In this study, I examine how university assessment policies constrain pedagogical innovation. Using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), I analysed policy documents from five UK universities to identify dominant discursive patterns influencing assessment governance. Four key themes emerged: efficiency, surveillance, standardisation, and pastoral power. Each reinforces institutional control and limits opportunities for flexible, student-centred assessment. Assessment policies prioritise compliance and administrative convenience over pedagogical innovation, embedding a discourse of risk aversion that restricts creative practice. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence are framed within surveillance narratives rather than as tools for formative feedback or adaptive questioning. This study addresses two questions: the extent to which assessment policies inhibit innovative methods, and whether barriers arise from policy texts or broader institutional discourses. Institutional discourse plays an equally significant role as formal policy. I recommend repositioning AI as a formative tool, decentralising governance, and embedding academic staff in policy development.
This paper examines the application of Feminist Systems Thinking (FST) as a strategy to decolonise university curricula, pedagogies, and institutional practices, drawing on postcolonial and decolonial frameworks. FST is a praxis, with the capacity to interrogate power dynamics. Recognising the complex interconnections between power, knowledge, coloniality, and institutional practices, the paper illustrates an embedded approach to decolonising. This paper emerged from four years of experience as a research fellow leading institutional commitment to decolonise. Key interventions include collaborative curriculum redesign, workshops on whiteness in the academy and critical pedagogy, incorporating alternative epistemologies that reflect the lived experiences of marginalised groups within academia, and a sustainable approach within existing university processes and regulatory frameworks. The study contributes to broader discussions on the role of universities in addressing historical colonial injustices and offers some ideas on curriculum design and pedagogies to integrate equality, diversity, and inclusion in learning development and teaching frameworks.
This speculative essay uses Virginia Woolf’s metaphor of a ‘room of one’s own’ to explore whether Learning Development (LD), as a field, provides effectual physical and figurative spaces whereby new learning developers (LDers) feel empowered to write their authentic selves into professional ‘being’. Drawing upon scholarly work into the professional identity of LDers, it argues that collaborative (and communal) shared ‘rooms’ or spaces ‘designed’ specifically for new LDers will enable them to develop confidence in contributing their written thoughts to the wider LD community.
Although increasingly recognised in higher education assessment and teaching practices, compassionate pedagogy is often misunderstood. Designed to alleviate student distress and trauma, it is sometimes dismissed as ‘soft’, ‘fluffy’, or insufficiently rigorous, particularly in relation to the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI) use in higher education. This case study, co-authored by academic staff and students, explores a constructive way forward. Drawing on student experiences, co-facilitation, and module performance, we demonstrate how teaching and learning with AI can be situated within a compassionate pedagogy. We suggest that this can foster engaged and inclusive learning communities promoting scholarship and belonging, while supporting critical research skills. We conclude with recommendations for educators on how they can embed teaching and learning with AI into their own pedagogy of compassion.
Support for stammering is poorly communicated and implemented in higher education. Recommendations from organisations such as STAMMA can be adopted by universities to enhance visibility and support. This support must continue to evolve as instructional and workplace practices change. An account of where to focus research efforts is presented with an emphasis on the relatively recent enhanced use of technology within higher education. A more inclusive learning and working environment for those who stammer will result in more students and staff feeling happier and supported to fulfil their potential, inclusive of those with and without a speech impediment.
This paper examines how diagnostic and self-reflective tools are used within Learning Development to support an increasingly diverse student body. Universities are seeing greater variation in learners’ needs, requiring more individualised academic support. Through a mixed-methods study involving a sector-wide survey and practitioner reflections, the research identifies the diagnostic models currently in use and evaluates their effectiveness in providing tailored learning opportunities. Thematic analysis highlights four recurring issues: the complex relationship between diagnostics and student confidence; the challenges and value of encouraging meaningful student reflection; engagement and accessibility concerns, particularly for non-traditional students; and the central role of learning developers in designing and delivering supportive interventions. The paper concludes that while diagnostics can enhance self-efficacy and learner identity, their impact depends heavily on thoughtful feedback and sustained, personalised follow-up support from learning developers.
Virtual reality (VR) is transforming science education by offering immersive, interactive experiences that enhance engagement and understanding of complex biological and environmental systems. However, its benefits and limitations compared to traditional in-person learning remain underexplored. This study directly compares the effectiveness of in-person and VR fieldwork in developing practical graduate skills valued by wildlife conservation employers. Zoology and Wildlife Conservation BSc undergraduates completed a bird monitoring survey at a local nature reserve and then repeated the survey in a simulated VR environment (“Nature Lab”). Student performance and achievement of intended learning outcomes were comparable across both settings, although each emphasised different, relevant skillsets. Students reported that Nature Lab provided a more inclusive and accessible learning experience, reduced the carbon footprint of fieldwork activities, and supported acquisition of valuable technological skills. These findings highlight VR’s potential as a sustainable, complementary teaching tool adaptable to diverse programmes involving fieldwork.
This case study explores how generative artificial intelligence (genAI) can be used in higher education (HE) to examine creativity, bias, and representation through storytelling. Rewriting Fairy Tales was a workshop in which 11 students from diverse disciplines used AI tools to reinterpret narratives, enabling them to identify bias, question authorship, and reflect on ethical implications of AI. Delivered within a UK HE teaching initiative, the workshop used genAI software to generate and rework story summaries, images, and narrative continuations. Activities combined creative experimentation with discussion and reflection. Data were collected through surveys, student reflections, observations, and creative outputs, focusing on changes in confidence, ethical awareness, and engagement. Findings indicate that students became more confident and critically aware, recognising AI as a limited creative collaborator. Participants identified gendered and cultural biases and produced more inclusive narratives. The study highlights storytelling as an accessible framework for developing digital literacy and ethical awareness.
The development of Learning Development (LD) in the United Kingdom (UK), and its sister disciplines in other countries, has been accompanied by intense conversations and reflection on the professional identities of those involved in it. This paper contributes to these debates by focussing on aspects of LD identities and practice that remain stubbornly uncertain. It argues that the growing consensus in the literature should not distract from questions about how well the literature represents the full community of Learning Developers (LDers). To this end, it reviews current literature on LD identities and practice, focussing on potential limitations to the emerging body of knowledge these publications represent. In response, it develops the rationale for a study among Scottish LDers that addresses some of the aspects currently underrepresented in the literature by including a wider scope of voices and focussing more strongly on practice.
This article explores the emotional dimensions of students’ engagement with assessment feedback and examines how generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), particularly large language models (LLMs), may support learners’ affective development. Although feedback is often framed as a cognitive tool for improvement, it is also an emotional experience shaped by anxiety, uncertainty, and defensiveness, influencing how learners interpret and act on it. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s concept of the ‘third space’, feedback is conceptualised as a negotiated site between educator intent and learner interpretation. Within this space, learners construct understanding through prior experiences and emotional responses. The article argues that LLMs can mediate this process by making feedback more accessible, actionable, and emotionally manageable, supporting feedback literacy. It also considers risks, including over-reliance on GenAI, reduced interpretive skills, and diminished academic precision. Their value lies in enhancing equitable engagement with feedback rather than replacing academic judgement or educator expertise in higher education.
Since 2015, there has been an expansion of professional development, recognition, and internal promotion opportunities open to Academic Language and Learning Development (ALLD) practitioners (Briggs, 2023; Briggs, 2025). However, limited information, beyond informal and often anecdotal community reporting, is available to inform what factors inhibit or facilitate access to such opportunities. This is concerning because it prohibits evidence-based interventions that aim to address inequalities of opportunity. This international study therefore sought to establish personal, institutional, national, and/or international factors associated with ALLD practitioners (n=92) reporting access to professional development, recognition, or internal promotion pathways. Several trends were identified, including country influence on access to professional recognition and contract type influence on access to internal promotion pathways. Implications of findings are considered in terms of how ALLD practitioners might be best supported by corresponding professional associations in terms of their career development and progression.
Despite increasing access to higher education (HE) for students from widening participation (WP) backgrounds, disparities in retention, awarding and student experience persist. This study examines differences in motivations, barriers, and support for WP and non-WP students, and examines whether early grade differences are present. A sample of 293 undergraduate first and second year Psychology or Cognitive Neuroscience students at an English, Russell Group university completed the survey. Students self-identified with WP criteria. Findings revealed WP students were more likely to identify financial concerns and sense of belonging as barriers, were more motivated by future earning potential, and were less likely to report family support compared to non-WP peers. No early grade differences were shown, suggesting that final degree awarding gaps may emerge later during university study rather than at entry. The study highlights the need for institutions to support students’ financial concerns and foster a more inclusive sense of belonging.
Generation (Gen) Z represents the first cohort to have grown up with continuous access to digital technology, making it the first ‘always-connected’ generation. Its very presence challenges traditional pedagogical models and calls for a rethinking of how knowledge is accessed, delivered and co-created in Higher Education Institution (HEI) spaces. Meeting the expectations and addressing the needs of the Gen Z learner lie at the heart of contemporary educational provision. This narrative synthesis critically examines contemporary literature regarding Gen Z learning preferences, focusing on how technology supports the learning environment. The findings highlight that Gen Z learners are highly responsive to multimedia technologies in the educational setting and demonstrate a clear preference for learning environments which strike a balance between independent learning and meaningful interpersonal interaction. These findings offer some empirical insights and pose some important considerations for HEI educators.
