Dear Colleagues

Apologies for cross-posting

Call for papers: Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (JLDHE) Special Edition 2012, Developing Writing in STEM Disciplines

Deadline for submission of papers: 30^th April 2012

Publication: October 2012

Thanks to those who have expressed interest already. This is a reminder and final call for academic papers or case studies relating to projects, development activities, research or innovative practice in developing skills for writing in scientific and technological disciplines. This is an area that is relatively under-reported in the UK.

We welcome submissions from subject specialists, learning developers, writing developers, and others with a particular interest in this topic. The deadline for submissions is Monday 30^th April 2012. Papers will be peer-reviewed; to help ensure a fair process, two versions of each contribution should be submitted, one of which must have author details removed and content anonymised for the reviewers. If you would like to have an informal discussion about submitting a paper for the special edition, you are welcome to call Trevor Day on 01985 844 822 or John Hilsdon on 07973 425931.

(NB For those who presented at the recent ALDinHE conference in Leeds, if you are intending to submit your paper for the journal the initial deadline for those manuscripts is 31^st May 2012. We will write separately to you about this. If your topic is especially relevant to writing in STEM we may consider it for inclusion in this special edition.)

To see the current edition (No. 4) of the JLDHE, go to http://www.aldinhe.ac.uk/ojs/. Please note, however, that for this special edition we will not use the online submission system but ask you to send contributions by email directly to [log in to unmask]. The guidelines for authors are attached.

Background

The National HE STEM Programme 2010-2012, an initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Councils for England and Wales, supports Higher Education Institutions in exploring new approaches to recruiting students and supporting programmes of study within Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Its primary focus is on Chemistry, Engineering, Mathematics and Physics – STEM subjects deemed strategically important and vulnerable.

The National HE STEM Programme, operating through six main HE partner institutions, which in turn engage with dozens more, has concentrated on three strands: 1. Widening participation within STEM disciplines at university level; 2. Higher Education curriculum development, focusing on course delivery & design and student support; and 3. Workforce development, encouraging those currently within the workforce and society without a prior university-level qualification to engage with further study.

One project within the HE STEM curriculum development strand, ‘Developing Writing in STEM Disciplines’ (http://go.bath.ac.uk/stemwriting), has focused on cultivating writing capabilities on STEM undergraduate programmes to meet both academic and employability needs. Recent surveys by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), and other organisations with an interest in graduate employment, have identified some employer dissatisfaction with graduates’ writing abilities.

The project responded to such conclusions by carrying out its own research into engineering employers’ and engineering placement students’ perceptions of writing development. At the same time it gathered evidence and examples of strong writing development practice in STEM disciplines through establishing a network of regional, national and international partners. The project was led by the University of Bath collaborating with colleagues from several universities: Coventry, Exeter, Limerick, Oxford Brookes, Plymouth, and West of England.

The ‘Developing Writing in STEM Disciplines’ project culminated in a regional conference in September 2011, where an unusually eclectic mix of subject specialists, learning developers, writing developers, careers advisors, librarians and English language centre staff came together. This conference was a spur for two developments: the establishment of a special interest group on ‘Developing Writing in STEM Disciplines’ (in progress) and this call for papers for a special peer-reviewed edition of JLDHE on that theme.

Trevor Day, University of Bath

Andy Hagyard, University of Lincoln

John Hilsdon, Plymouth University