In addition to the development opportunities offered by writing and assessment curriculum design projects, Write Now organises a wide range of staff development programmes. These include writing for publication workshops, designed to enable staff to find time, space and motivation to write for publication, and an assessment roundtable, which allows departmental staff to explore the design of effective student assignments and how they are assessed.

Academic writing network

At Liverpool Hope University, Write Now staff host regular meetings for academic staff on the topic of students’ academic writing development and assessment design. The sessions are held at lunchtime, usually once per term, and begin with a short introduction, delivered by Write Now, Writing Centre or academic staff, to set the theme for the meeting’s discussion.

Assessment roundtable

At Liverpool Hope University, evaluation forms from the peer tutorials delivered in the Writing Centre show that around 30% of tutorials focus on student concern over task interpretation, highlighting the close relationship between task representation and student attainment. The assessment roundtable provides departmental staff with a feedback loop from tutorials and affords a space within which to discuss existing assignment design and proposed assessment programmes. The sessions allow the Writing Centre to offer feedback and advice on task interpretation, the pitfalls of task design and successful task design. If appropriate, departmental staff can also take advantage of workshops on assessment design that have been developed with staff from the Write Now CETL.

Writing for publication

At Liverpool Hope University, Write Now has contributed workshops to a Writing for Publication series coordinated by the University’s personnel department. The series as a whole covers a broad range of issues from grant writing to being a book editor, and Write Now staff contribute specialist workshops on proofreading and publishing a book from your thesis, as well as advising on content for the other workshops in the series.

At London Metropolitan University, since 2008 the Write Now CETL has collaborated with the LearnHigher CETL to run a Writing for Publication group. The aim of the group is to support academic staff in finding time, space and motivation for writing aimed at publication, and it is designed for staff who are new to publishing as well as those who have already published but find it difficult to make time for writing on a regular basis. The atmosphere is calm, supportive and focussed.

The group meets every 2-3 weeks for two hours at a time in the University Writing Centre. Participants are enabled to set personal goals and make progress on their own writing projects, with opportunities for peer discussion and feedback. The majority of time during each meeting is set aside for individual writing. Laptops are provided for use in a wireless environment.

In previous years, participants have made substantial progress on a number of writing projects, including book chapters and journal articles, literature reviews, responding to reviewers’ feedback, conference presentations and grant applications.