Academic literacies: a pedagogy for course design

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. IntroductionHow can research on academic literacies have any relevance for course designers? This article sets out to explore this question and also suggest some possible answers. I begin by outlining academic literacies as a research field, and consider how its findings could have more widespread value and applicability. The main body of the article is concerned with outlining and explicating the principles of an approach to course design which is based on the outcomes of academic literacies research, and the possible ways in which these might be implemented in practice. I illustrate this through the use of a specific case study, a postgraduate online course for practitioners in post-compulsory education.Supporting the relationship between writing and learning is not generally regarded as the remit of course designers. As subject specialists they are usually primarily concerned with course content and, therefore, often overlook the ways in which 740 M. R. Lea writing and textual practices more generally are central to the process of learning. At the same time, research in the field of academic literacies has gone a long way in unpacking the complex relationship between writing and learning; this understanding now needs to be brought more centrally into mainstream course delivery. This article is an attempt to respond to both of the above by suggesting a pedagogy for course design based on principles derived from research in the field; the focus on pedagogy-the science of teaching-brings to the fore the relationship between the institutional practices of teaching and course design. The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and virtual learning environments (VLEs) in today's higher education offers new opportunities for imple...

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