Remember when you started as a Learning Developer? What it was like to welcome a student into a tutorial for the first time, and stand in front of your first class ready to run a workshop? Do you remember what it felt like to flounder? For Joy Igiebor, that feeling of floundering and unknowing, and the questions it prompted – who am I as an LD? what does the job mean? – came to seem like a rite of passage, a process of drawing on our prior knowledge and experiences as we gradually build our identities in this field. As we build our confidence and competence, so do we become more able to advocate for the role, our work, and our students. And when we bring theory and practice together, in a deep understanding of praxis, we are able to speak with so much more authority. Getting there, though – that can take time. So for any new or early career Learning Developers who’ve stopped to wonder what on earth they’re doing, here are Joy’s top three pieces of advice:
You’re not alone. We are a strong and vibrant community, waiting to hear from you.
Making mistakes is part of the role. Failure is learning. Reflect, revise, and try again.
Join a professional association, whether ALDinHE or ScotHELD (or SEDA, CILIP or ALT), and access information and knowledge on wider contextual issues and values, to ground your individual practice and give it meaning.
And our own advice: get yourself a copy of this book!
The resources we mentioned
Abegglen, S., Burns, T., Sinfield, S. (2021) Supporting Student Writing and Other Modes of Learning and Assessment. A Staff Guide. Calgary: University of Calgary. http://repository.londonmet.ac.uk/6970/1/Writing-guide-2021_2021.05.25.pdf
Arthur, R. (2023) “‘Conscious’ learning development: towards a pedagogy of race-consciousness ”, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (26). doi: 10.47408/jldhe.vi26.928.
Burns, T. & Sinfield, S. 2022. Essential study skills: The complete guide to success at university (5th ed.). Sage.
Dhillon, S. (2018) “Whose wellbeing is it anyway?”, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. doi: 10.47408/jldhe.v0i0.460.
Igiebor, J. (2023). What the learning developer needs to know. Take5 #84, available from https://aldinhe.ac.uk/take5-84-what-the-learning-developer-needs-to-know/
Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
Lamott, A. 1995. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Anchor Books.
Syska, A. and Buckley, C. (eds.) (2023) How to be a Learning Developer in higher education: Critical perspectives, community and practice. Routledge.
Webster, H. 2019. “Towards a Signature Pedagogy of Learning Development.” Rattus Scholasticus blog. Accessed 2 July 2022. https://rattusscholasticus.wordpress.com/2019/07/28/towards-a-signature-pedagogy-of-learning-development/.
Zinsser, W. 2016. On writing well: The classic guide to writing nonfiction. New York: Harper Perennial.
And the publication we talked about
Igiebor, J. (2026). Doing Learning Development in Higher Education: a practical guide for new and early career learning developers. Routledge
