they want to achieve?
Why **should** we expect new students to be able to engage in the practices appropriate for first year undergraduates, **without** some kind of support ?
Why **should** we expect progressing students to be able to engage in the practices appropriate for second year undergraduates, **without** some kind of support ?
Why **should** we expect final year students to be able to engage in the practices appropriate for those about to become graduates, **without** some kind of support ?
Len
-------------------------
Dr Leonard Holmes
Reader in Management
University of Roehampton | London | SW15 5PJ www.roehampton.ac.uk/staff/LeonardHolmes
Centre for Organizational Research
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8392 8151 |
Follow us on TWITTER | Find us on FACEBOOK Watch us on YOUTUBE| Check in on FOURSQUARE
________________________________________
From: learning development in higher education network [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Hilsdon [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 20 June 2012 12:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The word 'support'
Hi Dickson and all
This is a very interesting discussion. As a learning developer keen to use that term to describe our work (rather than Learning Support) I've been highly influenced by Tamsin Haggis - and especially her paper 'Pedagogies for diversity: retaining critical challenge amidst fears of 'dumbing down' in 'Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 31, No. 5, October 2006, pp. 521-535.
This paper was described by Pauline Ridley, a stalwart of ALDinHE, who enthused about it to this list back in 2007. In it, Tamsin says:
"The ubiquitous presence of the word 'support' in relation to these issues (ie WP students' performance at university) suggests the existence of a superior group who function in a strong and 'unsupported' way, thus pathologising any student for whom these assumptions (i.e. prior awareness of academic conventions and discourse) are not clear." (pg 524)
Although I see nothing wrong with the word 'support' in and of itself - of course I want to support students (and colleagues .. and be supported myself) in developing their learning - but not because they are deficient .. they may be less experienced, less familiar with particular cultural practices and discourse etc !) So I avoid using it as the key noun in any description of our work which, I argue, is collaborative and developmental for all involved - i.e. students, developers, academics and the 'academy' overall. Having said the above, my new job at Plymouth University from August 1st is 'Head of Learning Support and Wellbeing'. I would not have chosen that title and hope to alter it once in post!
I'm examining these ideas again as part of my Ed D work on LD (Hi Stephen - that's what I'm doing too! Feel free to contact me off list)
Best wishes to all
John
From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Peter Samuels
Sent: 20 June 2012 11:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The word 'support'
Dear Dickson,
The word 'support' has been widely used with Mathematics and Statistics in the context of Learning Development, at least since the initiatives of Ian Beveridge and the (then) University of Luton (now Bedfordshire) in 1993 (see http://www.sigma-cetl.ac.uk/index.php?section=80). A clear definition was recently given in MacGillivray, H. & Croft, A. C. (2011) Understanding evaluation of learning support in mathematics and statistics, International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 42(2), pp. 189-212. Interestingly, they use the verbs assist and develop to describe support.
Kind regards,
Peter
Dr. Peter Samuels, MA, PG Cert MS DD HE/FE Academic Skills Tutor Centre for Academic Success Library and Learning Resources Birmingham City University City North Campus Perry Barr Birmingham
B42 2SU
Tel. 0121 331 5687
http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sandra Sinfield
Sent: 19 June 2012 11:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The word 'support'
Dear Dickson,
'Support' is not just ill-defined but hotly contested in the Learning Development community. You will find that though we may agree that our role is 'supportive' in many ways - we prefer the term 'development'
because it smacks less of the remedial overtones somehow bound up with the term 'support'. For many of us 'development' is empowering and emancipatory and applies to all no matter where on the learning development continuum you may find yourself. Whilst 'support' implies a deficit student and, at worst, a dependent/dependency relationship.
Your colleague might want to have a look at the Learning Development
Journal:
http://www.aldinhe.ac.uk/journal.html
Or the Learning Development in Higher Education book that we produced recently that covers the emergence and development of this field.
With best wishes,
Sandra
On 19 June 2012 10:51, Dickson Telfer <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
>
> Hi folks,
>
>
>
> I have a colleague in Health, Nursing and Midwifery who is studying
> for a PhD and is zooming in on the role of the link lecturer,
> specifically looking at their responsibilities surrounding 'supporting student learning'.
> However, she has discovered that there appears to be no specific
> definition for this term - and sometimes link lecturers are found
> giving academic advice on coursework when visiting students on
> placement, where really the place for this is the university. She can
> find plenty stuff on learning theory but nothing concrete on 'support' theory.
>
>
>
> Can anyone suggest resources that would help her find some sort of
> definition / discussion in relation to pedagogy?
>
>
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Dickson.
>
> Please consider the environment and think before you print
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