Dr Sally Ashton-Hay

The differences between regularly published practice papers and evidence-based Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) manuscripts as preferred publications are outlined and discussed in this editorial. By examining the literature and backstory of SoTL, clear guidelines for well-designed research studies supported by evidence provide compelling reasons for SoTL papers to contribute to international knowledge, change thinking, advance practice in higher education and meet the aims of scholarly academic journal. The types of evidence that can be used are described, and a practical checklist for authors to benchmark their manuscript against SoTL principles is also offered as a hands-on tool for improving manuscript submissions. Studies based on evidence and scholarship establish credible, valid, and current knowledge through defensible theoretical frameworks and systematic methodology. Scholarly studies not only contribute to knowledge, improve practice, advance pedagogy, and inform policy but also drive significant change in international higher education contexts

Attention to students and their education experiences has become increasingly important in the 21st century. Student experience - particularly active and agentic practices captures in terms like 'student voice' and 'partnership' - was an obvious choice in response to Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice (JUTLP) editors' commissioned series of  literature reviews analysing 20 years of the journal's publications. A hybrid method for the systematic review was guided by the question: What has been published about student voice and partnership in JUTLP, and how has this scholarship evolved over the journal's 20-year history? A student voice and partnership framework adapted from Fielding (2004, 2012) was developed to provide theoretical guidance for the review. In total, 92 publications were identified and described quantitatively (year, country, research design, etc) and qualitatively using reflexive thematic analysis. Overall, the findings show increased publications over time that document active student involvement in developing, shaping ,designing, evaluating or researching alongside staff. The upward trend of partnership is a marked change from early JUTLP publications that studied students as objects of research and sources of data with passive roles in education practices and student life activities. The trend is toward students as active, agentic participants, partners and leaders in shaping and influencing their education experiences. Moving into the next 20 years, the JUTLP community is urged to engage with students as co-authors, co-researchers, and co-designers to report on educational praxis with staff and to open up new avenues for student contributions to knowledge and the mission of JUTLP.

Student success and retention in higher education are becoming increasingly important and the need for learning support for diverse students is also crucial. This chapter reports on a study investigating whether attendance at Academic Skills consultations over a three-year period made any difference in student performance, success, Grade Point Average (GPA) and attrition within the context of a regional university in Australia. Over 13,000 student consultations with Academic Skills in 2017, 2018 and 2019 were matched in the University Management Information System to allow derivation of metrics. Study findings reveal that students who consulted with Academic Skills performed better than those who did not attend consultations and the difference was greater for those who attended more consultations. Student GPA was also higher and significantly more students were retained and completed their studies as a result of individual academic language and learning support consultations. These results demonstrate a positive and significant impact from individualised assessment consultations, although many other factors may also be influential so the results are interpreted with some caution. This chapter nonetheless supports the positive impact of focused academic language and learning support on student outcomes, especially for new students, via an enhanced learning experience. Although one-on-one consultations can be an effective approach, more collaborative team teaching with content lecturers and language and learning specialists could further contribute to improving teaching practice, student success and retention at the tertiary level of learning.

Student voice provides important feedback on teaching and learning experiences yet is most often used only for the purpose of evaluating units of study for universities. This chapter reports on an investigation of student needs and what matters most in their learning experience. Students responded to three survey questions: What was going well, what was not going so well and what they really wanted in their learning experience. NVivo qualitative and quantitative analyses revealed that the majority of students expressed a high rate of satisfaction with how their studies were progressing, although a small percentage did not. Important concerns relating to teaching and learning materials, lack of sufficient feedback and communication with lecturers, the need for encouragement, motivation drivers and a perceived need for more academic support. This chapter unpacks the steps taken to address these concerns and shows how this process led to developments to better support tertiary students. Overall, this chapter demonstrates how student concerns can be sought, analysed and responded to, in order to improve the teaching and learning that takes place within a university environment. The process of attending to student voice led to major changes in a new model of learning and initial evaluation indicates wide student approval.

Traditional attitudes to student voice are changing which is highlighted in the recent proliferation of student voice manuscripts the Journal is receiving. Student voice literature currently positions students as active dialogue partners in higher education with much to contribute rather than passive consumers or evaluators. As Editors of the Student Experience section, we view this development in higher education as a significant and emerging trend which has the potential to positively impact practice in higher education and also contribute toward meaningful relational changes for the student experience. We offer some guidelines and recommendations for potential authors on what student voice is and what it is not. We welcome manuscripts that leverage student voice by connecting genuine student-teacher dialogue and articulating how student voice has contributed toward collaboration, change, and empowerment. Manuscripts that articulate how an authentic student voice connects to evidence-based practice and creates inclusive mindsets are also welcome.

Learning Advisors (LAs) are uniquely well-placed to discover what lies behind students' difficulties with reading and writing for their discipline subjects, and these insights have driven their efforts since the 1990s to establish collaborations with discipline lecturers in order to develop academic literacies within their subjects. To determine the effects of university management decisions on LAs’ ability to communicate with students and discipline lecturers so as to fulfil these goals, Academic Language and Learning (ALL) advisors across the Australian higher education community were invited to participate in an anonymous online survey of six questions relating to how their management encourages or discourages collaboration across the university. Our research questions asked how respondents have experienced effects of management decisions, whether helpful or obstructive, in relation to their communications with students and lecturers. The survey findings indicate that most ALL staff have been encouraged to collaborate with students and discipline lecturers but that the support from management to facilitate this teamwork was mixed. The reasons cited were incompetency and micromanagement, ongoing re-structures, poor location of services, lack of understanding of the nature of ALL work, and lack of priority for collaborative processes. The results indicate that ALL support could be more effectively located and integrated into university systems, preferably with managers recruited from ALL backgrounds, in order to enable and sustain a virtuous circle of communication with students and lecturers.

Artificial intelligence and large-language model chatbots have generated significant attention in higher education, and in research practice. Whether ChatGPT, Bard, Jasper Chat, Socratic, Bing AI, DialoGPT, or something else, these are all shaping how education and research occur. In this Editorial, we offer five editorial principles to guide decision-making for editors, which will also become policy for the Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice. First, we articulate that non-human authorship does not constitute authorship. Second, artificial intelligence should be leveraged to support authors. Third, artificial intelligence can offer useful feedback and pre-review. Fourth, transparency of artificial intelligence usage is an expectation. And fifth, the use of AI in research design, conduct, and dissemination must comply with established ethical principles. In these five principles, we articulate a position of optimism for the new forms of knowledge and research we might garner. We see AI as a mechanism that may augment our current practices but will not likely replace all of them. However, we do issue caution to the limitations of large language models including possible proliferation of poor-quality research, Stochastic Parroting, and data hallucinations. As with all research, authors should be comfortably familiar with the underlying methods being used to generate data and should ensure a clear understanding of the AI tools being used prior to deployment for research.

This paper discusses translanguaging as an effective bilingual English language teaching approach based on recent work done in China to support undergraduate business students. The project team designed a series of bilingual interventions to build discipline-specific vocabulary, increase communication opportunities on social media, and employed a bilingual teaching assistant to facilitate a choice of Mandarin or English languages for students. The findings of the project demonstrated strong support for translanguaging strategies from student surveys, analysis of Wechat social media conversation logs, and the students' high academic achievement. Recommendations conclude that teachers have an essential role in encouraging the use of home and foreign languages in learning in order to assist the development of intercultural identity.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the effectiveness of bilingual learning strategies designed to support Chinese undergraduate business students facing significant learning challenges in an Australian university capstone curriculum delivered at their Chinese university. These challenges include the students’ difficulty understanding discipline-specific English terminology, using this terminology to discuss disciplinary concepts with their instructors and stress caused by an abnormally high study load. Design/methodology/approach: In response to these challenges, the project team implemented a suite of bilingual strategies to reduce cognitive load and enhance learning, which included Chinese-English glossaries to build disciplinary-specific vocabularies; a bilingual teaching assistant to enable students to communicate in their language of choice; the use of WeChat to connect students to staff and to provide translanguaging opportunities; and bilateral managerial and academic support for strengthening the institutional cross-cultural relationship through staff exchange and language learning programs. A series of surveys were administered to measure the impact of these strategies on students’ learning, and WeChat logs were analysed to determine students’ linguistic preferences during discussions with staff and students. Findings: The results of this project show strong support for each bilingual strategy, high academic performance amongst the student cohort, the positive contribution to learning and connection provided by social media technology, students’ language of choice preferences and chosen translanguaging styles and the important role of teaching staff in supporting international students’ intercultural learning and adaptation to a foreign university learning system. Originality/value: This original evidence-based study helps to address the gap in bilingual education in Australian higher education demonstrating a successful strategy for dealing with language and discipline-specific challenges confronting EAL students.