Article Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education ISSN: 1759-667X Issue 14: April 2019 ________________________________________________________________________ Editorial John Hilsdon University of Plymouth, UK Alicja Syska University of Plymouth, UK Christopher Drew Teesside University, UK Sue Eccles Bournemouth University, UK Andy Hagyard University of Leeds, UK Christina Howell-Richardson Birkbeck, University of London, UK Craig Morley University of Chester, UK Gita Sedghi University of Liverpool, UK We are delighted to announce that this volume of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education marks ten years of the journal’s existence. Since its first edition, published in 2009, the journal has seen steady growth and is currently looking to implement new and innovative practices that reflect the exciting developments in the LD community and field of practice, and to broaden our approach beyond the UK. The idea to establish a peer-reviewed academic journal that would host and promote the research of learning developers has its origins in discussions among members of the Learning Development in Higher Education Network (LDHEN) since 2003. A firm intention was announced following setting up of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) in 2007, when an embryonic editorial group began undertaking foundational work for the journal. This was met with considerable enthusiasm from the community and resulted in a steady flow of submissions and offers to review. Since 2009, we have published 223 pieces, including 122 papers, 56 case studies, 23 opinion pieces, 7 other articles, and 15 book reviews on a range of topics relevant to LD. We have had contributions from 450 authors representing both long-established members of the LD Editorial Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 14: April 2019 2 community and new aspiring researchers who have made their name by publishing their work with us. Over the years, through the efforts of 18 editors and 13 guest editors, we have published twenty issues of JLDHE, including five special editions (on PDP, writing in STEM, digital technologies, and peer learning) as well as one representing inspiring work presented at the ALDinHE 2018 conference. From now on there will be an annual conference edition of the JLDHE. The various papers, case studies, opinion pieces and editorials we have published represent significant practice in defining, analysing and evaluating the LD field, tracing its boundaries, framing and reframing models for practice and reflecting the hybrid, liquid, and contested nature of both LD roles and the discipline itself. We have worked through times of change and paradigm shifts, both cultural and technological, political and institutional, always championing the LD commitment to look at higher education from students’ perspectives and to share good practice. Over the years, the journal’s existence has contributed to a significant identity shift among learning developers, from the self- perceived ‘sense of being disempowered, isolated and unheard’ we had reflected on in Issue 1 (Hilsdon, 2009), to a sense of being a true community of practitioners who support and empower each other in order to forge a stronger LD voice and identity. Considering the strength of current scholarship in learning development, we have many reasons to go forward with a sense of optimism and feel confident to try new bold initiatives that will reinvigorate well-established practices. One such initiative is our new way to allocate peer reviewers for submissions to the journal. To create a more dynamic and community-focussed approach, from now on, we will email relevant JISCmail lists (LDHEN, SEDA, EATAW) periodically to seek offers from subscribers to act as peer reviewers for specific papers. This will not replace the existing system but will, we hope, improve responsiveness, act to bring in 'new blood', and better inform our communities about the kinds of topics being considered for publication in the JLDHE. As this issue is being released, we are also working on our forthcoming ‘Academic Literacies’ special edition, which is a new and thrilling collaboration by the Global Forum for English for Academic Purposes Professionals (BALEAP) and the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE), to be published in November 2019, with manuscript submissions due on 31 May 2019. This special issue, featuring an introductory article by Ursula Wingate, will mark twenty years since the publication of Mary Editorial Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 14: April 2019 3 Lea and Brian Street’s seminal paper entitled ‘Student writing in higher education: an academic literacies approach’ and aims to stimulate new interest in this still-neglected approach to the development of teaching and learning for the needs of contemporary higher education. The lead editor role was shared by John Hilsdon and Andy Hagyard from 2009 onwards, with other colleagues joining from 2012. Lucy Rai then took on the lead role from 2016 to 2018. Following the appointment of four new editors last year, it was decided to give the role of lead editor a more collaborative character to reflect the complementary creative strengths of our editorial board. To that end, Alicja Syska of the University of Plymouth has now taken the role of co-lead editor and will share principal editorial duties with John. We believe this will further help to steer the journal and continue its successful journey. We acknowledge the hard work of all our editorial board members and copy-editors who have made this issue possible. We also want to express our sincere thanks to the reviewers – an often unsung but vital role – who generously volunteered their time to offer opinions on the articles included in this volume. We are no less grateful to the authors who contributed to this issue and whose willingness to share ideas and best practices ensures the continued success of this journal. Lastly, we thank our readers for visiting us online and supporting the work of the journal. We hope you will celebrate with us on our tenth anniversary as we look forward to an exciting future. ********* Issue 14 brings together a collection of four papers, discussing LD practices in contexts including the UK, Canada and Sweden, three case studies, and a book review. The varied perspectives offered provide a range of interesting insights and contributions to the scholarship of learning development. In their autoethnographic study designed to report on the impact that working with student paraprofessionals has had on their learning development practice, Jenna Olender and Michael Lisetto-Smith of Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada reveal some innovative institutional attempts to increase diversity in peer-to-peer education. The paper examines a Canadian university’s response to the government-driven increase in learning development programming to ensure equity and provide effective support for non- Editorial Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 14: April 2019 4 traditional students. This response included enlisting what the authors call ‘paraprofessional student staff’, meaning trained student employees (who better reflect the existing student diversity) working alongside learning developers to help create a more inclusive, supportive, and welcoming environment for the university’s diverse student body. Ultimately, the authors hope to promote autoethnography as a way of interrogating learning development practice with the aim of fostering inclusive environments and avoiding being ‘complicit in reinforcing systems of oppression within higher education’. Emily McIntosh and Mary Barden explore the creation and implementation of the LEAP (Learning Excellence Achievement Pathway) framework at the University of Bolton. The paper discusses how LEAP was designed by auditing and collating LD support across the institution into a single visual, and visible, framework. The authors further outline how this framework enabled closer alignment between curricular and co-curricular student engagement activities, and deeper embedding into the academic curricula. Finally, McIntosh and Barden outline the positive impact the initiative had on the perception and awareness of LD across their institution. Catherine Hayes and John Anthony Fulton give an insight into the implementation of Peer Assisted Student Support (PASS) and Supplemental Instruction (SI) Programme in which postgraduate PhD students deliver the scheme to cohorts of MSc students. The focus of the study is to explore the potential benefits for both PhD students as facilitators and MSc student recipients. The PhD students’ academic ability and their capacity to articulate key concepts were two areas highlighted in this study. In addition, MSc students felt that the intervention prevented feelings of social isolation during the period of their independent learning time. The authors also address the issues to be considered in relation to the wider scaling of this project. Eva Hansson and Jeanette Sjöberg of Halmstad University, Sweden, present a case for greater understanding of students’ digital habits on and off campus in order to better integrate their existing cyber behaviours with the goals of higher education. Based on their experience with students enrolled in teacher training programmes, the authors demonstrate how students’ experience in higher education both contributes to developing their digital skills and is shaped by their digital habits. Hansson and Sjöberg hope to inspire learning development practitioners to reframe the discussion about technology as a ‘positive tool in learning’ by giving greater consideration to students’ existing knowledge Editorial Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 14: April 2019 5 and experience of digital technology and seeing their digital habits as an asset in higher education. In their case study, ‘Unrolling the text: using scrolls to facilitate academic reading’, Sandra Abegglen, Tom Burns, David Middlebrook and Sandra Sinfield describe their use of an innovative approach to reading that has been pioneered by Middlebrook. Suggesting that academics reproduce texts, or extracts of text, in the form of scrolls that can be displayed on large surfaces such as walls may sound unusual but its potential for promoting a collaborative, dialogic approach will be of interest to many. The current re-emergence of attention to academic reading and the argument that this area has been less well-explored by LD than other academic practices, is sure to augment the value of this case study for our readers. In another case study, ‘Walking the path of desire’, Michelle Crowther describes methods used to evaluate a series of study skills workshops and online learning materials created for a cohort of undergraduate students in response to feedback that they had struggled to relate the workshops to their assignment, which was a portfolio of critical reflections. The librarians and academic learning developers who delivered the module evaluated the teaching materials to identify whether online content could improve learning outcomes or whether the workshops and printed sources were more valuable for skills’ development. Four routes of engagement were identified and assessed: attendance, accesses of digital lecture capture, evidence of the use of library resources, and the use of the VLE. An effective path was defined as one in which the student attained some measure of success in achieving the learning outcomes of the module, as evidenced through their assessed work. The author concludes that blended learning fulfils the needs of a diverse cohort; however, attendance is still the key to success for most students. John Stoszkowski and Liam McCarthy explore undergraduate students’ perceptions of the learner attributes required for heutagogical learning at two different UK institutions. Two final year cohorts, studying an optional module, used collaborative online group blogs to share and discuss relevant resources, as well as their ongoing self-determined learning and practical experiences. Each student’s module grade was based on the quality and quantity of their perception in their group blog. Module tutors’ role was that of a facilitator as opposed to a provider of content. The study shows that educators need to carefully consider the timescale and intrapersonal background of their students and the existing Editorial Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Issue 14: April 2019 6 knowledge in order to facilitate effective heutagogical learning. In addition, there is a need for the carefully staged introduction of such approaches over time. The final item in this edition is a review of the book Academic success: a student’s guide to studying at university (Brick, Wilson, Wong and Herke, 2019) by Karen Hudson. A significant factor that makes this book attractive is its focus on the needs and perspectives of international students in English-speaking HE contexts, and those for whom English may not be a first language. Hudson rates the book highly and offers a helpful critical overview which will be valuable to those considering whether to order this text for themselves or their institution, or to recommend it to their students.