The Potency of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Empower Constructive Dissenters

Highly regulated work environments for academics, where workloads are pre-determined and then enforced through accepted norms of behaviour within departments, can work to suppress organic collaborative partnerships, which may arise out of need or unexpected opportunities. As a result of restrictive...

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Main Authors: Symons, Christine, Almberg, Leslie, Goh, Elson, McGowan, J.
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Inc 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.herdsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/conference/2012/HERDSA_2012_Symons.pdf
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40119
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author Symons, Christine
Almberg, Leslie
Goh, Elson
McGowan, J.
author_facet Symons, Christine
Almberg, Leslie
Goh, Elson
McGowan, J.
author_sort Symons, Christine
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Highly regulated work environments for academics, where workloads are pre-determined and then enforced through accepted norms of behaviour within departments, can work to suppress organic collaborative partnerships, which may arise out of need or unexpected opportunities. As a result of restrictive work practices where the status quo is often preserved, some academics who wish to engage in more purposeful, innovative teaching and learning practices find themselves as outsiders within their own disciplines. They become, in effect, principled or constructive dissenters. This paper contends that a Community of Practice (CoP) may provide a purposeful environment for constructive dissenters and suggests three broad conditions in which such a community might thrive. These conditions are voluntary membership, a facilitated informal network and interdisciplinary collaboration. We examine the positive impact this CoP has had on our intrinsic motivation, enthusiasm for work, and outcomes for students.
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publishDate 2012
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-401192023-02-07T08:00:04Z The Potency of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Empower Constructive Dissenters Symons, Christine Almberg, Leslie Goh, Elson McGowan, J. constructive dissent communities of practice Interdisciplinary collaboration Highly regulated work environments for academics, where workloads are pre-determined and then enforced through accepted norms of behaviour within departments, can work to suppress organic collaborative partnerships, which may arise out of need or unexpected opportunities. As a result of restrictive work practices where the status quo is often preserved, some academics who wish to engage in more purposeful, innovative teaching and learning practices find themselves as outsiders within their own disciplines. They become, in effect, principled or constructive dissenters. This paper contends that a Community of Practice (CoP) may provide a purposeful environment for constructive dissenters and suggests three broad conditions in which such a community might thrive. These conditions are voluntary membership, a facilitated informal network and interdisciplinary collaboration. We examine the positive impact this CoP has had on our intrinsic motivation, enthusiasm for work, and outcomes for students. 2012 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40119 http://www.herdsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/conference/2012/HERDSA_2012_Symons.pdf Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia, Inc fulltext
spellingShingle constructive dissent
communities of practice
Interdisciplinary collaboration
Symons, Christine
Almberg, Leslie
Goh, Elson
McGowan, J.
The Potency of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Empower Constructive Dissenters
title The Potency of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Empower Constructive Dissenters
title_full The Potency of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Empower Constructive Dissenters
title_fullStr The Potency of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Empower Constructive Dissenters
title_full_unstemmed The Potency of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Empower Constructive Dissenters
title_short The Potency of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Empower Constructive Dissenters
title_sort potency of interdisciplinary collaboration to empower constructive dissenters
topic constructive dissent
communities of practice
Interdisciplinary collaboration
url http://www.herdsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/conference/2012/HERDSA_2012_Symons.pdf
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40119