Jane Saville
Reading and communication activities
One theme drawn out indicated an integral link between personal , individual reading activities , and further social communication of reading activities . Ideas provided included the production of blogs to discuss reading activities and making use of the social media platform ‘ Twitter ’ to share shorter reflections . Humans are driven to share and disclose their personal experiences due to psychological motivations , such as obtaining an intrinsic sense of value and personal reflection ; as well as sociological motivations to connect with others and assist them in their knowledge acquisition ( Baek et al , 2017 ; Tamir and Mitchell , 2012 ). Communication tools such as blogging have been found to help enhance a sense of community and perceived sense of learning through active engagement with others ( Kuo et al , 2017 ). Hsu and Wang ( 2011 ) have also discovered that using blogging in relation to reading tasks enhances interaction with peers to form closer and stronger learning communities . This highlights how the use of digital communication tools can feed into students ’ psychological and sociological needs to connect with others and therefore further expands the possibilities of how reading portfolio development activities can be promoted by academic staff .
Collaborative reading curation
A further theme identified also related to the sociological process of reading . Collaborative activities such as curating reading portfolios via Goodreads , or developing group annotation activities were suggested by delegates . This relates to the idea of co-creating teaching and learning activities , which Bovill et al . ( 2016 ) defines as ‘ when staff and students work collaboratively with one another to create components of curricula and / or pedagogical approaches ’. Co-creation of educational activities can lead to deeper learning and engagement ( Billet and Dona , 2018 ). Thus , the different collaborative reading curation activities suggested by delegates provides further justification of the value of developing reading portfolios to encourage students to have an active , rather than passive , role in their development and curation of their reading activities . Creating a reading culture
The third and final theme that came through from the delegate responses related to opportunities to encourage and share reading within the physical university environment . Suggestions related to optimising the use of bookcases to create bookswap spaces and BookCrossing schemes . This alludes to a desire to create an active space and process for the physical sharing and exchange of texts amongst both staff and students . Activities such as this have been shown to feed into a complex need for sharing , gift giving and exchange of physical items ( Corciolani and Dalloi , 2014 ). As suggested by Belk ( 2007 ), sharing can provide numerous benefits , including developing a sense of community . Therefore , by providing active spaces for booksharing to take place , a reading community could be encouraged , which in turn , would promote and facilitate the development of physical reading portfolios .
Whilst three different themed areas came through in the Padlet responses , the strong , underpinning essence within all the suggestions was the principle of making connections with others . Whilst academic reading plays an important role on an individual level , for both staff and students , it is also a vital collective tool for encouraging communication , collaboration and a positive culture within Higher Education .
Jane Saville
My reflections on BWR 2021 focused on staff , asserting that their role in the explicit fostering of a can-do attitude amongst novice readers in HE is crucial . This is because competence and confidence in reading skills is widely assumed by staff in Higher Education ( Kimberley and Thursby , 2020 ). However , when asked , students frequently report that they are unconfident with reading for their degrees ( Thompson , et al , 2018 ). My pledge was to raise awareness of the importance of supporting reading explicitly at UWE Bristol . To date , I have selected articles on academic reading for a staff reading group ; conducted a trial of collaborative reading
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