I think Ben's mailing "Auditing learning development provision" and the
"Do add-ons work?" postings have got people talking and thinking because
they have taken us back to the fundamental question: 'WHAT IS LEARNING
DEVELOPMENT?' 

I suppose that doing LD work in a 'fully' embedded way (if such a thing
were possible) would imply that academic staff and departments would as
a matter of course give such attention and resources to learning from
the perspective of students in their disciplines, that advice about, and
opportunities to practice study activities would be abundant. 

The points about power and relationships made by Pat, Julia, Lisa and
others would still be likely to remain valid, however, even under such
'ideal' circumstances. So, we need to give more attention to how power
may affect learning, and how having opportunities to go 'outside' the
discipline to gain perspective and confidence from work with independent
others, or through peer support, may be important aspects of learning
development work.

To me this suggest that Learning Development, and the role of LDers, as
well as teaching about learning and about academic practice(s), is in
acting to mediate, consult and facilitate communication between
students, subject academics and other faculty and institutional staff
involved in the experience of being a student in HE. There is an element
of 'advocacy' here in ensuring student views and experiences are heard;
and that academic practices are rendered more comprehensible to those
entering the communities of higher education as students. There is also
the role of consultant that many of us are becoming familiar with in
sharing our expertise about learning with those improving or designing
new programmes of study, or preparing particular learning materials or
activities. 

All of the above imply both practical and academic study of the range of
experiences of learning and being a student in HE ... the picture of LD
grows more complex, richer ... and more compelling?

John


John Hilsdon
Co-ordinator, Learning Development 
University of Plymouth 
Drake Circus 
Plymouth 
PL4 8AA 

01752 232276 
[log in to unmask]
http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/learn


-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pauline Ridley
Sent: 14 February 2007 14:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Do add-ons work?

What a really interesting discussion this has prompted! 

Lisa's experience echoes mine several years ago when I helped set up a
'student learning centre' in our faculty of art & design. There were two
.5 FTE tutors (both of us academic tutors on courses in the Faculty) and
we ran drop ins and workshops etc.  We thought our ambition was to work
with course staff to embed learning development within curricula and in
effect make ourselves redundant. It was only when I became a course
leader (of a degree course which had been absolutely designed according
to those principles) that I found how much less forthcoming 'my'
students were about their difficulties with studying than students who
saw me as a friendly outsider. As Lisa says, power is a key issue - the
problem for many course tutors is that it's easy to underestimate the
effect of that when you are the one with the power. 

I've just completed a review of where and how 'study support' takes
place at Brighton - mostly embedded - which has concluded strongly that
there is a need for additional provision (one to one, drop in, workshop
etc) outside courses, though  not yet sure whether it should be at
School, Faculty or site level (we have 5 main campuses and limited extra
funding) 

I just wish this thread had started a couple of days earlier so I could
have included some quotes in the report!

Pauline
-----Original Message-----
From: learning development in higher education network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Clughen, Lisa
Sent: 14 February 2007 11:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Do add-ons work?


Hi All
 
I have to say that I agree with Pat.  I also work as an Academic Skills
tutor within a School and this has allowed me to develop my 'add-on'
study support seminars and one-to-one sessions with particular reference
to the student courses.  Students, moreover, have spoken most
vociferously in various institutional fora about how useful they have
found the 'add-on' service.  In fact, I really wasn't prepared for
student reactions before I started this work and was so taken aback by
their comments that they have inspired some research I am conducting at
the present moment. When I started the role (I have come into student
support after being a Spanish lecturer for about 14 years), I thought
about academic support in rather narrow terms and focused purely on the
academic aspects of the provision.  However, it was also the development
of the personal, affective aspects of study which the students kept
mentioning in their feedback.  Of course this is nothing new to people
working in learner support, but it hadn't really taken centre stage with
me beforehand, even though I knew that issues of confidence etc were
fundamental to learning.  
 
The upshot of all this is that I believe that the add-on learner support
space offers something that mainstream learning spaces cannot: they
offer a place where issues of power can be addressed in a way in which
they simply cannot within the subjects.  At the end of the day, although
I still represent the University and thus am a 'face of power', I do not
give the students marks, I am not a subject expert and, often, I do not
know as much about the subject as the students.  The power dynamics of
the tutor-student relationship are thus changed and this is noticeable
in the staggering differences in the feedback I get from students from
my academic support service and that from my Spanish students.  To
compliment work undertaken by those working within the Academic
Literacies approach to student writing, I have started to research into
the issue of power dynamics in learning and am focussing on silent
students in seminars.  If anybody has any useful suggestions regarding
any research which has been undertaken, specifically with students in
seminars, or any other suggstions for reading, I'd be very grateful.
 
Lisa
 
 
________________________________

From: learning development in higher education network on behalf of Pat
Hill
Sent: Wed 14/02/2007 10:28
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 



Hi 
'Add-ons do not work.' 
Can I tentatively ask if we're on the verge of 'throwing the baby out
with the bath water' again? It seems to be a trend in educational
circles that we do something for years and then decide it doesn't work
and go headlong into another cul-de-sac. I know there are limitations,
but those of us who have worked in study skills for a number of years,
where it was inevitably 'add-on', must have had some successes! 

As an Academic Skills Tutor, now working within a school rather than
cross-university, I can see the value of embedding development into the
curriculum but I don't feel that necessarily negates the value of
targeted sessions on specific aspects of writing. Lisa Ganobscik-
Williams, in her very useful report on academic writing, came out in
favour of using a variety of approaches and I think that we need to be
wary of narrowing our options too much. 

I do one-to -one work every day and give bolt-on lectures where I feel
it will help. As long as these are tailored in some way to the students'
requirements I feel that they can be very effective in making
expectations explicit and reinforcing strategies that they are exposed
to within the module.

Best wishes 
Pat 
Pat Hill 
Academic Skills Tutor 
School of Music, Humanities and Media 
Tel 01484 472170 
Room WG20 West Building 
University of Huddersfield 

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