Creating participatory writing cultures in UK higher education

One particularly difficult area for higher education students is writing appropriately for their respective disciplines. As writing is a social, cultural and dialogic act, writing support should create learning events that will allow for useful social exchange of ideas within the appropriate disciplinary cultures. Indeed, many claims are made in favour of disciplinary-based writing support: students will become more engaged with their subjects, will develop as critical thinkers and, through debate, will produce scripts which are more likely to warrant them voice within their disciplinary cultures. In the study described in this paper, two academics from Art and Design and Humanities in a UK university used different techniques to create participatory writing cultures in the classroom. Despite different settings, similar issues arose that are not fully addressed in the literature on writing development, including student non-engagement with active learning; issues with the development of critical skills; and student agency. The authors will discuss their findings by drawing on student feedback and their own reflection on the teaching sessions

‘Yay! Not another academic essay!’ Blogging as an alternative academic genre

Academic writing is a staple university practice required across disciplines to determine student success. Despite its ubiquity, however, literacy scholars have long argued that academic writing is both exclusionary and prohibitive. Drawing on the work of literacy scholars we make the case for the use of blogs in higher education as a way of providing a type of inclusive writing or ‘regenring’ that such scholars advocate. To achieve this, we trial the use of a blog in a final-year undergraduate module, employing a mixed-methods approach to explore student perceptions on whether blogging affords them a means to engage with and take ownership of their writing and learning. In keeping with the task we have set our students, we have presented this article using blog-like features

Exploring the development of writerly identity through the use of blogging

This paper discusses implementation of blog writing as a formative assessment within a final year undergraduate module. Drawing on students’ perceptions and experiences, it proposes that blogging offers a more inclusive writing genre for Higher Education than traditional forms of academic scholarship

Implementing blog writing as a tool for promoting student engagement and literacy development

This paper discusses the implementation of blog writing within a final year undergraduate module as a way of providing a type of inclusive writing. A mixed-methods approach is employed, with the aim of exploring whether blogging affords students with a means to engage with and take ownership of their writing and learning. Drawing on both tutor and students’ experiences and perceptions, we propose that blogging has the potential for fostering greater student engagement

‘Embodiment is the future’: what is embodiment and is it the future paradigm for learning and teaching in higher education?

In this opinion piece I present a brief introduction to embodiment and offer practical examples of embodied pedagogy. My overarching argument is that embodiment theory and practice merit a paradigmatic status in higher education pedagogies and a sub-theme is that using embodiment as a foundation for pedagogic praxis is usefully done in collaboration with the wealth of embodiment professionals working in different embodiment modalities across the globe. This piece includes some of the observations and practices I have encountered from such professionals

Taking positive steps for learning and teaching: movement for learner developers

In this blog post for the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education, I argue that movement is essential for physical, cognitive and mental health and wellbeing, as well as for one's quality of life and longevity. I apply this argument to learning and teaching in Higher education