From the conference and beyond: collaborative writing with the journal of learning development in higher education and the learning development community

This workshop set out the process of collaborative writing explored by the JLDHE editorial teams in partnership with the ALDinHE community at and following ALDCon’22 through The Collaborative Conference Proceedings and Reflections. We discussed how the collaborative writing venture gave presenters an opportunity to open up their work to community responses and to document their experience of this dialogue with the LD community. We described how, using their conference abstract and Google docs, presenters engaged with their audiences to record live responses to their work, to reflect and respond to these responses, and to generate ideas in respect to taking their research forward or enhancing their practice. We examined how working with the JLDHE on this collaborative writing venture gave presenters an innovative way to open up a dialogue with our community of readers, providing a unique opportunity to extend their conference conversations in a way that shapes LD practice for the future. In the session, we shared the steps involved in the collaborative writing process and invited questions and reflections. Using testimonials from writers who participated last year, we opened up discussion and sought to reassure and address any concerns in community with editors and writers who have previously negotiated some of these challenges. We welcomed community input into how to make the Collaborative Proceedings more inclusive and open, to benefit all those who wish to be involved in the future. Attendees participated in shaping the collaborative partnership going forwards; they left with an understanding of what it means to be involved, a sense of how this innovative work enriched their conference experience, and how it is being received across the sector.