How Conceptions and Experiences of Design Shape the Development of Academic Developers’ Professional Practice: A Case Study

Abstract

The focus of this case study is to explicate the differences and commonalities in the 'meaning' and 'doing' of design in the context of our individual professional practice as academic developers at an Australian university. The article reports on a qualitative inquiry that examines the implicit learning, tacit knowledge and expertise development in designing educational intervention programs. Implicit learning involves the unconscious learning of patterns and objects, which leads to the development of tacit knowledge. Individual interviews, written responses and a focus group were used to collect data, which was analyzed using two methodological approaches. A phenomenographic approach was used to understand conceptions of 'design' and a phenomenological approach was used to examine the essence of our individual experiences as designers. The article concludes that the fusion of these qualitative approaches can help reveal the shared dimensions and components of design thinking and processes. The study extends our understanding of 'design' influences on academic development practices and has implications for the development of professional learning programs.