Academic literacies: a pedagogy for course design

TLDR

Academic literacies research has revealed a complex relationship between writing and learning, identified gaps in students’ and tutors’ understanding of assessment writing, and is now beginning to account for the emerging role of information and communication technologies and virtual learning environments. The article investigates how academic literacies research can inform course design across higher education, arguing that focusing solely on specific student groups and assessment writing obscures its broader relevance to teaching and learning. Using a case study of an online postgraduate course, the article illustrates how academic literacies principles can guide course design by considering diverse learning texts and leveraging new technologies to benefit course designers.

Abstract

This article examines how research findings from the field of academic literacies might be used to underpin course design across the broad curriculum of higher education. During the last decade this research has unpacked the complex relationship between writing and learning, and pointed to gaps in students' and tutors' understanding of what is involved in writing for assessment. The article takes this as its starting point but suggests that the focus on particular groups of students and on student writing alone might mask the relevance of the research findings for teaching and learning in higher education more generally. In addition, the increasing use of information and communication technologies and virtual learning environments add dimensions which are only beginning to be recognized in the academic literacies literature. The article uses a specific case study of an online, postgraduate course to explicate some principles of course design, derived from academic literacies research, which take account of the different texts involved in student learning, and do not focus merely on assessed writing. This case study also pays some attention to the ways in which the use of new technologies can be used to the advantage of course designers adopting these principles.