Dr Sue Morón-García and colleagues pick up Article of the Year award
An academic from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has won an international award for her research into the role of academic developers working in higher education.
Dr Sue Morón-García has won the 2015 International Journal for Academic Development Article of the Year prize along with her two colleagues Dr Barbara Kensington-Miller and Dr Joanna Renc-Roe from the University of Auckland and Central European University respectively. The trio were given the award for their research article ‘The chameleon on a tartan rug: adaptations of three academic developers’ professional identities,’ which looks at the experiences of academic developers in universities and what sustains and hinders their work.
Academic developers work as ‘critical friends’ in the academy supporting teaching and learning. Their work supports that of the discipline specific academics by taking a scholarly and systematic approach to help enhance and improve practice. Their remit includes teaching on formal teaching development programmes, providing bespoke workshops on aspects of teaching and learning such as curriculum development, assessment, technology enhanced learning, embedding employability, as well as guidance on professional recognition. They research and evaluate the impact of teaching and learning interventions and their work informs institutional strategy on teaching and learning.
"The field of academic development research is relatively new and not always properly understood so I hope that this award raises the profile of academic developers in higher education."
Commenting on her award win, Dr Sue Morón-García, who is the Director of the UCLan Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CELT), said: “I’m thrilled that our article has been recognised above all others that appeared in the International Journal for Academic Development journal during 2015. The field of academic development research is relatively new and not always properly understood so I hope that this award raises the profile of academic developers in higher education.
“I’m very proud to win this award along with my colleagues Joanna and Barbara, though it is bittersweet as Joanna sadly passed away earlier this year. Her Centre has accepted the award in her honour.”
The judging panel praised the article for “exploring the dilemmas experienced by people working in the field of academic development across the world [and being] sensitive to the different kinds of institutional contexts in which we work.”
The award was presented at the bi-annual conference of the International Consortium for Educational Development in Cape Town where Dr Morón-García and Dr Kensington-Miller were also presenting a paper continuing this work.
Download a copy of "The chameleon on a tartan rug: adaptations of three academic developers’ professional identities.”
