The Scholarship Committee is excited to announce registration for the Spring 2023 POD Scholarly Reads.

Theme: Educational Developer Burnout and Well-Being

As much as instructors and students have experienced a shift in patterns of engagement during the past several years (e.g., Mintz 2022; McMurtrie 2022), educational developers themselves have also experienced extraordinary stresses, leading to concerns about their burnout and well-being. This semester, we examine two recent articles describing and analyzing the threats and opportunities these stresses and concerns might present, as well as a conversation with authors currently engaged in cutting-edge research. 

Please note that we’ve changed our meeting times to allow for greater ease of participation.

 

Friday February 24, 3:00-4:00 PM EST 

Kolomitro, K., and Kenny, N., and Sheffield, S. (2019). A call to action: exploring and responding to educational developers’ workplace burnout and well-being in higher education. International Journal for Academic Development. 25. 1-14. doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1705303 

There is a gap in research exploring stress, burnout, and well-being within the context of educational development. The purpose of this study was to examine the concepts of burnout and workplace well-

being among educational developers across the international landscape. Thematic analysis from the survey responses (n = 210) revealed characteristics around four themes that both enhanced or hindered participants’ sense of well-being: a) colleagues, b) manager/director, c) institution/senior administration, and d) workplace. Our findings highlight the need to further amplify conversations related to burnout, as well as examine and promote workplace well-being for educational developers.

 

Tuesday March 28, 2:00-3:00 PM EST

Landy, K., Flaming, A. L., Tapp, S., & Kaldor, E. C. (2022), Contexts for agency: A framework for managing educational development work. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 41(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.445

Often working in multiple roles and operating at multiple scales, educational developers deal with layered tensions and a complex context that can be difficult for an individual or team to reconcile. In May 2020, the authors participated in a cross-institutional scholarly project, the Pandemic Educational Development Research Collaborative (PEDRC), designed to explore the impact of multiple crises (e.g., the COVID-19

pandemic and our collective civil and political unrest) and associated large-scale instructional changes on educational developers and their work. The Contexts for Agency framework reflects the project’s emergent theme that the circumstances in which we act have considerable influence on our decision-making. Specifically, the framework identifies identity, institution, and impact as critical contexts for the decisions educational developers make. The authors highlight multiple benefits to analyzing what we know—and what we don’t know—about our respective contexts and offer suggestions for applying the framework using a guide for structured reflection.

 

Monday April 24, 1:00-2:00 PM EST

Elue, C. & Howard, L. (2023). “Care for Faculty in Challenging Times: Considerations for Exploring Hope and Healing.” 

  • Listen to the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast episode “Unpacking Resilience & Grief,” in which Bonni Stachowiak interviews Drs. Elue, Howard, and Jordan (44 minutes)
  • Read the short article based on their research, “Care for Faculty in Challenging Times: Considerations for Exploring Hope and Healing” (email [email protected] for a copy)

As educational developers have continued to adapt and respond to the priorities of their institutions, there is a need to understand how the past three years have impacted our capacity to engage in our work. Specifically, there is merit in understanding how framing our educational development work through a resilience lens impacts those we are called to serve. We must also account for how the intersections of our identities and campus culture shape and inform our individual and collective experiences in higher education in the past three years. Our research seeks to contribute to an “ethic of care” (Noddings, 1984) in educational development by providing qualitative data that identities emerging themes in reaction to educational developers’ experience of “resilience”—both as an internal and external construct—throughout the pandemic and concurrent social, racial, and political turmoil. Ultimately, our goal is to reveal future directions for “supporting supporters” as we work toward a more equitable, sustainable future in higher education. As this research is still in progress, we are still identifying the preparatory readings and/or resources. Prep materials will be provided well in advance of April 24.

 

POD Scholarly Reads

What is it? 

POD Scholarly Reads is a professional development initiative of the POD Scholarship Committee that aims to:

  • support POD members in meaningful engagement with scholarly literature and
  • provide POD members with low-investment, ongoing opportunities to participate in a scholarly community

How does it work?

Anyone can join the POD Scholarly Reads group, which meets monthly to discuss a scholarly article during a 60-minute Zoom meeting run by the Scholarship Committee. We are often fortunate enough to be joined by the authors of the article, and the group is a great way to engage with research, researchers, and POD members from a variety of institutions.

Our readings focus on one topic for a 3-month series (see previous topics below). Topics and readings are chosen based upon POD member suggestions. Commit to one article or the 3-month series, the choice is yours!

During the Zoom session, the Scholarship Committee facilitator introduces the session, and if present, gives the author of the article a chance to share a bit about the origins of the study. The facilitator then breaks up the larger group into smaller (4-5 participants) breakout rooms to discuss the article. Some of the questions that drive the small group discuss include:

  • What are the primary strengths and weaknesses of this study, in terms of its design?
  • How does this study connect with other work you may be involved in (e.g., questions your faculty have, programs you offer, initiatives at your institution, the broader landscape of higher education)?
  • What else do you want to learn about as a result of reading this study?
  • What questions do you have for the author?

After the small group discussion, the facilitator brings the group back together to ask the author questions.

Who participates? 

We typically have anywhere from 15-20 participants per Zoom session, which include:

  • Scholarship committee members, including:
    • Heather Dwyer, Tufts University
    • Chris Kilgore, UT-Knoxville
    • Kate Hamilton, Harvard University
    • Isabeau Iqbal, University of British Columbia
  • Article author(s) and/or researchers in the same field as author(s)
  • POD members and faculty members (who may or may not be POD members) from a wide variety of institutions

How do I register for the next session?

For more information and to register, please go to: POD Scholarly Reads Registration. 

What do participants read? 

Recent Patterns of (Dis)Engagement (Fall 2022) 

  • October 4: Hensley, L. C, Iaconelli, R., & Wolters, C. A. (2022). “This weird time we’re in”: How a sudden change to remote education impacted college students’ self-regulated learning. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 54:SS203-S218. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2021.1916414 
  • November 3: DeFelippo, A. M, & Dee, J. R. (2022). Vitality in the academic workplace: Sustaining professional growth for mid-career faculty. Innovative Higher Education, 47:565-585. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-021-09589-z 
  • November 30: Loi, N. M. & Pryce, N. (2022). The role of mindful self-care in the relationship between emotional intelligence and burnout in university students. The Journal of Psychology, 156(4): 295-309. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2022.2045887

Intergenerational Challenges (Summer 2022)

  • June 7 Grayson, J. P. (2021). “Boomers and Generation Z on campus: Expectations, goals, and experiences.” Canadian Review of Sociology, 58:549-568. https://doi.org/10.1111/cars.12362
  • July 12 Schlee, Regina P., Eveland, Vicki B., and Harich, Katrin R. (2020). “From Millennials to Gen Z: Changes in student attitudes about group projects.” Journal of Education for Business, 95(3):139-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2019.1622501

Students as Partners (SaP) (Spring 2022)

  • February 8: Felten, P., Abbot, S., Kirkwood, J., Long, A., Lubicz-Nawrocka, T., Mercer-Mapstone, L., & Verwoord, R. (2019). Reimagining the place of students in academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 24(2), 192-203. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1594235
  • March 8: Cook-Sather, A., Addy, T. M., DeVault, A., & Litvitskiy, N. (2021). Where Are the Students in Efforts for Inclusive Excellence? Two Approaches to Positioning Students as Critical Partners for Inclusive Pedagogical Practices. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.961
  • April 5: Debelius, M., McGowan, S., Maciel, A., Reid, C., & Eason, A. (2021). “Things are different now” a student, staff, and faculty course design institute collaboration. In Thurston, T. N., Lundstrom, K., & González, C. (Eds.), Resilient pedagogy: Practical teaching strategies to overcome distance, disruption, and distraction (pp. 272-288). Utah State University. https://doi.org/10.26079/a516-fb24. 

Alternative Approaches in Assessment: Beyond Ungrading (Fall 2021)

  • October 12: Montenegro, E., & Jankowski, N. A. (2020). A New Decade for Assessment: Embedding Equity into Assessment Praxis. Occasional Paper No. 42. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED608774
  • November 1: Buckmiller, T., Peters, R., & Kruse, J. (2017). Questioning points and percentages: Standards-based grading (SBG) in higher education. College Teaching, 65(4), 151-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2017.1302919
  • December 7: Quintana, R., & Quintana, C. (2020). When classroom interactions have to go online: The move to specifications grading in a design course. Information and Learning Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-04-2020-0119

Ungrading (Summer 2021)

  • July 6:  Guberman, Daniel (2021). “Student Perceptions of an Ungraded Course.” Teaching and Learning Inquiry 9(1). https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.9.1.8
  • August 3:  Martin, Travis L.; Winslow, Matthew P.; Gremp, Michelle A.; Korson, Stacey J.; Bedetti, Gaby; McMahan, Ellen Hutcheson; Stumbo, David; Short, Elaina; and Morrow, Holdyn (2021). “Ungrading Across the Disciplines: Reflections of a Professional Learning Community.” Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings. 7. https://encompass.eku.edu/pedagogicon/2020/specialaudiences/7 

Centering Underrepresented Experiences in Higher Education (Spring 2021)

Prepared in Collaboration with the POD Diversity Committee

COVID’s Impact on Students, Faculty, and Educational Developers (Fall 2020)

  • December 1 (educational developer perspectives): POD Network members Lindsay Wheeler and Eric Kaldor are leading a collaborative Scholarship of Educational Development research project to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic and large-scale instructional changes in higher education have impacted educational developers and their work. They will join us to share some of the preliminary findings from their work.

Student Evaluations of Teaching (Spring 2020)

  • February 4: NEW! We are going to change it up and listen to an episode of Doug McKee and Edward O’Neill’s Teach Better podcast with Betsy Barre, focused on an overview of the student evaluation literature: http://teachbetter.co/blog/2018/03/22/tbp-episode-72/
  • March 3: Linse, A. R. (2017). Interpreting and using student ratings data: Guidance for faculty serving as administrators and on evaluation committees. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 54, 94-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2016.12.004
  • April 7: Peterson, D. A., Biederman, L. A., Andersen, D., Ditonto, T. M., & Roe, K. (2019). Mitigating gender bias in student evaluations of teaching. PloS one, 14(5), e0216241. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216241

Imposter Syndrome (Fall 2019)

  • Walton, G. M., & Brady, S. T. (in press). The social-belonging intervention. In G. M. Walton & A. J. Crum (Eds.) Handbook of Wise Interventions: How Social-Psychological Insights Can Help Solve Problems, Guilford Press: New York, NY.
  • Rudenga, K. J., & Gravett, E. O. (2019). Impostor Phenomenon in Educational Developers. To Improve the Academy, 38(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1002/tia2.20092
  • Hutchins, H. M. (2015). Outing the imposter: A study exploring imposter phenomenon among higher education faculty. New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, 27(2), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/nha3.20098

SoED and Technology (Summer 2019)

  • Stephanie Vie (2016). “What’s Going On?: Challenges and Opportunities for Social Media Use in the Writing Classroom” Journal of Faculty Development, 29, no. 2
  • Kayla Morehead, John Dunlosky, Katherine Rawson (2019). “How Much Mightier Is the Pen than the Keyboard for Note-Taking? A Replication and Extension of Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014)” Educational Psychology Review, 31(3), 753-780. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09468-2
  • Ashley N. Castleberry et al. (2018). “5-Minute University: A Description and Discussion of 5-Minute Faculty Teaching Training Videos” Journal of Faculty Development, 30, no. 2.

Innovative Assessment (Spring 2019)

  • Sarah Boesdorfer et al. (2018) “Emphasizing Learning: Using Standards-Based Grading in a Large Nonmajors’ General Chemistry Survey Course” Journal of Chemical Education, 95(8), 1291-1300. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00251
  • Deborah S. Meizlish, Mary C. Wright, Joseph Howard, & Matthew L. Kaplan (2017), “Measuring the impact of a new faculty program using institutional data,” International Journal for Academic Development, 23(2), 72-85. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2017.1364644
  • Carol Hurney et al. (2016) “The Faculty Learning Outcome Assessment Framework” Journal of Faculty Development, 30, no.2.

Resistance to Active Learning (Fall 2018)

Diversity and Inclusion (Summer 2018)

  • David A. Green & Deandra Little (2016). “Family portrait: a profile of educational developers around the world”, International Journal for Academic Development, 21(2), 135-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2015.1046875
  • China Jenkins & Mary Alfred (2018). “Understanding the motivation and transformation of White culturally responsive professors” Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 24(1), 81-99. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477971417738793
  • Gregory Walton & Geoffrey Cohen (2007). “A Question of Belonging: Race, Social Fit, and Achievement” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 82. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.1.82