Collaborative research in contexts of inequality: the role of social reflexivity
- Authors: Leibowitz, Brenda , Bozalek, Vivienne , Farmer, Jean-Lee , Garraway, James , Herman, Nicoline , Jawitz, Jeff , McMillan, Wendy , Mistri, Gita , Ndebele, Clever , Nkonki, Vuyisile , Quinn, Lynn , Van Schalkwyk, Susan , Vorster, Jo-Anne , Winberg, Chris
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66634 , vital:28973 , https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0029-5
- Description: publisher version , This article reports on the role and value of social reflexivity in collaborative research in contexts of extreme inequality. Social reflexivity mediates the enablements and constraints generated by the internal and external contextual conditions impinging on the research collaboration. It fosters the ability of participants in a collaborative project to align their interests and collectively extend their agency towards a common purpose. It influences the productivity and quality of learning outcomes of the research collaboration. The article is written by fourteen members of a larger research team, which comprised 18 individuals working within the academic development environment in eight South African universities. The overarching research project investigated the participation of academics in professional development activities, and how contextual, i.e. structural and cultural, and agential conditions, influence this participation. For this sub-study on the experience of the collaboration by fourteen of the researchers, we wrote reflective pieces on our own experience of participating in the project towards the end of the third year of its duration. We discuss the structural and cultural conditions external to and internal to the project, and how the social reflexivity of the participants mediated these conditions. We conclude with the observation that policy injunctions and support from funding agencies for collaborative research, as well as support from participants’ home institutions are necessary for the flourishing of collaborative research, but that the commitment by individual participants to participate, learn and share, is also necessary.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2017
Re-framing academic staff development
- Authors: Vorster, Jo-Anne , Quinn, Lynn
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66535 , vital:28960 , https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-983-6_8
- Description: publisher version , Globally higher education is situated in a supercomplex world (Barnett, 2000) that is constantly in a state of flux and subject to multiple pressures. This situation has been exacerbated in South African higher education that has been characterised by student protests in the last two years (2015–2016). One of the major causes for the recents protests, particularly in our institutional context, has been students’ anger that despite the official demise of apartheid and the end of colonial rule, some universities in South Africa are still attempting to be copies of Oxford and Harvard.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2017
Pedagogy for fostering criticality, reflectivity and praxis in a course on teaching for lecturers
- Authors: Quinn, Lynn , Vorster, Jo-Anne
- Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66590 , vital:28967 , https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1066756
- Description: publisher version , Using the concepts of criticality, reflectivity and praxis, the paper presents an analysis of our reflections on participants’ responses to the assessment requirements for a course for lecturers on teaching. The context in which the course is being taught has changed considerably in the last few years in terms of the mode of delivery, as well as the number and diversity of participants. Our analysis has generated insights into ways in which the course is not meeting all the learning needs of the participants, nor preparing them adequately to demonstrate, in writing, their learning. Using insights gained, we suggest pedagogic processes and strategies for ensuring that the course focuses on both writing to learn and learning to write; and for assisting participants to acquire the practices to demonstrate their learning in written assessment tasks, using the requisite literacy including criticality, reflectivity and praxis.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2016
Towards shaping the field: theorising the knowledge in a formal course for academic developers
- Authors: Vorster, Jo-Anne , Quinn, Lynn
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66578 , vital:28966 , https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2015.1070126
- Description: publisher version , In recent years there have been calls both for building the knowledge base of academic development (AD) and for systematic induction of newcomers to the field if AD is to advance as a professional and an academic field. Despite the importance and complexity of AD, induction of novice academic developers remains mostly informal and predominantly focuses on the practices of the field. We argue that more-experienced academic developers have an obligation to provide formal and systematic routes into the field and its knowledge base than is currently the case. One way of doing this is through offering a formal course for growing the next generation of academic developers. Such a course could equip newcomers with a more solid and shared knowledge base, thus contributing to shaping the epistemic spine of AD. In this paper, using Maton's Legitimation Code Theory, we offer an analysis of an existing course aimed at equipping novices with the theoretical and practical knowledge to enable them to solve some of the problems in higher education. From this analysis have emerged general principles that could inform the selection, sequencing and pacing of knowledge in a formal course for academic developers.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2015
Isn’t it time to start thinking about ‘developing’ academic developers in a more systematic way?
- Authors: Quinn, Lynn , Vorster, Jo-Anne
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66546 , vital:28961 , https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2013.879719
- Description: publisher version , There is no defined route to becoming an academic developer. The research on pathways into the field (e.g. Kensington-Miller, Brailsford, and Gossman, 2012; McDonald, 2010; McDonald and Stockley, 2008) shows that in most cases ‘serendipity and chance played a role’ (McDonald, 2010, p. 40). Moreover, induction into academic development (AD) is often ad hoc, haphazard, and informal. Due to the changing higher education (HE) context, the field has grown exponentially and in many countries now plays a central role in institutions. This has generated increased demand for knowledgeable and competent developers that are able to contribute towards solving some vexing problems in contemporary HE. Current recruitment and induction processes of new developers do not necessarily meet this demand. In light of the above, we pose the question: given the changing context of HE and the field of AD, is it not time for us to induct newcomers into the field more systematically? As Kensington-Miller et al. (2012) suggest, we should not leave the induction of the next generation of developers to chance. We suggest that one way of ensuring appropriate induction is through a formal course for developers. Difficulties for newcomers to the field are illustrated by Kensington-Miller et al. (2012) when they report seeking ‘top tips’ at a HERDSA conference. We do not dismiss informal learning at conferences or the role of mentoring, coaching, apprenticeship, and so on, in inducting developers, nor do we minimise the benefits of relatively structured processes such as fellowship programmes, workshops, and postgraduate qualifications in related fields. However, these ways of induction may not offer novices the structured and systematic developmental opportunities needed to become developers able to fulfil varied, complex, and sometimes contradictory roles.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2014
Teaching in higher education
- Authors: Quinn, Lynn
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , review
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66557 , vital:28963 , https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2014.908094
- Description: publisher version , As Becker and Denicolo point out in their introduction, traditionally most lecturers in higher education begin teaching with little or no formal training: ‘It is assumed if you were expert in your field you would be able, by some ill-defined means, to teach others’ (p. 1). This book aims to remedy that situation and does exactly what it sets out to do: it provides a useful, step-by-step training guide for teachers in higher education. It provides much needed advice for new academics for ways in which they can successfully combine their teaching and their research roles. It is written in an accessible style, draws on the experiences of people who have taught in higher education for some time, and provides practical advice for teaching in a range of contexts and for dealing with different challenges that may arise.
- Full Text: false
- Date Issued: 2014