Recognising the importance of identity in the development of academics' pedagogical beliefs and web-enhanced teaching practices

Abstract

This paper draws on the construct of identity, grounded in the situated learning theory of community of practice, to better understand the connection between academic teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and their practices in web-enhanced teaching. It is our contention that lecturers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices are intimately connected to their continually negotiated identities as members of multiple communities of practice. Data is drawn from a longitudinal study of professional degree academics and utilises a lens of identity to explain how those academics’ pedagogical beliefs and practices in utilising web-enhanced technologies are shaped. A key finding in this research is that the teaching academics’ pedagogy was influenced by a process of identity conflict as educators and professional practitioners.