Researching the experiences of teaching focused academic (TFA) roles reveals challenges and alienation. Investigating their practices can enrich theorisations of their role. We conducted a focused ethnography capturing data from institutional materials, focus groups, and key informant interviews. We present two vignettes demonstrating the…

This paper responds to the occasionally stated imperative in some contexts to be neutral as part of being an academic development unit (ADU). For over a decade at separate professional meetings of developers, two of the authors have heard the refrain that they need to be--or at least be perceived to be--"the Switzerland" of their…

This article describes and assesses the design and effects of one of the first academic development programmes on Leadership for Educational Change. The participants are senior academics, involved in leadership of teaching and learning. We report on an evaluation using a mixed-method approach employing a self-report questionnaire administered to…

This article presents a humanistic dialogue between the authors that focuses on mapping place and identity in academic development. The authors chose this format in order to capture some of the important work that conversation among intellectual peers can do--work that forms the basis of much learning at conferences and in the corridors and…

Academic developers are often positioned as intermediaries who wield value-neutral tools--languages, models, and techniques--in service of decidedly non-neutral institutional goals. We challenge the value of perpetuating the ideal of the neutrality of academic developers and their tools by examining the ways in which our resources and approaches…

Student-faculty partnerships position students as informants, participants, and change agents in collaboration with faculty members. Enacting one form of such collaboration, Bryn Mawr College's SaLT program pairs faculty members and undergraduate students in explorations of pedagogical practice. The program provides both context and case study for…

The purpose of this article is to provide a critical review of the motivating factors, processes and outcomes pertaining to learning-centred curriculum reform in higher education. A case study example is provided from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Although academic units on university campuses tend…