Emerging from the 'Developing Writing in STEM Disciplines' project, core members have launched a special interest group which is open to all interested parties. Its national remit is to encourage the development of writing and related communication skills on STEM undergraduate courses, with a view to enhancing students’ academic and employability skills.

The inaugural local meeting of this group took place at the University of Bath on Tuesday 20 March 2012, with STEM subject specialists, English language specialists, writing/learning developers, library staff and careers advisors taking part.

Core members of the special interest group, myself, Lawrence Cleary from the University of Limerick, Barrie Cooper from the University of Exeter, and John Hilsdon from Plymouth University, led a workshop on ‘Generic graduate attributes and writing development’ at the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Conference on 2 April 2012 at the University of Leeds. The workshop was well attended, with ten attendees staying on for about an hour afterwards to continue discussions about learning/writing developers working with subject specialists, and strategies for best supporting students in learning from one another. See the presentations.

The menu on the left links to presentations and other resources developed by SIG members since April 2012.

The aims of the group, '‘Writing and Communicating in STEM Disciplines’, are to:

• foster the sharing of good practice
• encourage collaboration on curriculum initiatives
• consider avenues for seeking internal and external funding to support such initiatives
• and disseminate relevant theory and practice

We are particularly interested in forging collaborations between subject specialists, writing and learning development specialists, careers advisors, librarians and English language specialists, to nurture sound curriculum development and practice.

Use the contact form below to be added to the SIG mailing list. We look forward to hearing from you and to seeing you at forthcoming events.

Trevor Day (trevorday@ndirect.co.uk)