In June 2026, Laura Cruz and Robert Gray gave a presentation at the International Consortium of Educational Developers (ICED) 2026 conference in Salamanca, Spain in June 2026. The paper was titled, “Granting Agency: A Writerly Approach to Educational Development” and looked at how the writerly can be applied in educational development. Laura talked about a SoTL workshop she gives each year at Penn State, and Rob talked about a couple of courses/workshops that he gives at the University of Bergen.
Here is the abstract:
In this session, we present findings from a study in which the “writerly” framework of teaching and learning is applied to faculty development programs provided by universities on two different continents. Based on the work of literary theorist Roland Barthes (1974), the writerly framework envisions learning as an interpretive process that empowers students (and teachers) by granting students the agency to become producers rather than consumers of their learning. By dividing the writerly framework into three dimensions—creating spaces, engaging in dialogue, and making meaning—the Writerly Protocol helps teachers, developers, and researchers both design and analyze exemplary moments in courses where the writerly might occur. The study examines two different modalities of faculty development using the writerly protocol. The first program, offered at a US research university, is a year-long experience in which 6-8 participants first identify an emerging teaching practice which they implement in their courses then design and develop a collaborative research project to assess the effectiveness of the new practice. The second is an optional module in the basic pedagogical certification program for university instructors at a Norwegian research university. This is a two-day course that focuses on student interaction with course content and other students that simultaneously aims to make the workshop a writerly experience while also enabling participants to employ a writerly approach in their courses. The findings have implications for how to articulate, assess, and adapt standards for faculty development as a writerly pedagogy.