The sustained traction of Becoming Well Read reveals the continuing significance of those discussions for professionals and academics tasked with supporting students ’ reading practices . The word cloud created during the symposium ’ s registration hints at the persistent sense of academic reading as a ‘ wicked problem ’ ( Rittel & Webber , 1973 ) for our community , capturing that perception of the crucial yet complex challenge it mischievously presents us .
Becoming Well Read 2021 . ‘ Not seeing the woods for the trees ’ from Laura Barclay at Portsmouth University and Becoming well-read or reading well ? from Milena Marinkova and Alison Leslie at Leeds University , both provide inspiring strategies for academics , learning developers or librarians delivering academic skills within a programme or in extra-curricular settings . Dominik Lukes , acknowledging the complexities of reading generally and digital reading in particular , reports on an experimental academic development strategy at Oxford University to support confidence and use of digital interfaces . The three papers present different possibilities and opportunities but share a reflective disposition that invites further investigation and dialogue .
Finally , the special issue shares three reflections from Becoming Well Read 2021 delegates , which capture some of the events of the day , the themes and ideas discussed , and the challenges we face when we come to enact our intentions and aspirations . All of which brings us , as all good reflections do , to a consideration of the future . I hope your visit to this issue of JADE will persuade you to join us at Becoming Well Read 2022 , to share your reflections and to engage with the discussion or even to present your own adventures .
I hope this special issue of JADE will encourage continued reflections on the relationship between reading and academic enquiry , on the location of reading within the academic literacies discourse , and further expeditions into the swampy lowlands of teaching and learning academic reading .
A starting point for that journey could be the abstracts and proceedings from Becoming Well Read 2021 , which provide an overview of the avenues and alleyways visited . This year , topics ranged from the use of fairy tales to expose reading purpose to the use of digital technology to facilitate collaborative reading . As part of the closing phases of the symposium , the keynote provided a provocative and personal challenge to consider the public unveiling of our own reading practices , which generated a powerful response from many delegates , and which you may yourself find useful to consider .
This issue also contains three longer papers developed from workshops delivered at
References
Rhead , A . ( 2019 ) “ The trouble with academic reading : exposing hidden threshold concepts through academic reading retreats ”, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education . Plymouth , UK
Rittel , H . W ., & Webber , M . W . ( 1973 ). Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning . Policy Sciences , 4 , 155-169
Schön , The Reflective Practitioner : How Professionals Think in Action . New York : Basic Books , 1983
Acknowledgements
I would like to pay special thanks to Samantha Mottram . The Becomng Well Read Symposium and this special edition of JADE would not have been possible without her support .
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