Keywords
academic developmentmediating tools
instructional consulting
peer consulting
neutrality
higher education
Academic Development
Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching
Higher Education Administration
Higher Education and Teaching
Instructional Media Design
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http://works.bepress.com/gail_rathbun/1Abstract
Academic developers are often positioned as intermediaries who wield value-neutral tools—language, models, and techniques—in service of decidedly non-neutral institutional goals. We challenge the value of perpetuating the ideal of the neutrality of academic developers and their tools by examining the ways in which our resources and approaches produce imbalances of control, power, and authority in a consulting relationship. We suggest that the values embedded within the practices of academic development lead developers, and the people they help, to act inauthentically. By recognizing the improbability of neutrality in academic development work, the authors seek to open the way to constructive reflection, intentional practice, and ethical consulting choices.Date
2012-08-01Type
textIdentifier
oai:works.bepress.com:gail_rathbun-1001http://works.bepress.com/gail_rathbun/1