Academic literacies: learning developers’ perspectives on informing the curriculum

This paper sets out the findings of a research project that explores how learning developers (LDers) translate academic literacies (AL) into practice for student learning (Lea and Street, 1998; Hilsdon, 2011; Hilsdon et al., 2019; Bassett and McNaught, 2024) through curriculum design and content creation. The findings reveal varied practice informed by each LDer’s theoretical foundations, wider debates within learning development, and local conditions within each participant’s university.

A key emergent theme is that participants seek to influence the design of new and existing curriculum and resources by actively reaching out to colleagues, often from the ‘ground up’. Through interactions of sharing, persuasion, and collaboration, LDers are attempting to integrate multiple forms of academic knowledge and skills into wide-ranging courses so all students can fully participate and succeed in their disciplines. However, the participants’ reflections reveal structural and individual factors within higher education that manifest as challenges and affordances for informing curricula, content, and resources. The research reveals some unexpected results about how LDers engage with AL in their own practice and their relationships with discipline-based colleagues to promote and develop inclusive curricula (OfS, 2024).

This paper uses the words of LDers across multiple disciplines and universities to share insights into how we seek to influence accessibility, equity, and inclusivity throughout students’ learning journeys. Participants will be invited to reflect on the findings and consider how they might inform their own strategies for their contexts.