Professor Ian Kinchin

In this article, we conceptualise the maintenance and evolution of third space practice using an ecological heuristic. This considers the dynamic balance between stabilising and destabilising processes that require third space practitioners (particularly academic developers) to be active curators of this space. These processes drive the phases of the adaptive cycle as it evolves from an epistemologically singular perspective towards one that accommodates epistemological plurality. A pictorial representation of the ecological dynamics is offered as a frame to support the construction of a personal professional narrative. This provides an exemplar of reflection on practice, and highlights the need for epistemic humility within this professional arena.

The ability to use the research literature within a given field is a basic skill that students should acquire as part of their higher education studies. However, undergraduates need support in developing this skill. The use of concept maps as an aid to interrogating the literature is described here. This may help students to highlight keyissues raised within a research paper, and may be used to demonstrate understanding to their tutors. An example is given by reference to the paper in which James Watson and Francis Crick suggest a structure for DNA. In this, annotated concept maps are used to highlight key issues from the paper from two perspectives: therace to describe the structure of DNA, and the biochemistry of the molecule.

Concept mapping is an activity with numerous uses in the biology classroom. Its value in planning, teaching, revision, and assessment, and the attitudes of students and teachers towards its use, are discussed. Comments made are illustrated with excerpts from interviews with teachers and students who were involved in classroom concept mapping exercises. The use of expert maps for scoring is described, and some of the pitfalls are considered. Finally, the value of concept mapping as an aid to reflective practice is discussed.

Most professional development programmes provide teachers with formal and informal social networks, but limited empirical evidence is available to describe to what extent teachers build internal (within their programme) and external (with colleagues not involved in the programme) social learning relations. We triangulated Social Network Analysis with qualitative free exercise responses. Participants developed on average 4.00 internal and 3.63 external relations, and discussed teaching 128 times per year with externals. MRQAP modelling indicates group division, department, and friendships predicted learning ties. These findings indicate that research on impact of teacher education should widen its focus beyond the formal programme boundaries. (c) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

It has been claimed that one of the overriding purposes of the scholarship of teaching movement is to make more visible what teachers do to make learning happen. The authors of this article are critical of the literature on the scholarship of teaching for not having made more progress towards this aim. They support these assertions through analysis of recent literature and consultation with academics teaching in a variety of disciplines. The weakness in the prior literature is addressed by a proposal to augment a model of scholarship of teaching by providing a tool that can be used by teachers to make explicit the central concept of pedagogic resonance - the bridge between teacher knowledge and student learning. This bridge, spanning the divide between teacher and student, can be made visible through the application of mapping techniques. However, the application of the concept mapping methodology reveals a strategic learning cycle in which teachers and students appear to be complicit in the avoidance of engagement with the discourse of the discipline. The perceived utility of this strategic cycle may subvert any attempt to develop scholarship in university teaching, and may lead consistently to a non-learning outcome for students and teachers - a phenomenon that has previously been largely ignored.

Until relatively recently, the idea of systematic and formalized professional development for university teachers would have been unheard of. The accepted qualification for becoming a teacher at university was an expert-level knowledge of the content, demonstrated by possession of a degree, and preferably a PhD in an appropriate subject. However, in an evolving university context that has developed from an elite system to become a mass market system in the past few decades, that view is no longer fit for purpose.

AbstractPedagogic frailty has been proposed as a concept that can be helpful in bringing a number of key ideas into simultaneous focus, with the aim of helping to integrate elements of teaching quality enhancement within a university (Kinchin, 2015; 2016). These elements include the relationship between personal values and the instructional discourse; the relationship between the discipline and its pedagogy; the nature of the research-teaching nexus; the proximity of the locus of control to the teaching environment. Key to the application of pedagogic frailty is the personal appreciation (at the level of the individual academic) of the ways in which the elements of this concept are connected. This must acknowledge the emotional aspects of teaching and learning and also the rich, subjective nature of personal professional identities within this context (Clegg, 2008). We have therefore investigated the potential of autoethnography (e.g. Anderson, 2006; Chang, 2008; Denshire, 2014) as an approach to uncovering the rich complexity of pedagogic frailty perceived at the level of the individual. We have combined this with a concept mapping approach (Novak, 2010) to frame the autoethnographic narrative and to help the autoethnographer to focus on connections between elements as these connections will determine how the framework functions in practice. This combined approach helps overcome the difficulties associated with writing about academia from the insider’s perspective (Archer, 2008). This paper offers reflections upon this process as a method for professional development of university teachers and institutional quality enhancement.  Keywords: Autoethnography; concept mapping; faculty development; quality enhancement

This conceptual paper offers a reconsideration of the application of Novakian concept mapping to higher education research by putting to work the Deleuzian concept of the rhizome. We ask: what does thinking with Deleuze's concepts offer researchers interested in concept mapping, and what conceptual, and terminological, obstacles might be created through such a reconceptualization? We have focused on the rhizomatic principles of mapping and tracing in the context of concept mapping. We contend that Deleuze offers a fresh line of flight with the potential to deterritorialise the discourse surrounding concept mapping, thus widening its applicability and increasing its accessibility to researchers who do not necessarily share the same arborescent concept mapping heritage: with its roots in science education. Exploring the overlap between rhizomatics and concept mapping also allows for the reappraisal and blurring of the boundary between structural and post-structural discourses-breaking down an unproductive binary in the literature.

As university lecturers select and sequence materials for their teaching, a linear structure emerges by default. Such a structure is made explicit within PowerPoint presentations and may even be amplified as PowerPoint invites the lecturer to reduce content to a bulleted format. Such linear sequences have been related to passive, surface approaches to learning. The application of concept-mapping techniques can support the lecturer in making explicit the underlying expert structure of the information being presented to help the student to make the necessary transformations of knowledge structures that are required for meaningful learning. The authors suggest that PowerPoint provides a concrete arena in which lecturers can reflect upon the structure of knowledge that is being constructed within their classrooms.

The biology of the arthropod component of the bryofauna is described. Particular attention is paid to the two most commonly encountered groups-the collembolans and the mites.

Pedagogic Frailty and Resilience in the University presents a theoretical model and a practical tool to support the professional development of reflective university teachers. It can be used to highlight links to key issues in higher education. Pedagogic frailty exists where the quality of interaction between elements in the evolving teaching environment succumbs to cumulative pressures that eventually inhibit the capacity to develop teaching practice. Indicators of frailty can be observed at different resolutions, from the individual, to the departmental or the institutional. Chapters are written by experts in their respective fields who critique the frailty model from the perspectives of their own research. This will help readers to make practical links between established bodies of research literature and the concept of frailty, and to form a coherent and integrated view of higher education. This can then be explored and developed by individuals, departments or institutions to inform and evaluate their own enhancement programmes. This may support the development of greater resilience to the demands of the teaching environment. In comparison with other commonly used terms, we have found that the term ‘frailty’ has improved resonance with the experiences of colleagues across the disciplines in higher education, and elicits a personal (sometimes emotional) response to their professional situation that encourages positive dialogue, debate and reflection that may lead to the enhancement of university teaching. This book offers a particular route through the fractured discourses of higher education pedagogy, creating a coherent and cohesive perspective of the field that may illuminate the experiences and observations of colleagues within the profession. “If we are to realise the promise of higher education … we will need the concepts, methods, and reflections contained in this book.” – Robert R. Hoffman.

In this paper the authors report the use of concept mapping as a means of summarizing interview transcripts in the study of the information-seeking behavior of employees in an organization. Concept mapping differs from traditional methods of textual coding for interview analysis by making underlying cognitive structures transparent and giving a focus to the sets of propositions by which individuals construct meaning. Concept map structure correlates with the perceived richness of interview data. They provide quick summaries of the interview quality and may help to identify topics for further probing to elicit new information. In this study rich interviews provide complex concept map structures, whereas less successful interviews provide simpler, spoke structures. Issues in using concept maps with research interviews are discussed, including use as a retrospective interview probe, as a check on evidence saturation, as a form of data display or as a form of creative coding.

This paper examines the contention that achievement in research is a prerequisite for effective teaching in higher education. It also explores university level teaching more generally with the purpose of examining the links between teaching and research. Concept mapping, in particular, is described as a means of exploring both the knowledge structures of experts (teachers and researchers) and the cognitive changes that are indicative of meaningful learning among students. We use the approach to suggest that rich and complex networks are indicative of expert status, but that these are seldom made explicit to students in the course of teaching. Instead, simple, linear structures comprise most lesson plans or teaching sequences. This linearity is often made transparent through the lecturers' use of PowerPoint presentations to structure teaching. Thus the transmission mode of teaching predominates in HE and evidence of authentic research-led teaching remains scant. This is likely to reinforce surface learning outcomes among university students and be an impediment to the emergence of expert status. The linear chains that are commonly espoused in teaching lend themselves to rote learning strategies rather than to individual meaning making. The approach we describe here has the potential to reinstate expert status as the prime qualification for teaching in higher education. Where concept mapping is used to share and explore knowledge structures between students and experts, then learning can be shown to occur in ways that are synonymous with research and discovery. Using this approach, the teacher-student distinction becomes legitimately blurred so that the sharing and advancement of knowledge are concomitant. In conclusion, we suggest that this is a basis for a pedagogy that is appropriate to HE and distinct from the compulsory sector.

The teaching units within the National Science Strategy can be summarised diagrammatically. Presentation in this format makes it easier for teachers and students to visualise progression routes through Key Stage 3. An example is given for the key idea of cells.

Background: Concept-mapping and interview techniques are used to track knowledge and understanding over the duration of PhD study amongst four students and their supervisors in the course of full-time research towards their PhDs. This work is in contrast to much PhD supervision research and policy research that focuses on supervisory styles and roles and may decontextualise the topic and disciplinary setting. Purpose: The work investigates the understanding of the process and product in PhD-level research and supervision. Sample: Participants were four students and their supervisor(s). Case studies were based on longitudinal studies conducted over three to four years (the duration of a PhD). The students were all enrolled in lab-based PhDs in one UK-based higher education institution. Three of the four students were international (one EU-based) and three supervisors were from outside the UK. Design and methods: The data provide documentary evidence of the ways in which these supervisors act to facilitate learning and discovery of research processes and an understanding of lab-based science research supervision. In the initial interview (conducted separately with students and supervisors), the interviewee constructed two maps, one on the topic of the PhD and one on the process of a PhD. In subsequent interviews, the student or supervisor reviewed and updated the previously constructed maps. Transcripts of the interviews were made as well. These data draw on 72 interviews and 96 unique concept maps constructed. The challenges of a PhD being both a process of learning (for the student and the supervisor) and a product of a research project are explored using case study analysis of these four pairs. Findings and discussion: Analyses of the collected data suggested that the students focused more on the product of a PhD (completing a thesis and publication), whereas the supervisors concentrated on the process of learning and scientific development. Conclusions: Evidence in the study suggested product/process differences in the student and supervisor conceptualisation of the PhD. This paper offers development towards a research-led pedagogy of supervision that places the process and product of a PhD at the centre of the supervisory relationship.

In an attempt to reveal potential threshold concepts in the field of higher education pedagogy, groups of university teachers (in the UK and in Panama) were encouraged to develop personal reflection upon their conceptions of teaching. This was initiated through concept mapping activities. It was hoped that this would help participants to address the perceived differences of teaching between their disciplines whilst coming to recognise the generic factors that may be applicable to teaching across the university context. Consideration of emergent personal models allowed the authors to identify common themes across the disciplines and to align this to established learning theories that may act as a baseline for comparison. The emergent generic model was a modification of Kolb's learning cycle in which two learning cycles (one for the student and one for the teacher) are linked by the shared concrete experience of the classroom and considered in the context of knowledge structures. The transformation of the morphology of these knowledge structures (oscillating between linear and hierarchical) is seen as fundamental to the successful negotiation of the cycle. The participants' recognition of this structural transformation is proposed as a threshold concept for the evolution of university teaching. Personal models are described here in relation to the double Kolb cycle to illustrate the potential of this approach to stimulate discussion about university teaching that may encourage a transformation in perspective from delivery and receipt of content towards structural transformation of content.

Secondary school students were asked to state their preference for an objectivist or a constructivist learning environment and consider the consequent implications for their role as a learner. They did this by identifying with the dialogue depicted in two concept cartoons. Results indicate an overwhelming preference among students for a constructivist learning environment. This suggests not only that students would be receptive to moves by teachers towards more constructivist principles in the classroom, but also that a failure to promote such a transition may contribute to an epistemological gap between teaching and learning styles that will be an impediment to meaningful learning. Students anticipated constructivist learning environments would be more interesting, more effective at developing students' understanding and would permit them to take greater ownership of their learning. Some limitations of the study are described.

Dewey’s ‘straight-way course’ is often what is depicted within formal curriculum documentation to describe a programme to undergraduates. Course documentation is often to be found offering lists of modules and lectures that show the chronology of the teaching rather than the links between the ideas. This has to be re-interpreted by the students and placed within a wider framework of the discipline.

This paper describes a qualitative approach to analysing students' concept maps. The classification highlights three major patterns which are referred to as 'spoke', 'chain' and 'net' structures. Examples are given from Year 8 science classes. The patterns are interpreted as being indicators of progressive levels of understanding. It is proposed that identification of these differences may help the classroom teacher to focus teaching for more effective learning and may be used as a basis for structuring groups in collaborative settings. This approach to analysing concept maps is of value because it suggests teaching approaches that help students integrate new knowledge and build upon their existing naive concepts. We also refer to the teacher's scheme of work and to the National Curriculum for science in order to consider their influence in the construction of understanding. These ideas have been deliberately offered for early publication to encourage debate and generate feedback. Further work is in progress to better understand how students with different conceptual structures can be most appropriately helped to achieve learning development.

This paper explores the development of educational theory (pedagogic frailty) that has emerged through the application of concept maps to understand teachers' conceptions of their roles within the complex higher education environment. Within this conceptual paper, pedagogic frailty is reinterpreted using the lens offered by the concept of salutogenesis to place the model in a more positive frame that can offer greater utility for university managers. This development parallels changes in the consideration of mental health literacy (MHL) across university campuses and avoids misapplication of a deficit model to the professional enhancement of teaching quality. For a detailed explication of this wider perspective of pedagogic health literacy (PHL), the connections with related and supporting concepts need to be explained. These include assets', wellness' and a sense of coherence'. Links between these concepts are introduced here. This reframing of the model has used concept mapping to explore the relationship between two complex ideas-pedagogic frailty and salutogenesis. It emphasizes pedagogic health as a continuum operating between frailty and resilience. Brief implications for academic development are included.

Competing notions of what a Ph.D. has been, is and should be are undercurrents in doctoral education. A longitudinal study of Ph.D. supervision based on interviews and concept mapping was used to surface understandings of the purpose of a Ph.D. This research tracks change over time for both the student and the supervisor. The data were analysed using Bernstein's horizontal and vertical discourses, describing how students can focus on 'content' knowledge aspects and miss out on key 'process' understanding. A discussion follows on how the pedagogic discourse of supervision can work towards a balance of knowledge and understanding.

The Higher Education landscape has experienced seismic shifts over the last decade, with pressure arising from increased accountability (e.g. Olssen, 2016) and a growing metric-driven culture (e.g. Clarke, Knights, & Jarvis, 2012). Indeed, one of the only constants experienced by those working in Higher Education is change (see Chapter 1), which creates a high-stress environment (Murphy, 2011).

Curriculum design that focuses heavily on learning outcomes (see for example, Hussey & Smith, 2008) does not necessarily provide sufficient focus on the learning trajectories used by students to achieve the outcomes. Therefore, some students may arrive at a given outcome via a direct route whilst others may have taken a more circuitous journey to arrive at the same place.

Academics who teach at university are there because they are subject experts. Not only do they know many things about a given discipline, but their knowledge is also well-organised in a way that allows them to be active members of an academic community that develops the field of knowledge as well as teaches it. As summarised by Goldsmith et al.

Very often in my classes over the years students have come to me to announce that they are ‘stuck’ and ‘don’t understand’. A conversation then takes place in which I would ask things like, ‘where are you stuck?’ or ‘what don’t you understand?’. This then presents the student with an even greater problem – to explain what they do not understand. Unless they are able to pinpoint the problem (such as ‘I don’t understand the word, catalyst’, or ‘I missed the lecture on the origins of democracy’) it can be difficult for them to explain what they do not know, when they do not know it. As a teacher you then spend time trying to diagnose the source of the student’s problem.

Kinchin discusses the unique anatomy of tardigrades, unusual microscopic invertebrates with the ability to inhabit extreme environments. He does not suggest that a revolution is due in invertebrate zoology, but he does urge scientists to be aware of alternative views and reflect on their significance within their chosen field.

The ecology of the plant life to be found on walls in Great Britain is described in outline with reference to its usefulness in the teaching of ecology in schools and colleges. The adaptations of these plants to this environment are mentioned and the importance of alien species is stressed. A description of a sixth-form project in mural ecology is also given.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain and develop a classification of cognitive structures or typologies of thought, previously designated as spoke, chain and network thinking by Kinchin et al. Designmethodologyapproach The paper shows how concept mapping can be used to reveal these conceptual typologies and endeavours to place the conceptmapping method in the broader context of learning styles and learning theory. Findings The findings suggest that spoke structures are indicative of a nave epistemology, or of learningreadiness chain structures are indicators of goalorientation and networks are indicators of expertise. Furthermore, change that comprises simple elaboration of existing spokes or chains is likely to be the result of surface learning styles and the emergence of networks indicative of deep learning. The utility of these different cognitive approaches is discussed. Research limitationsimplications The work is limited by the general lack of empirical testing, but the approach is presented as an important source of hypotheses for future research. Practical implications The practical implications of the research are considerable. First, concept mapping provides a framework for documenting and assessing understanding at novice and expert levels. Second, where definitive criteria can be developed from the learning styles literature, cognitive change in the course of learning can be evaluated to distinguish between deep versus surface or holist versus serialist approaches, for example. Originalityvalue The papers original and comprises a synthetic approach to the study of learning style and learning theory through the use of the conceptmapping method. It has both practical and theoretical value because it suggests a new approach and is an important source of testable hypotheses.

The paper deals with research focused on the opinions and attitudes of biology teachers on the application of digital technologies in the process of learning and teaching. The respondents were teachers, who participated in the national project called “Modernization of the Educational Process in Elementary and Secondary Schools” realized in Slovakia between 2008–2013. We briefly describe the course and the contents of individual modules, which were focused on the development and acquisition of specific skills in the field of effective use of modern educational technology. The key role in the methodical preparation of teachers was played by the 3rd module, which aimed to present the teachers with the examples of meaningful and methodically well prepared application of digital technologies in the teaching process, especially in connection with current digital educational contents and the curriculum of biology subject. The second part of the study includes analysis of satisfaction among the course participants with the content, level of expertise and difficulty level of the course, as well as the analysis of their opinions and attitudes on usability of created and available model methods in the real school practice. In conclusion, we present suggestions which could, facilitate improving the quality of biology teaching in schools, in order to reflect the real needs of society.

This article develops the concept-mapping method as a tool for enhancing teaching quality in higher education. In particular, it describes how concept mapping can be used to transform abstract knowledge and understanding into concrete visual representations that are amenable to comparison and measurement. The article describes four important uses of the method: the identification of prior knowledge (and prior-knowledge structure) among students; the presentation of new material in ways that facilitate meaningful learning; the sharing of 'expert' knowledge and understanding among teachers and learners; and the documentation of knowledge change to show integration of student prior knowledge and teaching. The authors discuss the implications of their approach in the broader context of university level teaching. It is not suggested that university teachers should abandon any of their tried and tested methods of teaching, but it is shown how the quality of what they do can be significantly enhanced by the use of concept mapping.

The development of concept mapping (unlike many other classroom tools and study aids) is underpinned by a robust theoretical framework, based on the learning psychology of Ausubel’s assimilation theory of learning (Novak & Cañas, 2006). After its emergence in the 1970s, concept mapping has been applied to learning in a wide variety of disciplines, and from primary, secondary and higher education to business and military strategy (e.g. Novak, 2010; Rasmussen et al., 2009).

Concept mapping is discussed as a tool for the visualisation of knowledge structures that can be exploited within biological education. Application of this tool makes it possible to relate the structure of the curriculum to the structure of the discipline, in order to support the development of robust student knowledge structures in ways that reflect the professional practice of subject experts.

This article explores the synergy that can be created when concept-mapping techniques are used in collaboration with theconstruction of PowerPoint presentations to increase the richness of the learning experience. Some weaknesses of the typical PowerPoint format are highlighted with a description of how they can be overcome through a more considered approach to both the structure of the presentation and the design of supporting handouts that incorporate ideas taken from the literature on concept mapping. In combination, these complementary tools (concept maps and PowerPoint) might contribute to anepistemologically balanced teaching approach. Reflection upon the revealed diversity of students' views may contribute tolecturers' conceptions of teaching. The possibility of using this to generate an inclusive pedagogy of access within higher education is introduced.

This paper advocates the application of established teaching models to the professional development of biology teachers. This is achieved by using the analogy of conceptual ecologies, made explicit through concept mapping. The approach is designed to support teachers' developing understanding of pupils' conceptual change by using familiar terminology and biological analogies. Monitoring of students' understanding at an ecosystemic level may also help distinguish between instances of conceptual change and contextual switching (described here with reference to photosynthesis).

This paper shows how concept mapping can be used to measure the quality of e-learning. Six volunteers (all of them 3rd-year medical students) took part in a programme of e-learning designed to teach the principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their understanding of MRI was measured before and after the course by the use of concept mapping. The quality of change in individuals' maps was assessed using criteria developed to distinguish between meaningful and rote-learning outcomes. Student maps were also scored for evidence of conceptual richness and understanding. Finally, each map was compared directly with the content of the electronic teaching material. The results show that many of the student misconceptions were put right in the course of their learning but that many of the key concepts introduced in the teaching were ignored (or sometimes learnt by rote) by the students. This was because the teaching material locked these new ideas in structures and terminology that precluded meaning-making among non-experts. Our data suggest that students' prior knowledge is a key determinant of meaningful learning. We suggest that this must be acknowledged if the design and use of electronic teaching material is also to be meaningful. Ultimately, measures of student learning are the only authentic indicators of the quality of teaching through technology.

Concept maps have been shown to have a positive impact on the quality of student learning in a variety of disciplinary contexts and educational levels from primary school to university by helping students to connect ideas and develop a productive knowledge structure to support future learning. However, the evaluation of concept maps has always been a contentious issue. Some authors focus on the quantitative assessment of maps, while others prefer a more descriptive determination of map quality. To our knowledge, no previous consideration of concept maps has evaluated the different types of knowledge (e.g., procedural and conceptual) embedded within a concept map, or the ways in which they may interact. In this paper we consider maps using the lens provided by the Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to analyze concept maps in terms of semantic gravity and semantic density. Weaving between these qualitatively, different knowledges are considered necessary to achieve professional knowledge or expert understanding. Exemplar maps are used as illustrations of the way in which students may navigate their learning towards expertise and how this is manifested in their concept maps. Implications for curriculum design and teaching evaluation are included.

The aim of this paper is to stimulate interest in the practical classroom application of concept mapping strategies as an approach that teachers can easily use to enhance collaborative learning. Concept mapping has been developed as a tool to support meaningful learning. However, much of the research literature fails to explain how concept maps might be most gainfully employed within the classroom. As a result, concept mapping is a tool that is under-used. Students on a postgraduate teacher preparation programme for nurses were arranged in triads on the basis of the morphology of individually-produced concept maps for the topics of 'genetics' and 'pathogenic microbes'. They were arranged in heterogeneous triads to produce a consensus map for 'pathogenic microbes', and then in homogeneous triads to produce a consensus map for 'genetics'. The number of acceptable propositions found in their individual maps was compared with the number found in the consensus group maps, and gain scores were calculated for each participant. Participants arranged in triads of individuals having very different knowledge structures were found to make a greater improvement than those arranged in triads composed of individuals with qualitatively similar knowledge structures. The study was undertaken with a very small sample and only looked at two topic areas. However, the findings support the idea that collaborative groups work most effectively when individuals within the group bring different perspectives to a problem, and that this perspective can be usefully identified within the classroom environment as variations in concept map morphology.

The biology of the nematode species found living in moss cushions is considered. Particular attention is paid to the methods used by the animals which enable them to live in an environment which suffers periodic desiccation.

When attempting to support the enhancement of university teaching, there is a tendency for institutions to focus on individual attributes of the learning environment. Such an itemized analysis of teaching practice neglects the integrated nature and complexity of the system. In addition, the ways in which university teachers interact with the academic environment are personal and idiosyncratic. In an attempt to support the simultaneous focus on key dimensions of the teaching environment, the concept of pedagogic frailty is introduced. The content and structure of academics' personal interpretations of these dimensions will either facilitate or hinder the development of connections between the elements of the model at the personal and/or inter-personal level. Where the formation of connections is hindered, the system is in a state of pedagogic frailty which results in a loss of adaptability and the conservation of traditional systems, even when they are seen as unfit for purpose. The mapping of pedagogic frailty provides an ideal frame for the development of personal narratives about teaching and an arena to support meaningful dialogue about the values that underpin teaching at university.

The idea that knowledge may exist in different forms may present a conceptual challenge for many university teachers. Our experience has shown that STEM teachers tend to view knowledge through a singular epistemological lens, driven by their disciplinary background. Such a restricted view impedes the development of teaching beyond traditional transmission models. In order to help STEM academics engage with a broader view of knowledge (and so help their students to engage in meaningful learning that does not exclude deeply held cultural perspectives), we propose a gateway into the ecology of knowledges. In this case, the gateway is created by using the analogy of protein structure—a complex idea that science teachers will be familiar with, and which demonstrates the importance of multiple perspectives on a single object. In this conceptual paper, we offer this as a tool to support the adoption of a multi-epistemic appreciation of knowledge that may lead to a more scholarly approach to university teaching.

The Tardigrada is described as a group of animals suitable for close study in project work. Reasons for their suitability are given and an illustrated key is included.

This article aims to reexamine conclusions drawn by recent analyses of the literature on concept mapping as an educational tool by considering the wider literature on curriculum development. This is with the aim of enhancing the application of concept mapping to higher education. As part of an iterative review process, issues raised by previous analyses are reconsidered with reference to educational research papers that were not considered previously. A greater consideration of the context for learning provides alternatives to some of the assumptions that underpin the discipline specific concept mapping literature. The methodological shortcomings in the literature on concept mapping revealed by earlier reviews are reevaluated to support reflection on how the tool may be profitably used and also how such reviews may be conducted to better inform practice. This article offers enhanced guidance on the contextualisation of concept mapping and recommendations for its future use in higher education.

This paper explores the developing concept of expertise, taking the Dreyfus and Dreyfus staged model as its starting point. It analyses criticism of the Dreyfus model and considers more recent attempts to resolve the tensions implicit within it. The authors go on to suggest ways some of the later modifications can be improved. The traditional notion of intuition is revisited and thereafter a new and novel way of visualising expertise is presented as a dual-processing relationship between chains of practice and the underlying networks of understanding. These chain and net knowledge structures have been revealed through the analysis of concept maps produced by numerous cohorts of students and teachers. It is argued that a visualisation of the dynamic relationship between the dimensions of expertise provides an emerging theoretical framework for a more general reappraisal of teaching in higher education. This reconsideration of expertise may be the catalyst for dialogue about educational practice within disciplines (between lecturers and between lecturers and students), and between lecturers and educational developers. This dialogue will strengthen disciplinary communities of practice and place the agenda for pedagogic change within the context of the academic disciplines.

The concept of the ‘expert student’ has been considered for some time (e.g. Sternberg, 1998, 2003). Here I am considering the expert student in the context of knowledge creation and the ways in which learning approaches can utilize disciplinary knowledge structures in order to develop authentic understanding and practice.

Purpose - This paper aims to describe a method of teaching that is based on Novak's concept-mapping technique. Design/methodology/approach - The paper shows how concept mapping can be used to measure prior knowledge and how simple mapping exercises can promote the integration of teachers' and students' understandings in ways that are meaningful. Findings - The concept-mapping method facilitates quick and easy measures of student knowledge-change so that teachers can identify the parts of the curriculum that are being understood and those that are not. This is possible even among very large student groups in the 50-minute slots that are allocated to so much teaching in higher education. Research limitations/implications - Concept mapping is discussed in the wider context of student learning style. The styles literature has been criticised because it tends to encourage undue labelling of people or behaviours. The approach described here also uses "labels" to typify learning (using the terms non-learning and rote or meaningful learning to identify different qualities of change). Originality/value - The difference in this approach is that terms are attached to empirical measures of learning outcome, not to personal or psychological styles. Concept mapping makes learning visible so that the actual quality of the learning that has occurred can be seen and explored. Using concept mapping in the course of teaching means that learning is no longer a complex and intractable process, measurable only by proxy, but an observable phenomenon.

The consideration of threshold concepts is offered in the context of biological education as a theoretical framework that may have utility in the teaching and learning of biology at all levels. Threshold concepts may provide a mechanism to explain the observed punctuated nature of conceptual change. This perspective raises the profile of periods of conceptual stasis from 'failure to learn' to necessary periods within the normal pattern of student learning. Threshold concepts are seen as points where segmental/linear knowledge structures and cumulative/hierarchical knowledge structures are integrated, resulting in a transformation in understanding. 'Evolution' and 'dynamic transformation' are nominated as candidate threshold concepts within biology.

Development of a more scholarly approach to teaching at university may expose the novice university teacher to an apparent conflict in belief systems about teaching and learning (i.e. epistemological beliefs). Educational research is explicit in its recognition of a constructivist framework, whilst other academic research is often embedded more implicitly within an objectivist framework. A reconceptualisation of objectivism and constructivism as complementary philosophies is suggested here as it may help support the evolution of a sophisticated epistemology among teacher/researchers. This supports a learner-centred teaching approach within higher education without conflicting with deeply held beliefs about academic research. These issues are reported here with reference to informal discussions with graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) registered on a course of teacher development within two UK universities.

This article considers effective dialogue between teacher and student essential for promoting meaningful learning in the classroom. Effective dialogue enables teachers and students to be active in the construction of shared understanding by making explicit the overlap between the perspective held by novice (student) and expert (teacher). Concept maps provide a visual tool to illustrate such overlap in understanding and create something tangible to promote meaningful discussion. A description of a model of practice to help uncover and explore this overlap is given.

One of the most important aspects of a comprehensive education involves teaching students to analyze arguments and form their own opinions based on available information. Visual and graphical mapping strategies are useful in helping students to consider problems from a variety of perspectives. Cases on Teaching Critical Thinking through Visual Representation Strategies brings together research from scholars and professionals in the field of education to provide new insights into the use of visual aids for student development in reasoning and critical thinking. This essential reference source will enable academics, researchers, and practitioners in fields such as education, business, and technology to more effectively foster students’ critical thinking skills. One of the most important aspects of a comprehensive education involves teaching students to analyze arguments and form their own opinions based on available information. Visual and graphical mapping strategies are useful in helping students to consider problems from a variety of perspectives. Cases on Teaching Critical Thinking through Visual Representation Strategies brings together research from scholars and professionals in the field of education to provide new insights into the use of visual aids for student development in reasoning and critical thinking. This essential reference source will enable academics, researchers, and practitioners in fields such as education, business, and technology to more effectively foster students’ critical thinking skills.

The development of teaching in higher education towards a more learnerorientated model has been supported by the literature on individual learning differences and on learning styles in particular. This has contributed to the evolution of university pedagogy away from a medieval transmission model than runs counter to contemporary understanding of learning. However, rather than solving problems of classroom practice, recognition of student learning differences has amplified a number of tensions within the system that have not been adequately resolved in practical terms for academic staff. Such tensions complicate the professional lives of university teachers and as a consequence may lead to cycles of non- learning as teachers retreat towards the familiar transmission of content. A reconceptualisationof university pedagogy towards an expertise model allows the variation between complementary chains of practice and networks of understanding to be exploited as a positive characteristic of the learning experience.

Student feedback is currently at the fore-front of higher education discourse, with students apparently less satisfied with feedback than with most other aspects of the student learning experience (Evans, 2013). In this chapter I will not attempt to review the extensive literature on this topic, but only to consider key aspects that relate to the knowledge structures approach that is the focus of this book. In this context feedback is seen as a vital link between the theory that supports teaching (Chapter 6) and the focus of development of academics in dialogue with their students (Chapter 8).

In traditional representations of doctoral supervision, the relationship between supervisor and doctoral candidate is often conceptualised as hierarchical: master and apprentice; expert and novice; supervisor and student. Even in the case of more constructivist orientations which seek to position the process as more complex than the mere transmission of expertise, it is the doctoral candidate who is positioned as the one who evolves, as a result of a rite of passage (e.g., Petersen, Stud High Educ 32(4): 475–487. 10.1080/03075070701476167, 2007). In recent years, there have been calls for more fluid conceptualisations that question such hierarchical positionings of supervisor and doctoral candidate. For example, Fullagar et al. (Knowl Cult 1(4): 23–41, 2017) represent doctoral supervision as a ‘learning alliance’, where both supervisor and doctoral candidate develop and learn. In this chapter, we draw upon a collaborative autoethnography by three colleagues, one who occupied the role of Doctoral Candidate and two who occupied the role of Supervisor, in order to interrogate the notion of fixed identities within both roles. Drawing upon the Deleuzian concept of ‘becoming’, and Braidotti’s ideas of ‘process ontology’, we explore how the supervisory relationship for a Prospective PhD by Publication offers processes of becoming for both supervisors and doctoral candidates, and we also call into question the expert/novice dichotomy that conceptualises traditional models of supervision. We reflect upon what this rethinking might signify for both the Prospective PhD by Publication, as well as for other models of doctoral supervision, and the broader concepts of learning and change.

The detailed analysis and scoring of concept maps may not be necessary in order for students to gain from their use in the classroom. A simplified recognition of different types (‘species’) of map may increase the likelihood of teachers employing maps in their classrooms so that more teachers and students might benefit from concept mapping on a regular basis. A greater familiarity and level of engagement with concept maps is likely to support an increase in the level of mapping expertise developed by both teachers and students, enabling maps to be used to support higher order thinking skills – as intended. The counter-intuitive conclusion to this prospect is that the adoption of a non-analytical consideration of maps may actually make them a more valuable classroom asset. However, this requires a greater level of expertise in the application of concept maps on the part of the teacher. A simplified typology of ‘map species’ is presented to support the development of this perspective.

The concept of recipience is emerging within the literature as a useful idea to inform our understanding of student engagement with feedback. In this paper the applicability of the concept of recipience is broadened from its origins in the literature on student feedback to consider its role in developing student knowledge structures that are more receptive to development. This will promote cumulative/meaningful learning that is required to construct professional knowledge. By drawing on Legitimation Code Theory, and visualising the morphology of target knowledge structures in relation to their position on the semantic plane (of semantic gravity vs. semantic density), a fresh perspective is offered to inform student learning that can suggest ways of enhancing the quality of student learning. This is achieved by explicitly enabling the construction of a more coherent perspective of the knowledge terrain generated by complex curricula.

Novakian concept mapping has been shown to offer great potential in the undergraduate science classroom as a tool to support student learning. However, a number of papers in the research literature have been less than rigorous in their application of concept mapping. This chapter highlights a number of key questions that researchers should ask themselves when embarking upon a concept mapping intervention in order to optimize the application of the tool. Firstly there needs to be clarity about the purpose of an intervention: Is it designed as a research protocol to obtain generalizable results, or is the intervention only of local interest in a unique context? This raises the question of whether the maps are research artifacts (data) or tools to support development. Secondly, we need to be clear about the type of knowledge being mapped. Is the map of agreed upon curricular knowledge for which there may be a correct response (where scoring of maps may have some utility), or is the map of “yet-to-be-known” knowledge (of personal reflections and values) where scoring would be inappropriate? Thirdly, will the initial maps provided by participants provide the data that is being sought, or will students need feedback and supportive dialogue to help increase the map quality? Finally, appreciating the ways in which the mapping relates to the philosophy of the curriculum is crucial. If the curriculum requires deep, cumulative learning as part of a collaborative learning community, then mapping is likely to be helpful. If the intention is only for individuals to memorize content, then mapping has no real part to play. By considering each of these issues before embarking upon a mapping intervention, the value of the research outputs is likely to be enhanced.

This paper investigates the underexplored area of othering of migrant academics within their teaching context. Nine personal narratives of migrant academics' teaching were analysed qualitatively for indications of pedagogical othering. Migrant academics indicated the need to align their own pedagogic values and practices with that of their host institutions they work in as they felt their own values and practices were considered less desirable. We argue, from a Gramsci's hegemonic perspective, that the pedagogic adaptation by migrant academics aimed at improving student learning is not problematic in itself, but more problematic is the inequality of opportunity for migrant academics to contribute to pedagogical decisions which can meaningfully influence the departmental culture. Lack of pedagogic democracy where the 'home' academic environment has a monopoly of knowledge and a hegemonic position regarding learning and teaching can compromise the student-learning experience by limiting articulation of alternative pedagogical perspectives by the migrant international academics.

Pedagogic frailty has been proposed as a unifying concept that may help to integrate institutional efforts to enhance teaching within universities by helping to maintain a simultaneous focus on key areas that are thought to impede the development of pedagogy. These areas and the links that have been proposed to connect them are interrogated here through the analysis of an autoethnographic narrative produced by a community “insider” who has considerable experience of teaching and researching geography. This personcentred methodology acknowledges the subjective nature of teaching, gives voice to important stories that might not otherwise be heard formally and provides a case study that can been used as an exemplar to promote institutional dialogue about quality enhancement and the student experience. The findings from this case study suggest that colleagues may be able to repurpose disciplinary concepts to help make sense of the learning and teaching discourse.

This article examines teachers’ perspectives on a neglected area of practice: academic referencing. Commonly considered a simple skill to learn, we suggest that instead a study of referencing practices enables us to glean valuable insight into the challenges experienced by students when developing a learner identity. Drawing on interviews with academic staff, this article depicts teachers’ experiences as they support students with referencing and academic literacy practices. However, the intentions of teachers to develop students are shown to be at variance with student outcomes, as students appear increasingly disengaged from an area of academic practice that they find mysterious and opaque, and as staff report an increase in the number of cases of plagiarism and academic misconduct. We conclude with a consideration of the need to widen understanding of the complex challenges experienced by students when grappling with citation practices. Moreover, we contend that the development of academic literacy practices can play a key role within students’ development of a learner identity, and can impact upon students’ sense of belonging and becoming into and through higher education.

Background: The concept of pedagogic frailty has been proposed as a unifying concept that may help to integrate institutional efforts to enhance teaching improvement within universities by helping to maintain a simultaneous focus on four key areas that are thought to impede development. Purpose: The variation in internal structure of the four dimensions of pedagogic frailty and the links that have been proposed to connect them are explored here through the analysis of interviews with academics working in a variety of disciplinary areas. Methods: The application of concept map-mediated interviews allows us to view the variable connections within and between these dimensions and the personal ways they are conceptualised by academics working across the heterogeneous university context. Results: The data show that academics conceptualise the discourse of teaching in various ways that have implications for the links that may be developed to integrate the elements within the model. Conclusions: Whilst the form and content of the maps representing dimensions of the pedagogic frailty model exhibit considerable variation, it is suggested that factors such as academic resilience and the explicit use of integrative concepts within disciplines may help to overcome some of the vulnerabilities that accompany pedagogic frailty. The data also raises questions about the links between factors that tend to be under individual control and those that tend towards institutional control.

In order to successfully accommodate partnership as a new way of working, it is suggested that an institution should already exhibit characteristics of resilience that would accompany pedagogic health. Using the pedagogic frailty model as a theoretical frame, this chapter explores what pedagogic health might look like in a university, what the indicators of pedagogic resilience might be, and how explicit acknowledgement of these factors may enhance academics’ engagement with a student-staff partnership approach to working. The key concepts of recipience, exaptation and adaptive expertise are introduced as factors that may help academics to construct a sense of coherence about their practice, and help them to assimilate the partnership perspective within their professional activities.

One approach to enhancing the pedagogy of science education is to employ academics who are not only science-trained but also engaged in education research. As some academics begin their Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research careers with a pure science background, shifting in disciplinary perspectives can be a source of professional tension. The pedagogic frailty model provides a framework that helps us to integrate institutional efforts to enhance teaching improvements by maintaining a simultaneous focus on critical areas that are thought to impede academic development. This paper draws attention to the importance of disciplinary crossover by uncovering and comparing academics' teaching perspectives, views and beliefs from three disciplines: natural science (chemistry), social science (education) and science education. Through a case study design using the pedagogic frailty model and concept map-mediated interviews as a tool, three academics engaged in a non-linear discourse in which their conceptions could be visualised and analysed. Analysis of the case study interviews indicated that the academics' conceptions of teaching were highly individualised. The discourse surrounding the curriculum, and the embeddedness of and connection between pedagogy and discipline, were both subject-sensitive and influenced by professional backgrounds and research areas. On the other hand, because they operated under the same institutional values and regulations, we found a considerable overlap in terms of how the academics perceived the tensions between research and teaching and academic leadership. By comparing three academics who were at a different stage in the journey from disciplinary experts (chemistry) to teaching expert (education), we were able to uncover and understand more about the ways that the teaching environment impacted upon their practices. The science educator shared aspects of the other two perspectives, which suggests that his profile was a transitory state in comparison with the chemist and the educationist. The findings provide a glimpse of the distinctive nature of the values that underpin teaching and offer insights that can be used to promote dialogue about quality enhancement in science education.

Within this chapter, we conceptualize education for sustainability (EfS) as a wicked, socio-ecological problem that requires the implementation of a radical pedagogical perspective if it is to be addressed in a systemic and sustainable manner. The consideration of EfS through a complex, socio-ecological lens prompts a consideration from multiple perspectives that we articulate here as opposing sides of an epistemological abyss (or two-culture valley)-where rational, objective thinking (scientific reasoning) needs to interact with more personal, subjective knowledge structures. This allows us to approach key threshold concepts related to EfS that we identify as 'virtue ethics', 'wicked problems' and 'academic literacy'. Through the analogy of exploring unfamiliar terrain, we consider the importance of pedagogy as a foundational idea in the construction of interdisciplinary approaches to EfS in the classroom and the necessity of teachers acting as well-equipped guides who are familiar with both sides of the epistemological abyss.

The shift towards an ecological university may be the key to achieving greater levels of social justice within higher education. This assumes that we could change the root metaphor of higher education - away from the current industrial model that is infused with neoliberal ideology and towards a more sustainable ecological model. This change involves five key moves that require us to: construct an institutional natural history to understand the network of interactions within the university; to explore the nature of the dominant narratives and move away from a narrative monoculture; to value post-abyssal thinking that includes cultural knowledge as well as academic knowledge; to move away from dependence on heroic leaders towards ecological leadership, and to consider how we can develop sustainable pedagogies that can withstand disturbances to the ecosystem. This paper acknowledges that coordination of these moves presents a considerable challenge to university managers.

"This book examines the dominant discourses in higher education. From the moment academics enter higher education, they are met with binaries such as teaching vs. research, quantitative vs. qualitative research, and constructivists vs. positivists. When embarking upon a teaching career in a university there are further binaries that immediately present themselves, with deep vs. surface learning probably being the most pervasive. Kinchin and Gravett contend that this presents a distorted view and contributes to the disconnect between the aims and observable practice of higher education. Rather than celebrating difference, dominant discourses tend to seek similarities in an attempt to simplify and manage the environment, in what the authors perceive as a less than scholarly mode. In order to break down the barriers between 'structuralist' or 'traditional' academics and those who are more familiar with poststructuralist, critical perspectives, the authors explore the overlaps between these perspectives to offer a richer and more inclusive interrogation of the dominant discourses that pervade higher education. Offering methodological approaches to explore these perspectives, the authors bring together academics working in different parts of the university and examine the concept of a 'rich cartography', exploring how this can offer meaning within higher education research and practice"--

Purpose Concept maps have been described as a valuable tool for exploring curriculum knowledge. However, less attention has been given to the use of them to visualise contested and tacit knowledge, i.e. the values and perceptions of teachers that underpin their practice. This paper aims to explore the use of concept mapping to uncover academics’ views and help them articulate their perspectives within the framework provided by the concepts of pedagogic frailty and resilience in a collaborative environment. Design/methodology/approach Participants were a group of five colleagues within a Biochemical Science Department, working on the development of a new undergraduate curriculum. A qualitative single-case study was conducted to get some insights on how concept mapping might scaffold each step of the collaborative process. They answered the online questionnaire; their answers were “translated” into an initial expert-constructed concept map, which was offered as a starting point to articulate their views during a group session, resulting in a consensus map. Findings Engaging with the questionnaire was useful for providing the participants with an example of an “excellent” map, sensitising them to the core concepts and the possible links between them, without imposing a high level of cognitive load. This fostered dialogue of complex ideas, introducing the potential benefits of consensus maps in team-based projects. Originality/value An online questionnaire may facilitate the application of the pedagogic frailty model for academic development by scaling up the mapping process. The map-mediated facilitation of dialogue within teams of academics may facilitate faculty development by making explicit the underpinning values held by team members.

The evolution of concept mapping has benefitted from the robust theoretical basis provided by Ausubelian learning theory. However, for concept mapping to maintain its relevance and to keep pace with the evolutionary changes in the educational context, it is vital that educational researchers and classroom practitioners can augment this theoretical base with contemporary learning theories that will help to improve the application of concept mapping and increase the likelihood that the goal of meaningful learning will be achieved in practice. This involves shifting the focus of concept mapping from product to process and the role of the learner from 'being' to 'becoming.' The act of concept mapping needs to be viewed as a way of mastering learning rather than of mastering specific content. We propose the consideration of the explicit role of semantic waves as an improvement from simplistic knowledge representation towards the development of more complex knowledge modelling as a way of developing powerful knowledge structures.

This article focuses on ‘transition’ and how it is understood within higher education. Drawing on data from concept map-mediated interviews at two institutions, we examine the conceptions of transition held by academic and professional staff, who work to support students’ learning into and through higher education. We suggest that normative understandings of transition often draw upon a grand-narrative that orchestrates and reiterates a stereotypic understanding of students’ experiences. Often this narrative involves students’ interpellation into a field of discourse where the subject is constructed as both homogeneous and in deficit: ill-prepared, lacking in independence, as vulnerable and in need of support. However, this study suggests that beneath this discourse lies a more nuanced picture: one where students’ experiences can be conceptualised as diverse and fluid. Moreover, we employ the concept of pedagogic ‘frailty’ to expose the significance of the environments and wider contexts in which students ‘transition’, and to explore the impact of systemic tensions upon students’ experiences. This article further argues that future research should shift discussions away from the deficits of students, and examine how we can make underlying environmental and systemic challenges more explicit, in order to widen our understanding and discussions of these constraints.

This paper offers an approach to support the development of reflective teaching practice among university academics that can be used to promote dialogue about quality enhancement and the student experience. Pedagogic frailty has been proposed as a unifying concept that may help to integrate institutional efforts to enhance teaching within universities by helping to maintain a simultaneous focus on key areas that are thought to impede development of pedagogy. These areas and the links that have been proposed to connect them are interrogated here through the dialogic analysis of a framed autoethnographic narrative produced by a community ‘insider’ who has considerable experience of teaching within the arts and humanities. This person-centred methodology acknowledges the subjective nature of teaching and gives voice to important stories that otherwise might not be heard formally, and allows an academic to rehearse this voice individually before comparing it with others in the institution.

Narratives of Academics' Personal Journeys in Contested Spaces provides theoretically-informed personal narratives of 11 emerging and established leaders in learning and teaching in Australia, Finland, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK and the USA. The academics' narratives focus on how the individuals have navigated to their current leadership role in learning and teaching whilst negotiating contested identities, such as gender, and physical and social marginalised spaces, such as interstitial (middle) leadership positions. These international narratives provide unique perspectives on the sense-making of academics as they reflect on their learning and teaching leadership journey and how these journeys are shaped by their contested identities and the marginalised spaces they inhabit. Often such identities and spaces are not recognised in higher education which may lead to even more isolating and challenging leadership journeys. The book contributes to our understanding of the subjective experiences that academics encounter in their leadership journeys. Further, the personal narratives included in the book capture how the contested identities and marginalised spaces influence the learning and teaching leadership practices in various educational, cultural and national contexts.

'Academics' International Teaching Journeys' provides personal narratives of nine international social science academics in foreign countries as they adapt and develop their teaching. The team of international contributors provide an invaluable resource for other academics who may be exposed to similar situations and may find these narratives useful in negotiating their own conflicts and challenges that they may encounter in being an international academic. The narratives provide a fascinating reference point and a wide range of perspectives of teaching experiences from across the world, including Europe, Australia, North America and the Caribbean.

After spending a year working on the development of a new online Master's programme in higher education, members of the development team were interviewed to reveal their thoughts about the nature of the programme. The dialogue of each interview was summarised as a concept map. Analysis of the resulting maps included a modified Bernsteinian analysis of the focus of the concepts included in terms of their semantic gravity (i.e. closeness to context) and the degree of resonance with the underpinning regulative discourse of the programme. Data highlight a number of potential issues for programme delivery that centre around the use of appropriate language to manage student expectations in relation to the process of learning and the emotional responses this can stimulate, as well as the tensions that can be foregrounded between the demands of teaching and research within a university environment.

This book puts the structure and function of knowledge firmly in the driving seat of university curriculum development and teaching practice. Through the application of concept mapping, the structure of knowledge can be visualised to offer an explicit perspective on key issues such as curriculum design, student learning and assessment feedback. Structural visualisation allows a greater scrutiny of the qualitative characteristics of knowledge so that we can analyse students' patterns of learning and match them to expert practice. Based on nearly two decades of research and direct observations of university teaching by the author, this book aims to offer a scholarly account of teacher development. It focusses on elements that will be of immediate utility to academics who want to develop their teaching to a level of adaptive experts, offering them greater autonomy in their role and a powerful understanding of teaching to escape the repressive routines of the traditional classroom. Rather than providing a comprehensive review of educational research, this book provides a route through selected theories that can be explored in practice by university teachers on their own or in groups. The book will help academics to identify the nature of powerful knowledge within their disciplines and consider ways that this may be used by students to become active and engaged learners through the manipulation and transformation of knowledge, and so become expert students.

This paper offers a perspective on 'care' as a component in the identity of successful university teachers. Three key lines of flight within this assemblage (care, pedagogic health, and salutogenesis) are examined here. In combination, they may offer a response to hegemonic neoliberal discourses that typically divert academics from enacting their professional values. A 'triple point' is hypothesised, at which the three lines would be found to co-exist, without border or barriers.

This article proposes a rethinking of the contested concept of teaching excellence within higher education. In order to do, so we engage posthumanist theory to reconsider teaching excellence from a new perspective that shifts the gaze beyond the measured individual to explore our intra-actions within a wider context. Taking Skelton's original conception of teaching excellence as a starting point, we explore what a values-based concept of excellence might look like, re-imagined for the present times we live in, and we ask whether there is room for a more expansive perspective of teaching excellence which reconsiders the relationality and fluidity of our practice.

The dominant narratives currently offering critique of the neoliberal university suggest a professional environment that is both uncaring and unhealthy. This paper adopts a Deleuzian gaze on the rhizomatic multiplicity of teaching to identify and reinterpret key lines of flight within this assemblage – identified as care, pedagogic health and salutogenesis. It is argued that the perspective described by the coexistence of these lines may develop a more positive ontology as a basis from which a university may be able to work towards a more productive state of healthy learning. The point at which the three lines of flight co-exist is hypothesised as a ‘triple point’.

This book explores student-staff partnerships through a breadth of co-authored research projects. There is a significant gap in current literature regarding student-staff partnerships, both in the sharing of examples as well as in the examination of partnership working and its impact. Organised into four thematic sections, the editors and contributors highlight the diversity of routes students and staff can take to work in partnership, as well as how research, learning and teaching can be co-created. Written by both university staff and student researchers, the chapters consider the benefits of student-staff partnerships as an antidote to consumerist visions of higher education, and a way of celebrating the potential of students and their voices. This book will be of interest and value to scholars of student-staff partnerships. 

Framed by the current higher education agendas and debates, the introduction presents the rationale for this edited volume. It situates the student–staff partnership case studies that constitute the core of the book within the institutional context of the University of Surrey, UK, and provides an overview of the university-wide initiative to establish and support these research partnerships. The chapter also outlines how the project team provided ongoing developmental opportunities to the participants throughout the life of the project. It then introduces the four parts of the book: (1) Collaboration and Creativity: Exploring Innovative Partnership Approaches; (2) Evaluating Teaching and Learning Approaches; (3) Partnership Approaches to Assessment, Feedback, and Student–Staff Dialogue and (4) Student–Staff Partnerships: Reflections and Considerations, as well as each of the individual chapters within the parts.

In this paper, the authors break down the elements of what it means to be an analytical chemist to expose the underlying knowledge structures that contribute to this specialist contextual expertise. An appreciation of the structure of knowledge provides the first step in designing ways to scaffold student development of expertise. We have identified two critical gaps that need to be bridged for students to achieve this: the gaps between complementary networked knowledge structures that can impede high level understanding (the gap between intrinsic and shared fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry), and the gap between networks of understanding and chains of practice that can impede professional practice (the theory-practice gap). We hypothesize the l i n k between these two gaps and the ways in which they may be exploited within the curriculum to promote the development of expertise-where these gaps are no longer problematic. The role of threshold concepts in forming bridges across these gaps is explored here. This represents a key point in the pedagogical content knowledge of teachers of Analytical Chemistry.

In this study, members of a higher education department explore their research activity and how it influences their practice as academic developers in a research-led institution. Whilst the research activities of the team members appear diverse, they are all underpinned by a shared set of professional values to provide an anchor for these activities. Research-as-pedagogy and the relationship between the discourses of research and teaching are explored using Bernstein’s knowledge structures. The authors conclude that differences in research focus (horizontal discourse) provide dynamism across a department and that stability is provided through the underpinning core values inherent in the vertical discourse.

This paper investigates the underexplored area of othering of migrant academics within their teaching context. Nine personal narratives of migrant academics’ teaching were analysed qualitatively for indications of pedagogical othering. Migrant academics indicated the need to align their own pedagogic values and practices with that of their host institutions they work in as they felt their own values and practices were considered less desirable. We argue, from a Gramsci’s hegemonic perspective that the pedagogic adaptation by migrant academics aimed at improving student learning is not problematic in itself, but more problematic is the inequality of opportunity for migrant academics to contribute to pedagogical decisions which can meaningfully influence the departmental culture. Lack of pedagogic democracy where the ‘home’ academic environment has a monopoly of knowledge and a hegemonic position regarding learning and teaching can compromise the student-learning experience by limiting articulation of alternative pedagogical perspectives by the migrant international academics.

This study focuses on the spaces and places for learning and teaching connections in higher education. Using a photovoice research method, we ask: what role do spaces and places play in offering opportunities for learning and teaching connection, and what do they tell us about the evolving practices of teachers in contemporary higher education? Whilst considerable attention has been paid to the learning spaces of students, we argue that less attention has been devoted to the spaces in which educators learn. Our findings are considered against a backdrop of the ongoing disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning that opportunities for interaction have assumed even greater significance, and the ways in which we use and understand teaching spaces are in flux. As such, our data highlights how the move to digital and hybrid learning is blurring the boundaries of spaces and places, reorienting what it means to teach and to learn in a postdigital higher education landscape. We engage sociomaterial and spatial concepts to examine how spaces entangle with university teachers’ experiences, and we explore the shifting nature of interaction and space in post-pandemic times.

This paper uses an autoethnographic case study to analyse the difficulties inherent in the professional journey from bioscience researcher to research-informed, reflective bioscience teacher. This is viewed through a philosophy of becoming. The major demand placed upon the academic to achieve this transition is seen as the conscious adoption of a perspective that embraces epistemological pluralism - also described as post-abyssal thinking. This recognises the value of alternative epistemological views and the way they can contribute to professional development. An explicit recognition of this challenge may provide a tool to support bioscience researchers to become integrated academics and relieve some of the tensions that exist, for example between teaching and research.

Many topics within the Psychology curriculum can be described as ‘sensitive’, with potential for students to experience distress and discomfort. Given the pressure experienced by academics in Higher Education, the potential for student distress or complaints might lead lecturers to adopt a risk-averse approach to teaching, which is well represented by the concept of Pedagogic Frailty (Kinchin et al., 2016). Through interviews with nine Psychology Lecturers, we uncover the common concerns that arise when teaching sensitive topics, and the strategies employed to overcome these concerns. We also suggest that where teaching is strongly influenced by the values underpinning Psychological Literacy, those teaching sensitive topics may be less vulnerable to the characteristics of Pedagogic Frailty, as the risks associated with the teaching of sensitive topics are offset by the perceived importance of exposing students to sensitive topics. The implications for the teaching of Psychology are discussed.

Within the context of the ecological university, the professional development of teaching staff needs to be reconceptualized. Rather than accepting reductive linear models of development that suggest a simplistic transition from novice to expert, we need to embrace the inherent complexity of rhizomatic development and exploit the adoption of a number of ecological principles to illustrate a navigable pathway through the complexity. In this the teacher is seen to develop across adaptive cycles. These cycles represent developmental plateaus of increasing professional independence that are reactive to territorializing and deterritorializing factors in the environment. The tendency of neoliberal management systems to favour territorialization by accepting the status quo leads to the inhibition of development (described in the ecological literature as rigidity gaps) within the adaptive cycles. That in turn creates conditions that promote pedagogic frailty - a condition in which the elements that should enhance the teaching environment are seen to be repressive. To counter this negative image of inert university teaching, sections of the rhizome can be illustrated using concept mapping to illuminate the dynamic institutional natural history as a step towards the ecological resilience (i.e. embracing change and adaptability) that is required to support teaching in an ecological university.

To explore the affective domains embedded in academic development and teacher practice, a team of academic developers was invited to consider a poem and how it reflects the emotions and feelings underpinning experiences as teachers within Higher Education. We used a method of arts-informed, collective biography to evaluate a poem to draw upon and share memories to interrogate lived experiences. Our research is framed using the lens of pedagogic frailty model to see how affective and discursive encounters are produced and impact us. We contend that collective arts-based and biographical approaches can provide alternative ways for ourselves and teachers to examine their own pedagogic frailty.

Students as partners (SaP) practices are emerging in today’s universities as a means to offer a more participative agenda, and to transform institutional cultures within an increasingly economically driven higher education context. This study contributes to understandings of partnership approaches, which largely still remain under-theorised, through exploring the conceptualisation of SaP by institutional leaders, staff, and students. Drawing on data from concept map-mediated interviews, this article offers a counterview to recent studies that have depicted staff understandings of SaP to be firmly located within a neoliberal discourse. Rather, our interviews portray surprising overlaps within students’ and leaders’ conceptualisations of SaP, depicting recurrent themes of communication, dialogue, community, and enabling students to escape neoliberal constructions: to become ‘more than customers’. This article ends with a consideration of how investigating the ways in which students and staff conceptualise SaP can be valuable, as partnership approaches become further prioritised in institutional strategies.

The university-as-ecosystem concept provides a framework for the analysis of the dynamic maintenance of sustainable pedagogies within the university. Application of Holling’s adaptive cycle, used to describe the active constructive and destructive processes of stabilization and destabilization within an ecosystem, is explored here in the context of the ecological university. The cycle predicts that disruptions to the system initiate a period of reorganisation. The concept of nested cycles (a panarchy) is explored in the higher education teaching environment here for the first time. Crucially, this shows how adaptive cycles within ecosystems occur at different scales of time and space that might align with different levels within the university – the individual, the department/discipline, and the institution. These levels need to be in communication with each other in order to develop in ways that are complementary and mutually supportive. As decisions about teaching are made with a mixture of objective, evidence-based reasoning alongside more subjective and affective thinking, a degree of epistemological pluralism is required to support the development of post-abyssal thinking to promote consilience across the ecology of knowledges. The potential of an epistemologically plural ecological lens is discussed in the context of university teaching.

This article presents an ecological frame for reflection on teaching at university. It is suggested here that the process of professional reflection on practice can be better aligned with processes of institutional development by applying the adaptive cycle. This heuristic emerged from the scientific literature on ecosystem maintenance and has been repurposed to allow the consideration of complex social-ecological systems - such as a university. The nature of the adaptive cycle changes over time to accommodate changes in the exterior (the institution and wider society) and interior (e.g. personal experience and wellbeing) professional environments. These cycling changes offer a descriptive tool to support discussion of university teacher development.

This research used Novakian concept mapping and interview techniques to track changes in knowledge and understanding amongst students and their supervisors in the course of full-time research towards a laboratory science-based PhD. This detailed longitudinal case study analysis measures both cognitive change in the specific subjects that are the topic for research, and the understanding of the process of PhD level research and supervision. The data show the challenges for students and supervisors from different national, ethnic, cultural, and academic backgrounds and traditions with a focus on how this impacts the PhD research process and development. Working cross-culturally, and often in a setting different from either the student or the supervisor's background and training, can lead to a lack of common language and understanding for the development of a pedagogically oriented supervisory relationship. Documenting change in knowledge and understanding among PhD students and their supervisors is key to surfacing what the joint processes of mutual democratic research and of supervision may entail. This study explores how one of these key processes is a student's developing sense of belonging (or non-belonging). Specifically, this paper engages the concepts of belonging, and democratic education through mutual learning, to explore the practices of working across national, cultural, ethnic, and diverse academic backgrounds, for both supervisors and students. Doctoral study is understood as a situated context in which belonging also acts as a gateway for who can join the global scientific community.

Recent research has suggested that Higher Education would benefit from the adoption of institutional models that relinquish ties to industrial thinking and associated metaphors. This long-established, market-led managerial perspective has been colonised by neoliberal values that work against education. A move towards models that have greater resonance with ecological thinking is considered to better align the institutional purpose with tackling the wicked problems of the current century and promoting social justice. This paper considers the role of root metaphors in promoting and maintaining an ecological perspective and asks if there is any evidence for the emergence of ecological thinking in institutional education strategies that might support the development of the imagined future of the ecological university. Qualitative document analysis suggests that the move towards the adoption of the ecological root metaphor will require a punctuated change that is not compatible with the typical incremental nature of change within universities. The incremental adoption of ecological terminology may trigger an increase in pedagogic frailty if the root metaphor remains linked to the neoliberal ideology of consumerism. The construction of strategy documents needs to consider how key concepts are related to each other and how they can portray a coherent image of the institution's ambitions.

This article examines the challenges experienced by students when developing referencing practices. There has been minimal research into students’ development of their referencing skills, with referencing often considered a mechanistic skill and not worthy of attention. This paper argues that, rather, referencing is an area of practice imbued with issues of power and identity and that the difficulties students experience in this area are leading them to exhibit a lack of agency – ultimately, a form of educational ‘frailty’. Worried about plagiarism and confused by feedback, rather than developing the independent research skills we would wish, students look for instruction, and report feelings of anxiety. These themes are explored using questionnaires and interviews with a small number of undergraduate students. Based on the findings, this article concludes by making recommendations for widening our understanding of the difficulties students encounter, the need for further discussion and potentially greater scaffolding and support.

The emerging literature related to feedback literacy has hitherto focused primarily on students’ engagement with feedback, and yet an analysis of academics’ feedback literacy is also of interest to those seeking to understand effective strategies to engage with feedback. Data from concept map-mediated interviews and reflections, with a team of six colleagues, surface academics’ responses to receiving critical feedback via scholarly peer review. Our findings reveal that feedback can be visceral and affecting, but that academics employ a number of strategies to engage with this process. This process can lead to actions that are both instrumental, enabling academics to more effectively ‘play the game’ of publication, as well as to learning that is more positively and holistically developmental. This study thus aims to open up a dialogue with colleagues internationally about the role of feedback literacy, for both academics and students. By openly sharing our own experiences we seek to normalise the difficulties academics routinely experience whilst engaging with critical feedback, to share the learning and strategies which can result from peer review feedback, and to explore how academics may occupy a comparable role to students who also receive evaluation of their work.

Background: Concept maps have been used extensively for developing higher order thinking skills and are considered significant artefacts in constructing understanding in educational contexts. Increasingly, they are being used as a tool to chart a way towards ‘new understanding’ rather than recording ‘accepted knowledge’. This study is set in an academic development department in a UK higher education institution in which previous research projects have utilised concept map-mediated interviews as a tool in data collection. This paper reports on the relationship between the process of the concept map-mediated interview and the resulting concept map and focuses on the talk during the interview process. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the co-constructed nature of the concept map which resulted from the concept map interview. The research question was: how is the concept map accomplished through and in the interview talk? Sample: The three researchers and authors of this paper are colleagues in an Academic Development department in a UK higher education institution. The focus of the interview was to probe the research perspective underpinning the practice of one of the authors. Design and methods: The study used a qualitative, unstructured concept map interview. The aim of the interview was to elicit an understanding of one of the authors’ research frame and how it influenced her work with staff. The interviewer noted labels on post-it notes during the interview which both participants then arranged on a sheet of paper. The interview lasted 36 minutes and was transcribed verbatim. Sociocultural discourse analysis was used to examine the trajectory of concepts in the interview talk. Results: The results highlight the collaborative nature of the interview and how the concept map is co-constructed through the interview talk. We demonstrate how the concept map is co-constructed through and in the dialogue between interviewer and interviewee, not as a result of the interview. Results also reveal how the context of acquaintance interviews impacts on the co-construction and thus the resulting concept map. Conclusions: A concept map which results from such an interview is co-constructed with the interviewer playing a pivotal role in the talk and the mapping. The implications are that the interview as research tool needs to be recognised as a site for the co-construction of ideas and perspectives. Concept maps resulting from interviews need to be recognised as co-constructed. A further implication for research methods is that the transcripts from the interview itself can be used as data to provide a richer understanding of the concept map.