Roberto
Thank you for raising the issue of academic identity on the mailbase list. It is something
which is, I think, too infrequently addressed in development work. Although we have the
SEDA values, which are an important element of new lecturers' course, they are all too
often seen - and even presented - as a bolt-on extra which can be 'mapped' after the event.
In our course on Embedding Learning Technologies we spend time right at the start asking
participants to discuss and write statements about their personal values and beliefs. These
address both their identity as academics in HE and their hopes and fears about the use of
technology in learning and teaching. The rationale is that in times of rapid change it is
essential to define our core values, the things which we are not prepared to let go, and to
distinguish these from procedures, skills and techniques which may be changed (sometimes
even for the better). Unless we are prepared to engage in the debate about academic
identity the danger is that we will cling to the forms of that identity - standing up in front
of lecture halls for example - rather than the essence. (By essence I don't mean something
unchanging but rather the core values which inform what we do, but which can and should
be challenged through collective reflection and debate).
Recently we were lucky enough to be visited in Plymouth by an Australian educational
developer who described to me how their SEDA accredited course is divided in two halves.
During the first half, participants concentrrate on exploring their identity as academic
practitioners in a very rapidly changing learning environment. Only in the second half do
they look at the 'tips and tricks' of the trade. Needless to say, I like this model!
For myself, I believe it is pointless to talk about academic identity in isolation from student
identity, or indeed the identity of the academic community as a whole. The attached 'provocation'
was designed as an intervention in a recent institutional debate about the nature of 'student
centred learning'. The point being that this depends very much on how you think about 'students'.
Hope it's interesting.
Helen
'Thought is more imperishable than ever; it is volatile, irresistible, and indestructible. It pervades the air...
Now she is a flock of birds, flies abroad to all the four winds of heaven, and occupies at once all the points
of air and of space...'
Victor Hugo, on the invention of printing.
Helen Beetham
Senior Lecturer
Educational Development
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth PL4 8AA
tel: +44 1752 232346
fax: +44 1742 232330
email: [log in to unmask]
http://sh.plym.ac.uk/eds/elt/
-----Original Message-----
From: Roberto Di Napoli [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 1999 7:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: academic identity
Thanks for your interesting reply, Susan! I completely agree with you about
the very composite (today more than ever, I would say) nature of what we may
term 'academic identity'... What in the past may have been a fairly well
defined concept has become much fuzzier today, when academics are no longer
'just' expected to teach and research but also to do increasing amounts of
administration and, often, active publicity of their courses AND be
accountable all the time... Society at large has definitely entered the
academic domain in a very direct way (and with this I am not implying that
before the axis academia-society was non-existent, of course) and, for
better of worse, the academic world has been made to rise to the new
challenges, which could be a good thing... As a result, the very notion of
what we may want to define as 'academic identiy' has been made much more
complex than before...
Also thanks for pointing out that we may refer to 'students' when we talk of
academic identity. In fact, the notion of a lecturer's academic identity is
dependant also on how the students perceive and define the academic world. I
think it is a kind of 'mirror-game' among three constituencies: the
lectureres, the students and society at large. Each of these inevitably
impact on the others, making the whole question of 'academic identity' a
very complex and challenging one...
I am personally interested in the whole notion of 'academic identity' for
personal reasons, quite apart from research purposes. Having taught in HE
for about 15 years now (in and outside this country), I am increasingly
wondering about my role in HE and in society at large... Hence, my personal
and research questions (I am actually researching on the academi identities
of lectureres in Modern Languages in HE)... It may just be a middle-age
crisis, who knows??? (but I do not think it is just that...)...
Many thanks again and best wishes,
Roberto.
-------------------------
Private:
Roberto Di Napoli
Tel: ++44 - (0) 171 - 272 3128
Fax: ++44 - (0) 171 - 272 3128
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Work:
School of Languages
University of Westminster
9/18 Euston Centre
LONDON NW1 3ET
Tel: ++44 - (0) 171 - 911 5000 (ext./int.: 4309)
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