Breaking the isolation: A study of university teachers’ collective development

Abstract

Today many university teachers attend competency development courses as individuals. In this paper we consider collegial and collective competency development. We examine what role collegial peer review could play in developing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for university teachers. The paper is based on a case study that explores how a group of university teachers experienced collegial development and peer review. Based on the teachers’ account, we identify how the activity helped them break the isolation they experienced at their department, enabled them to navigate the landscape of different courses and strengthened their roles as teacher, e.g., through collaboration with colleagues. We also present some frictions and tensions that were reported. Based on the case study, we propose that professional development in academia could benefit from acknowledging collegial peer review as an output in its own right.