LearnHigher

Due to run until 2010, LearnHigher has been set up to look at different aspects of the student learning experience, for example presentations, group work or time management.  NTU is involved with Academic Writing.  

Each learning area has been tasked to develop learning resources for students to be able to use directly or for staff members to access and use in their own teaching practice.  Furthermore, LearnHigher is exploring the issues involved in the pedagogy of the different learning areas.  Since November 2006, Rebecca Bell has been employed to look at ways in which academic writing is being taught within NTU and across the sector.

Given that academic writing is such a vast area, we are also increasingly focusing upon the issue of the transition into higher education and how students learn to write in the way we expect them to.

A complete list of learning areas is available on the LearnHigher website.

• Academic writing
• Assessment
• Critical thinking and reflection
• Doing research
• Group work
• Independent learning/self directed study
• Information literacy
• Listening and interpersonal skills
• Learning for all (inclusivity)
• Mobile learning
• Numeracy, maths and statistics
• Oral communication
• Personal development planning
• Problem solving and creative thinking
• Reading and note making
• Referencing
• Report writing
• Time management
• Understanding organisations

We are currently working on the following projects:

• Academic Writing Readers' Group - Meets twice termly to discuss a paper on academic writing and discuss the implications for teaching.
• Staff development sessions - Rebecca Bell is facilitating a number of staff development sessions to encourage staff to think about how they teach students to write effectively.
• Transitions research - We are carrying out a major piece of research to try and understand more fully the expectations and experiences students have when they enter university and to uncover the extent to which we cater for them.
• Academic Writing Mentors - In 2006/07 we supported a scheme in the College of Art, Design and the Built Environment in which a number of student mentors provided a drop-in service to support students to improve their academic writing.  In 2007/08 we are working with the Learning and Teaching Coordinator (LTC) for Nottingham Business School to integrate academic writing mentoring into a final year module.
• Placement research - We funded research in the School of Science and Technology to identify academic writing issues for students going on placement.
• One-to-one writing support – Rebecca Bell works on Mondays at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Science to support students' writing needs.
• Writing across the curriculum - Working with the LTC for the School of Arts and Humanities, Rebecca Bell is exploring issues of writing within a 2nd year Cultural Studies module.  Ed Foster works as part of the team delivering a first year history module to develop ways of making more explicit the issues of academic writing within the curriculum.

Contact: Ed Foster