The Science of Learning Support network

A new community

Do you know what a listserv is? Essentially, it is an email address that you can send a message to that will then be distributed to anyone who has joined a group associated with that address. Other members of that group may then reply. Google Groups is an example of a listserv.

For many years, I have been a member of the Developmental Disorders of Language and Literacy (DDOLL) listserv. Sometimes, the emails from the network have passed me by and at other times, I have been more engaged. Members would post links to research articles or queries for others in the community to address. It was a community that was focused on early language acquisition and what can go wrong, but in education, all roads lead to the same set of effective practices. What works for struggling readers, works for everyone.

I write ‘was’ because that network has been brought to an end. It had ageing infrastructure that was causing too many errors, bounced emails and messages sent to spam. Max Coltheart, the founder, decided it was time to call it a day.

This is sad news but it prompted me to set up a new listserv. This was the genesis of the Science of Learning Support (SoLS) network. This has a wider remit than DDOLL and is focused on everything related to the science of learning. The name contains deliberate ambiguity: it is both support for those investigating the science of learning and a community for those working in learning support i.e. with struggling students.

I know the term ‘science of learning’ is controversial. Even those who are well disposed to practices advanced under this banner often express distaste for the term. However, I have made my peace with it. The advantage it has is that it is widely understood. Alternatives may be more technically accurate or may avoid the hubris some associate with labelling a field as ‘the science’, but they lack broad currency. It is time for us to come out of the shadows and throw off the shroud of the arcane.

If you want to join, you have two options. If you have a Google account of some form, whether you use a Google email address or not, you can follow the link below:

https://groups.google.com/g/science-of-learning-support

If not, I will need to add you manually. To be added manually, you will need to contact me. For obvious reasons, I won’t post my email address here but don’t worry, I am not the A-Team and you can easily find me. People I follow can DM me on Twitter/X, I have a LinkedIn account and you can simply reply to one of the emails subscribers are sent from Substack and it will reach me.

Happy networking.