On 21 May the ICALLD Symposium-Over-Time featured Dr Sally Ashton-Hay, Alex Barthel and Dr Amanda Müller speaking about updating the Australian University Register of Academic Language and Learning (ALL) Centres/Units. The table of ALL centres and units captures the structures in which we work, the contexts in which ALL happens and the practices that we engage in.
The most recent update highlighted the challenges of collecting data on ALL practices in the time of COVID-19, and the importance of doing so! The update provided a snapshot in time, revealing a significant increase in Australian tertiary student enrolments in the last ten years, a dramatic reduction in ALL staff employed across the sector, and a proliferation of new services offered particularly online.
Data captured in this format can, however, assist ALL centres and units to argue for improved resourcing. Because the table also incudes websites and contact data for all institutions, it also helps to facilitate cross-institutional communication. International databases would be useful in helping to further build the ICALLD community.
Siri Barrett-Lennard, AALL President
International Consortium of Academic Language and Learning Developers 