LAUSR

The theme of this edition is about relationships and partnerships in academic development in a variety of contexts, problematizing some sticking points. From building the capacity of educational leaders in faculties, to stepping in to support visiting international academics in resolving the tensions of border-crossing, to probing threshold concepts and finding care and kindness in learning communities: this compilation gets to the heart of the multifaceted academic developer’s role. The creation of communities for connection, communication, and caring is a central but often implicit thread in academic development. In a nutshell, academic developers provide opportunities for faculty to share, develop, and learn about teaching to enhance student learning. The facilitation of interpersonal engagement takes many shapes and forms, but no matter how academic developers seek to build community, the promise of transformation in teaching, learning and student engagement persists – yet remains a challenge. The articles here examine how academic developers bring faculty together, underscoring the importance of faculty connections. The context for faculty engagement varies. Authors here reflect on the value of faculty partnering with students, educational leadership development, academic developers partnering with faculty, and the value of academics and developers connecting with one another. The mainstay of these connections is building the capacity, courage and capability of academics to teach well, to the benefit of students, and increasingly in partnership with them. Fields, Kenny and Mueller examine building educational leadership capacity through an academic development programme in a Canadian university. Their study identifies five characteristics of leadership from interviews with 11 educational leaders, several of which signal the significance of relationships – affective qualities, mentoring and empowering colleagues. The participants benefited from a program which enabled innovation, exploring their leadership identities, and belonging to an interdisciplinary community, commenting specifically on the value of ‘informal networking, partnershipbuilding, and collaboration within and across the disciplines’ (p. 228). The article demonstrates that informal and local leaders are vital actors in bringing faculty together around teaching and learning and SoTL. Similarly, Smart et al. show the value of professional conversations for teacher development in an article about an alternative approach to benchmarking teaching to achieve Fellowship of the UK’s Higher Education Academy. Traditionally UK Higher Education Academy Fellowships are achieved through written reflections. Here the authors showcase providing a choice between written or oral submissions, and articulate some of the benefits of peer professional dialogues. While the authors note that faculty choice between the two approaches is important, they reflect on the inherent INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT 2019, VOL. 24, NO. 3, 215–217 https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2019.1631618