The Advancing Academic Development project was initiated in recognition that, in Australia, there is currently no systematic professional development offered to Academic Developers (ADs) and there is no organisation of ADs, such as operates in the UK and North America. As a consequence, individual ADs must seek out and create their own professional development opportunities and networks.
Therefore, professional development experiences are varied and sometimes piecemeal. Importantly, because they are individually constructed, they are not benchmarked, and nor are they usually designed to meet objective professional standards. This project was initiated to scope out the potential demand and support for facilitated professional development activities, and to develop and test an initial organised opportunity for networking and professional development of Australian Academic Developers.
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