Angela Clarke

Academic development is a creative act

This paper argues that academic development is a creative act. Creative acts have potential to inspire, critique, inform and in many cases to change. The creativity literature identifies a number of core features of creative acts that assist in developing independent creative practitioners. Those features are observing, attending to relationships, engaging and persisting, exploring and risk-taking, problem-solving, intuiting, reflecting and envisaging. The realm of academic development in tertiary education necessitates many of those same features to support the complex human interactions involved in bringing about change in learning and teaching. In this paper we explore how the core features of creative acts are utilised in our work as academic developers. We argue that conceptualising academic development as a creative act is of value because the intent of the work is to develop creative educators who are critically reflective and responsive to change within challenging tertiary educational environments.

Leading Developmental Peer Observation of Teaching in Higher Education: Perspectives from Australia and England

ABSTRACT Whilst peer observation of teaching is well established as a practice that can enhance teaching quality, the challenge to fully embed this practice in universities remains unresolved. This article analyses the perspectives of 18 university leaders (nine Australian and nine English) drawn from a range of school-based leaders to senior leaders of learning and teaching. Our study indicates that some of the challenges associated with leading such schemes can be mitigated through approaches to educational leadership that enact a respectful and collegiate ethos. This we suggest can support developmental academic engagement in peer observation for positive and lasting change.

Achieving equivalence: a transnational curriculum design framework

Abstract Transnational education is now essential to university international development strategies. As a result, tertiary educators are expected to engage with the complexities of diverse cultural contexts, different delivery modes, and mixed student cohorts to design quality learning experiences for all. To support this transition we developed a transnational curriculum design framework that synthesises knowledge about what impacts on curriculum design. This framework aims to help academic developers communicate complex educational concepts and foster international communities of practice. It guides cyclical implementation that is focused on achieving equivalent and quality educational outcomes for students regardless of their location across the globe.

In-betweenness: being mother, academic and artist

ABSTRACT In-betweenness is related to liminality, is intermediary, interstitial, transitional and hybrid and has been theorised in anthropology as a culturally recognised liminal state that occurs during rites of passage or transition. In this paper, the focus on liminal states facilitates an understanding of transversal movements between being mothers, academics and artists and recognizes the in-betweenness of family and professional life and their influences upon one another. Whilst privileging the in-between makes for a rich and creative life for women, this life comes at a cost within the hierarchical structures of our public and educational institutions. This paper explores ways to develop collegial and personal connections that are particularly empowering for female academics. It uncovers how together we can inhabit ambiguous, disruptive and playful states and then reintegrate into established socio-political structures with a renewed and compelling sense of purpose.