Mentoring through scholarship-based academic development projects

Abstract

While there is definitely a place for centrally delivered Professional Development (PD), staff often don’t transfer what they have learned in the PD sessions and return to their workspace usually continuing as before. This paper describes an evidence- and scholarship-based model of PD, where academic developers work closely with teaching staff on projects designed to address teaching needs specifically through the implementation of educational technologies. Each project involves engagement with the relevant scholarly literature, implementation of an appropriate teaching strategy or innovation, evaluation of the effectiveness of that implementation, and ultimately publication of the outcomes of the project. Fostering a one-to-one collaborative, mentoring relationship means the academic developer also benefits by extending their scholarly knowledge, and contributes to the discipline of academic development.