‘Accountable to whom, for what, and through what means’: educational developers in the audit culture

ABSTRACT

Higher education has faced increased pressure to prove its quality through ‘economic efficiency’ and ‘value for money’, thrusting institutions into what researchers call an ‘audit culture’. This study explores whether and how the audit culture has impacted educational developers in Canadian post-secondary institutions. Results include a summary of participant data collection activities; perceptions around the use of data for accountability measures and whether audit practices accurately reflect educational development work; and recommendations on how educational developers might best navigate the audit culture.

KEYWORDS:

• Accountability
• audit culture
• educational development
• higher education
• teaching and learning

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to the Educational Developers Caucus for supporting this project through their grant program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica Raffoul

Jessica Raffoul is a Learning Specialist with the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.

Allyson Skene

Allyson Skene is a Learning Specialist with the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.

Laura Chittle

Laura Chittle is a Learning Specialist with the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.

Arief Kartolo

Arief Kartolo is a PhD candidate in the Applied Social Psychology program at the University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada.