ABSTRACT
Academic development is increasingly complex and multi-faceted, and highly contextual. This study investigates why academic developers do what they do, within a continuing professional development (CPD) context. This qualitative research examines how six academic developers value their engagement in CPD and highlights five desired characteristics that form the basis for conceptualising and enacting a holistic approach to academic development. Findings show that academic development practice embraces concepts of dialogue, adaptive expertise, and connected communities with an emphasis on engaging with the disciplines and the larger purposes of higher education, as illuminated by the desired characteristics to sustain its value.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
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Notes on contributors
Kiruthika Ragupathi
Kiruthika Ragupathi is Associate Director in the Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning (CDTL) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She has organised and taught pedagogical courses for academic teachers since 1997, co-leads professional development programmes, module design institute, and has oversight on the centralised teaching quality instruments—student feedback and peer review—at the university. Her research work focuses on academic development, assessment, student living-learning experiences, and technology-enhanced learning. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in Higher Education: Research, Evaluation and Enhancement at Lancaster University, UK.