New executive seeks mentors

Academic Support

The University of Adelaide hosted the inaugural executive meeting of the Association for Academic Language and Learning (AALL) on May 12-13.

Formed in November 2005 to provide a centre for professionals who provide academic support for university students, the executive comprises representatives from tertiary institutions throughout Australia.

Academic support professionals work with students at every level - from first year through to postgraduate, helping them to develop their academic and English expression skills.

Executive member Maureen Goldfinch, from the Centre for Learning and Professional Development (CLPD), said the inaugural meeting was a great success.

"People working in academic student support can often feel isolated. The association plans to develop a directory of experienced members willing to act as mentors. The directory will also serve a double purpose as a useful catalogue of potential speakers in areas of academic support expertise," Ms Goldfinch said.

Over the next 12 months the executive also plans to publish a scholarly journal and collate research related to academic learning development.

"Another aim of the executive is to gather evidence for the effectiveness of academic support. We need to look at the benefits of language and learning support beyond evaluations of individual programs," Ms Goldfinch said.