Framed autoethnography as an approach for uncovering pedagogic frailty

Abstract

AbstractPedagogic frailty has been proposed as a concept that can be helpful in bringing a number of key ideas into simultaneous focus, with the aim of helping to integrate elements of teaching quality enhancement within a university (Kinchin, 2015; 2016). These elements include the relationship between personal values and the instructional discourse; the relationship between the discipline and its pedagogy; the nature of the research-teaching nexus; the proximity of the locus of control to the teaching environment. Key to the application of pedagogic frailty is the personal appreciation (at the level of the individual academic) of the ways in which the elements of this concept are connected. This must acknowledge the emotional aspects of teaching and learning and also the rich, subjective nature of personal professional identities within this context (Clegg, 2008). We have therefore investigated the potential of autoethnography (e.g. Anderson, 2006; Chang, 2008; Denshire, 2014) as an approach to uncovering the rich complexity of pedagogic frailty perceived at the level of the individual. We have combined this with a concept mapping approach (Novak, 2010) to frame the autoethnographic narrative and to help the autoethnographer to focus on connections between elements as these connections will determine how the framework functions in practice. This combined approach helps overcome the difficulties associated with writing about academia from the insider’s perspective (Archer, 2008). This paper offers reflections upon this process as a method for professional development of university teachers and institutional quality enhancement. Keywords: Autoethnography; concept mapping; faculty development; quality enhancement