Conversations to Change Teaching

An essential text for all academics highlighting the importance of staff having focused conversations about teaching, to build individual and team capacity and to bring about institutional change. 

This book highlights the importance of academic staff having focused conversations about teaching.  The emphasis is on using this approach to build individual and team capacity and to bring about institutional change. It emphasises the distributed nature of expertise in teaching which exists at all levels in universities and how conversation can be harnessed to develop and share this.  Drawing on research related to dialogue, coaching, communities of practice and building learning organisations, the text identifies simple yet effective ways to engage in learning conversations, develop educational practice, and achieve institutional goals.

Critical Practice in Higher Education provides a scholarly and practical entry point for academics into key areas of higher education practice. Each book in the series explores an individual topic in depth, providing an overview in relation to current thinking and practice, informed by recent research. The series will be of interest to those engaged in the study of higher education, those involved in leading learning and teaching or working in academic development, and individuals seeking to explore particular topics of professional interest. Through critical engagement, this series aims to promote an expanded notion of being an academic – connecting research, teaching, scholarship, community engagement and leadership – while developing confidence and authority.

Chapter 1 Why conversations to change teaching?

Chapter 2 Conversations around peer review

Chapter 3 Developing collegial conversations

Chapter 4 Creating and sustaining group conversations

Chapter 5 Conversations with students about teaching

Chapter 6 Building reflective conversation in assessment of teaching

Chapter 7 Leading conversations to change teaching