Learning from our students

It is acknowledged that Academic Language and Learning (ALL) professionals have a unique relationship with students and that this allows them to gather information about the nature of successful student learning experiences. This paper provides an overview of an ongoing study at James Cook University consistent with Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger’s concept of learning as a social process, and of building a community of practice by “talking with students about what and how they learn” (Chanock & Vardi, 2005, p. 1). Students were asked about the strategies that lecturers can use to improve learning; and the ALL community, through the Unilearn E-mail list and the ALL discussion forum, was also asked to contribute student feed-back on this issue. The initial information received from these sources formed the basis of academic staff development workshops where academics, support staff and students came together to discuss strategies to improve the student learning experience. In leading a process of this type, ALL professionals are actively engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning, and by stimulating further discussion amongst academic staff, students and support staff, the authors aim to contribute to an improved understanding of the nature of successful learning experiences