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Disciplinary knowledge lies at the heart of academic work. However, connecting academics' disciplinary knowledge to their professional development as teachers has been a longstanding challenge for (research-intensive) universities. This is reflected in criticism of the practices that aim to support the professional development of university teachers. In order to create better connections, a deeper understanding is needed of how academics' disciplinary knowledge relates to the development of their teaching. In this paper, we therefore aim to advance theoretical insights about how academics' disciplinary knowledge connects to their professional development as university teachers. We do so by providing a conceptual analysis of teacher expertise and teacher knowledge perspectives. Literature discussed as part of the teacher expertise perspective provides insights into how knowledge is structured in order to perform teacher tasks. In our discussion of the teacher knowledge perspective, we include bodies of literature about teachers' knowledge base to explore the role of disciplinary knowledge in how to teach and about powerful knowledge to explore the role of disciplinary knowledge in what to teach. Insights from these bodies of literature can, from a teacher knowledge perspective, offer theoretical underpinnings for connecting academics' disciplinary knowledge to their professional development as university teachers. Adaptive expertise and practical knowledge are identified as concepts that include elements of both teacher expertise and teacher knowledge perspectives. Based on the conceptual analysis, we identify and discuss three aspects related to supporting the professional development of university teachers where attention to connection with teachers' disciplinary knowledge is important.

In this study, we aimed to identify how the learning activities elicited in a lesson study project contributed to self-perceived change in supervisors' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Lesson study is a method which combines both professional and educational development. During a lesson study project, teachers collaborate in a team and develop, teach, evaluate, and redesign a research lesson. During the 4-month lesson study project described here, four supervisors designed a protocol for research supervision meetings aimed at enhancing undergraduate students' learning. During the project, they experimented with open questioning and giving positive feedback instead of giving instruction and explanations. A mixed-methods design was used in this study. Data on the supervisors' learning activities and PCK were gathered using learner reports, video-recordings of meetings, and exit interviews. The analyses of these data showed that the lesson study project contributed to the development of the supervisors' PCK on instructional strategies and student understanding. The learning activity that contributed most to these changes was reflecting on their own practice and that of their students.

It is assumed that a programmatic approach to assessment supports students' self-regulated learning (SRL). This study investigated students' perceptions of this assumed support. Using a multiple-case study design, this study examined students' perceptions in two distinct study programmes. In each case, first-year students were enrolled in an assessment programme that was designed in accordance with the principles of programmatic assessment, which integrate both assessment purposes of assessment for learning (AfL) and assessment of learning (AoL). The second-year students in each case were enrolled in an assessment programme with a traditional AoL assessment approach. The findings suggest that in both cases first-year students perceived their assessment programme as more positive for their learning than second-year students. Through a cross-case analysis of students' perceptions of the two assessment programmes, three themes were identified that are essential to support students' SRL: 1) assessment design; 2) assessment as a dialogue; and 3) assessment as an information source. Key aspects of the themes that support or hinder SRL are discussed. The findings of this study highlight the importance of programme-level assessment design to support students in their SRL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supporting academics' initial development as university teachers is important for improving their ability to contribute to high-quality education and for reducing anxiety and stress around teaching. Focusing on tasks experienced as challenging is considered a key principle for organising effective teacher professional development. To apply this principle in practice, more knowledge is needed about the development of novice university teachers' self-efficacy in their teacher tasks. Therefore, this study aims to investigate phases in the development of novice university teachers' self-efficacy. Data were collected amongst 201 novice university teachers at a Dutch research-intensive university and associated university medical centre, using a questionnaire measuring self-efficacy in different teacher tasks. Polytomous Rasch analyses were performed on novice university teachers' self-efficacy scores, both across and within teacher tasks. Results suggested three developmental phases in novice university teachers' self-efficacy across teacher tasks: (1) development in 'teaching and supporting learning', (2) development in 'assessment and feedback' and 'educational design', (3) development in 'educational leadership and management' and 'educational scholarship and research'. Two or three phases for the development of self-efficacy were found within each of these teacher tasks. These results expand our knowledge of the development of academics' self-efficacy related to specific teacher tasks. They also provide suggestions for how pedagogic training and workplace learning may be shaped in such a way that they focus novice university teachers' learning on teacher tasks that are difficult but not overchallenging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of generic skills for life scientists is commonly recognised by employers, graduates, and higher education institutes. As it remains unclear which generic skills are relevant for different life sciences career paths, this study aims to give an overview to inform and inspire universities and students, by analysing 179 Dutch entry-level job postings. We deductively coded nine career paths, namely: life sciences industry, PhD-student, quality compliance, research-related, sales & business, communication/education, information technology, consultancy, and policy. We coded generic skills using an adapted categorisation consisting of 46 generic skills within four categories, which were: self, others, information, and tasks. The descriptive statistics and cluster analysis results showed that although language, communication, and collaboration were the most requested skills, differences in requested generic skills between career paths and cluster composition were observed as well. We concluded that although some generic skills are important in general, other generic skills are relevant for specific life sciences career paths. To educate skilled life scientists, universities should consider the flexible integration of these generic skills in their life sciences programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]