This paper presents a quasi-experimental evaluation of a required, teaching-focused, new faculty program at a large research university. The study makes use of institutional data, including student evaluations of teaching and faculty participation in educational development activities, which are available on many campuses yet rarely used in…

Academic development that supports the enactment of positive psychology practices through student-faculty pedagogical partnership can increase faculty confidence and capacity in their first year in a new institution. When student partners practice affirmation and encouragement of strengths-based growth, processes of faculty acclimation and…

As pressures on new academic staff members increase and change, academic developers need to find different ways of working with them. This paper offers for discussion a new way of supporting early career academics in their negotiation of liminality, the betwixt and between space separating old and new roles. We call this innovative approach…

Engaging in informal activities, like conversations with colleagues, is one way that professionals can learn within workplace contexts. Informal conversations present opportunities for academics to learn about teaching. The current study investigated academics' experience of informal conversations, and their experience of the relations between…

Early career academia is a challenging time, particularly as academics are facing increasing pressures to excel across a range of areas. Boyer argued for the "true scholar" versed in the overlapping areas of scholarship in research, teaching, integration and engagement. Academic developers have an important role to play in assisting the…

This article reports on a study of academics who observed their colleagues' teaching at a large research-intensive university in Australia. These academics had completed peer observation as part of a foundations programme designed for those new to teaching or new to the university. Survey responses and interview transcripts form the basis of an…

There is limited research into the effectiveness of non-accredited foundational courses for new academic staff. An ongoing issue is that of attention and anxiety overload in the critical first period of employment when the challenges of establishing oneself in a new collegial environment are most acute. Approaches to addressing this issue may be…

This article explores the impact of a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education (PG Cert.) on new lecturers, appointed for their professional expertise. It focuses on staff perceptions of acculturation into the discourses of university learning and teaching. Drawing on a literature review which reveals (at best) ambivalent evidence…

Communities of practice are generally known as places of engagement, learning and development. The current research aims to develop understanding of Estonian early-career university teachers' learning and developing possibilities as teachers in the community of practice (in the university). This paper is based on narrative interviews of 25…

This paper is based on research into academic identities amongst early-career academics in a UK post-1992, teaching-orientated university. Literature around academic identity suggests five major academic roles: teaching, research, management, writing and networking. However, this appears to be a picture of an established mid-career academic in a…

Although there are programs to prepare doctoral students for "how" to teach in post-secondary education, the neophyte academic must still adjust to the specific context of a new position. This transition is often characterized by multiple adjustments and corresponding anxiety of moving from the familiar role of graduate student to a new…

This paper reports an investigation of "transformation narratives" emerging from early career academics' reflective writing. The pieces of writing analysed describe self-initiated teaching development activities embedded in the early career academics' practice. Using a transformative learning framework, the analysis reveals the following…

Interviews and a survey were conducted to assess both the structure and content of mentoring and advising provided to early-career faculty in geography. Results indicated three broad conditions for structuring effective mentoring: (1) regular, proactive meetings; (2) engaging diverse groups of individuals within and outside of a department; and…