Complex dynamics in academics' developmental processes in teaching

Abstract

Improving teaching in higher education is a concern for universities worldwide. This study explored academics’ developmental processes in teaching using episodic interviews and teaching portfolios. Eight academics in the context of teaching development reported changes in their teaching and change triggers. Thematic analyses revealed seven areas of change: participants most frequently reported changes in concepts about teaching, their teaching selves and teaching strategies. Triggers of change clustered into eight categories with teaching practices, teaching courses and metacognition reported most frequently. Analysing relations among areas and triggers of change indicated complex dynamics in academics' developmental processes in teaching. This suggests that teaching development should incorporate multiple change triggers to facilitate academics' development in teaching effectively.

Keywords:

• academic teaching
• academics
• change
• higher education
• professional development
• teacher development
• trigger

Acknowledgements

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funded the study presented in this paper (ZWHL-32-179). Responsibility for the content of this manuscript lies with the authors. We want to thank Antonia Scholkmann, Kate Thompson and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper and Wes Dopkins for proofreading.

Notes

1. Two interviewees attended them. The potential influence this had on the interviews could not be traced.

2. In the interviews we asked about both change and development to allow participants to respond with improvements and deterioration in their teaching. However, the effect of social desirability may explain why participants tended to refer to changes or developments that they perceived to be positive and/or in line with the MoHE's aims, although we attempted to minimise this effect by employing the narrative approach.

3. Academic eight in interview one.

4. These are not statistical causalities, but participants reported that the triggers had caused the changes.