Resources for Staff Academic Writing Theoretical Underpinning Case studies Academic Writing Readers Group Academic Writing Readers Group
Overview
‘Why can’t my students write?’ has been an increasingly popular phrase heard throughout Universities in recent years. Here at Nottingham Trent University in response to a growing staff interest and concern in the area of academic writing a trial discussion group was established. The Academic Writing Readers Group, which has been a huge success over the last year, was initially set up in January 2007 to serve as a forum for academics to discuss students’ academic writing issues. However, it soon developed into much more becoming a social network in which to discuss, explore and highlight current practice in this area. The sessions which are promoted via the university’s E News notification system last approximately 1-2 hours and are still proving very popular. Consequently, there is a restriction on the number of available places with sessions often filling up within a week of their advertisement.
The sessions are based around a discussion paper which staff have the opportunity to read prior to attending. Over the last 12 months staff members have debated a wide range of issues from Academic Literacies, Writing Across the Curriculum, Plagiarism and a number of other topics all based around current research and theoretical debate in the field. One session examined a paper from an American university that suggested a number of short in-lecture writing activities. Consequently, many of our attendees trialled the resources and we are therefore gleaning valuable feedback on the practical applicability of such activities. These comments are invaluable to the process of resource development in this field and also provide staff with the opportunity to develop activities so that they are specific to their discipline. Some discussion topics really fire the attendees’ imagination with some colleagues even drafting their own responses to the paper, adding a new perspective to consider. The debates are also often continued amongst colleagues via the University e-mail system highlighting the proposed establishment of an online forum for the group to continue their discussion.
The group provides excellent networking opportunities linking together staff who wish to increase writing in their subject areas with the central funding and development opportunities offered by the Quality Enhancement Team. This networking has also had the added effect of linking attendees to the Learnhigher CETL giving them a sense of autonomy from the university whilst directing them to another valuable resource bank. As part of the project we are currently in the process of evaluating the sessions. The feedback from this study will be available in the new year. It is hoped that the findings will be able to help us deliver a more informed programme of papers whilst addressing the issues that attendees view to be most important to them.
Feedback
Click on the links to view video clips of attendees talking about the group.
Why do attendees participate in the sessions?
What does the group offer to attendees that they can't do themselves?
What have attendees found most beneficial about attending the group?
What do attendees feel is the biggest weakness of the group?
Do attendees feel that the group is a worthwhile use of their time?
Past papers
Click here to view a reference list of past papers discussed at the sessions.
The group is open to all members of staff and has recently seen a visiting colleague from another institution sit in on a session. If someone from your institution would like to attend a session or would simply like more information about the group then please contact rebecca.bell@ntu.ac.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details.
What interests attendees about student academic writing?
What is the Academic Writing Readers Group?
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