Towards an Australian regional university professional development typology: a qualitative exploration of the academic voice

ABSTRACT

The academic voice related to learning and teaching (L&T) professional development (PD) is an important consideration in supporting universities’ pursuit of improving their teaching as a core function of their mission. Framed by a typology of L&T PD in Australian universities, this paper reports on a study that investigated academics’ perceptions of L&T PD in an Australia regional university. A thematic analysis was conducted on semi-structured interviews of both academics and academic developers. The findings suggest that L&T PD has a complex dynamic which impacts on academic development in regional-based universities generally and can inform academic development work globally.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic development
• higher education
• learning and teaching
• professional development
• typology

Disclosure statement

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

Ethics approval

Human Ethics approval, H20REA161, was granted by the University of Southern Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee before any interviews were conducted.

Data availability statement

The interview data used to support the findings of this study have not been made available because the conversations contained material beyond that for which publication consent has been granted.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Australian Government [RTP].

Notes on contributors

Katherine Herbert

Katherine Herbert is currently a Lecturer in Blended Learning at Charles Sturt University, Australia. Katherine’s research focuses on technology’s impact on learning experiences and explores distinct online learning practices.

Luke van der Laan

Luke van der Laan is an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and Communication at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. His research interests lie in higher education futures studies and work-based learning higher education methodologies and research.

P. A. Danaher

P. A. Danaher holds current appointments with the University of Southern Queensland, Central Queensland University, and James Cook University in Australia; and the University of Helsinki in Finland. His research interests traverse the education of occupationally mobile communities and academics’, educators’, and researchers’ work and identities.