workshops , with staff as participants and critical friends ; and undertaken a survey to gauge whether staff at UWE read to support their own practice . If staff are not reading , or referring to their own reading when teaching , students may be unclear why and how academic reading is a valued part of their degree ( Miller and Merdian , 2020 ). Staff practice can and does influence student practice . Given this , my question on the Padlet board asked for solutions to raise the profile of academic reading in HE .
PADLET QUESTION : ‘ if you could wave a magic wand , what would you do today to elevate the status of academic reading in he ? without the wand ? what can you do when you return to your desk ?'
Several themes were revealed , and I have focused on two of these .
Embed collaborative reading practice into the subject curriculum
Embedding skills into the curriculum provides every student with the opportunity to improve their practice in scaffolded , supported sessions . A skilled facilitator can help to demystify the process of reading and make it more accessible ( Wingate , 2007 ). Students can be supported to navigate a text ; become more familiar with academic vocabulary ; and recognise the benefits of discussing their understanding . Following the principles of Universal Design for Learning ( Center for Applied Special Technology ), it can be truly inclusive ; each student taking what they need and becoming empowered to become independent learners . This approach is now gaining traction in HE , and progress can be monitored using Wingate ’ s model of levels of embeddedness of academic literacy .
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