You're not alone! I wrote a chapter on this "The importance of a mentor in overcoming the ‘Jack of All Trades, Master of None’ syndrome. In The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner in Higher Education Studies in Third Space Professionalism. doi.org/10.4324/9781... #LTHEchat

A6 #LTHEchat Micro‑solidarity: Small, Consistent Acts of Mutual Care Large structural change is slow, but micro‑solidarity is immediate. • Check in on colleagues after difficult meetings. • Share resources, templates, or teaching materials to reduce duplicated labour. • Celebrate small wins …

A6 #LTHEchat celebrating each others' disciplines. Thank you to the artists and historians bringing engineering to life at Bristol Light Festival tonight #BLF26

Huge thanks to @2standandstare.bsky.social for the great questions See you next week - same time, same place! #LTHEchat

I had a colleague encouraging me to crack on and write the paper about some learning we had developed and design considerations of the learning. Was nice to have someone nudging me

A6 #LTHEchat celebrating what we achieve, even what might seem little wins. Sharing thoughts, learnings, opportunities. Have snacks. Cuddle a pet!

A6 Keep the spark despite the gloom, explore, learn, share, be curious and creative, listen/observe students and be responsive and adaptive in our approach #LTHEchat

A6 1. Understanding the difference between empathy and sympathy. 2. Retaining a sense of humour and highly developed sense of the absurd. 3. Never underestimate the power of small acts of kindness. #lthechat

A5 Remembering life is mostly absurd, roles are sometimes quite arbitrary. Curiosity and humility are powerful when moving into a different role or context. I ask endless questions. My last switch, I sketched cartoons to process the different narratives I was hearing from people #LTHEchat

#LTHEchat A5 music - especially Malvina Reynolds 'I don't mind failing' "I'll stay down here with the raggedy crew 'Cause getting up there means stepping on you"

A6 Through different CoP and providing space to share the ups and downs, opportunities for learning together and supportive collaborations, giving time to listen and care. #LTHEchat

Q6: How can we best support ourselves and each other in the current UK HE context? Reply with A6 #LTHEChat and your response

A5 Understanding that identity – professional or otherwise - is not immutable or linear. Maybe for some it is but for me it’s been a career of multiple, non-linear shifts and changes. The only constant, I suppose, is a quest for creativity and a sense of achievement. #lthechat

A5 #LTHEchat • good people • good people • good people • cats • #LTHEchat • Weird sense of humour 😆😆😆

Q5 What has helped you with a change of professional identity? Reply with A5 #LTHEChat and your response

A3 For me its a combination of a love for teaching and supporting peers as an academic developer to teach, reflect on this and engage in SoTL activities to share their practice and the enhancements/innovative approaches for the benefit of others. #LTHEchat

Q4 Has your professional identity changed over time? Reply with A4 #LTHEChat and your response

A3 #LTHEchat working with students - I do really enjoy teaching, but being able to co-create projects with students and sit alongside them in forums etc. is so rewarding and why I do it!

Q3 What drives / determines your sense of professional identity? Reply with A3 #LTHEChat and your response

A2 #LTHEchat leads to #Discombobulation Whitchurch (2008, 2012) on “third space” professionals • Land (2004) on the “in-between” identity of academic developers • McDonald & Stockley (2008) on role ambiguity • Debowski (2014) on the invisibility of educational development work

Q2 How does this relate to your professional identity? Reply with A2 #LTHEChat and your response

A1 #LTHEchat my academic identity is real and aligns BUT • Being positioned as service staff rather than academic partners • Having expertise questioned or undervalued • Being excluded from strategic conversations about teaching • Being treated as “support” rather than “colleagues”

Check. Adapt. A useful resource for teachers shared by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) "Many misunderstand, so pause and fix. Some are unsure, so adapt support. Most understand, so extend and support."

Q1 Does your role align with your official job title? Does it matter? Reply with A1 #LTHEChat and your response

Welcome to this evening’s chat hosted by @2standandstare.bsky.social Are you ready? Let’s get started... #LTHEchat

For those new to #LTHEchat we will precede questions with Q1, Q2, Q3 etc. To answer a question, simply click reply and add A1, A2, A3 etc followed by your answer, and include #LTHEchat, anywhere within your answer. Feel free to repost Qs so that your followers can join in the conversation!

Hello, and welcome to this evening’s #LTHEChat. Here early? Say hello and introduce yourself and tell us where you're joining from 😀! #LTHEchat

If you're joining #LTHEchat today and are new to Bluesky Flutterchats this guide lthechat.com/lthechat-help/ will explain all.

This week’s #LTHEchat will be starting in 10 minutes. We will be discussing Shifting sands and professional identities in Higher Education with @2standandstare.bsky.social Still time to read through the blogpost

#LoveLD - love #creativeHE and love this: For five years, we’ve been asking: Why reimagine education? Because how we learn changes how we live. Join us! re-imagining.education Feb 26 – March 1, 2026 | Online

#LoveLD How we teach and how we learn matters! After our Stories of Hope book, www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.116..., we wanted to keep going. So, I am joining the Re-imagining Education Conference 5.0 Cycles of Change Feb 26 – March 1, 2026 | Online 🔗 re-imagining.education #EdChat #LTHEchat

#FORRT (Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training) now has a #games portal where you can find games to help you teach research skills and also add your own #Games4Research. Open Research Games Portal forrt.org/games/ #edtech #openResearch #openScience #HE #ResearcherDevelopment

#LoveLD - love #LTHEchat on Wednesday 25th February at 8pm GMT in Blue Sky with guest Samantha Ahern to discuss “Shifting sands and professional identities in Higher Education”: lthechat.com/2026/02/20/l... #EdChat #studychat

#LoveLD My current favourite T&L blogpost is John Spencer and The Power of Silent Discussion: spencereducation.com/silent-discu... - a fabulous deep dive into active learning that embraces the power of the silent moments, too. #LTHEchat #EdChat #studychat

#LTHEchat Bigly thanks to @jacquithijm.bsky.social for the great questions - and to everybody for the thought-provoking answers. It's been a great night again folks! This matters!

#LTHEchat A3 Anonymous marking has always been a problem for me - how can you give the best personalised feedback if you do not know who you are talking to?

A6 #LTHEchat the honest answer is to be true to yourself and find your #tribe and be kind to others and yourself. HEIs are big ships that become impersonal despite good intentions.

A6 #LTHEchat We ‘matter’ when the institution stops treating care as invisible labor—academia often rewards metrics over mentorship. If I matter, it’s because people—not systems—choose to notice the work that actually sustains the community.

A1. It will reduce the professional distance between students and lecturers. Students may perceive us as more approachable, build trust, and feel more confident sharing things with us. But not all students are keen on this. We need to understand the context of each HE institution #LTHEChat

A2. There is no magic solution application to all student, but knowing their names, being approachable to answer their questions, using examples and communication channels that they are be more familiar, may reduce a professional distance and creates meaning #LTHEChat

Q6: Do you feel that you matter to students and colleagues? What makes you feel that way? Reply with A6 #LTHEChat and your response

I *did* break myself during the Lockdown, trying to keep students sane, learn entirely new skills, change courses to enable online learning, provide so much pastoral care, etc. etc. This entitled consumer behaviour is deeply insulting to all the work staff were made to do, and those lawfirms are 🤬

A5 using a platform that is accessible and inclusive for all to engage. From a VLE perspective you can have Discussion boards for introductions..(you model, respond and encourage) Asynchronous opportunities to enable all to participate. Enabling contributions to eg page content #lthechat

A5 Checking right at the start of the online session 'how are you feeling?' Signposts to share one to one or to support that may help in times of need. Time for students (or staff) to chat/discuss/brainstorm/interact #LTHEchat

Also, if those are for someone leading/facilitating, encourage students to do the middle two too. Refer to online contributions (Discussion Board, Padlet etc) when you all come together, online or in person #LTHEChat

A5 Providing space and time for listening and talking. Making sure student voice is heard. Giving students choice, respecting their preferences. Being respectful to each other (it goes both ways). All this creates a safe learning space and a sense of belonging to it. #LTHEchat

A5. Ask students questions they can all answer honestly; normalise engagement without jeopardy. See great work where students share recs, quick thoughts, reflections etc. relevant to a week's reading. It doesn't have to be forced or for credit if it's "just what you do on this course". #LTHEchat

A3 oh god flashback to when some students introduced themselves in conversation as their student number not their name 😭, having been conditioned to do so because email addresses were student numbers only so staff were always asking #LTHEchat

A5 #LTHEchat Online, presence must be performed because it isn’t automatically visible. • Post weekly check‑ins or short “here’s what to expect this week” messages • Respond with warmth and specificity • Use reaction tools (likes, emojis) = read contributions. • Be explicit about your availability

A5 #LTHEChat I think discussions like this are invaluable. Through your questions, I feel like my point of view is valued, and I like that we're all coming from different disciplines and sides of Higher Ed and having a cross-cultural conversation.