Strategies for
balancing research
and teaching
DR LIZ SAGE FHEA
CHAIRED BY PROFESSOR JOANNA CHATAWAY
Academic identities
• Preference for working alone
• Specific drivers for following career path –
changed since 1960s
• Attracted to ‘academic lifestyle’
• Autonomy, challenge, intellectual freedom,
pursuing personal interests
(Lindholm, 2004)
Your academic identity
What are your
drivers,
motivations and
beliefs about
academia?
Academic authenticity
• How our drivers, beliefs and fantasies fit our
contexts
• ‘Academics construct multiple identities due to
their membership in several communities at
different levels . . . contributing to an overall . . .
possibly fragmented, academic identity.’
(Kreber, 2010)
‘Versus’ and authenticity
• Different sets of contexts, priorities, beliefs
• ‘Versus’ – fragmentation – direct impact
on work
• Critical reflection – agency – increased
match between ourselves and our contexts
What do you juggle?
Write down the
different tasks that
make up your
research and
teaching activities
– big and small!
Fantasy time is a waste of time
• YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ENOUGH TIME –
GET OVER IT
• Work with what you have, not what you want
• ‘Some solutions will be found in leisurely
sweeps of time, but more commonly, others will
simply have to be perched in the interstices of
our working days’
(Grant and Knowles, 2000)
Perfection is
for special
occasions
• Are other people
contributing to this?
• Is this work at an early
stage?
• Is it really not ready and
usable?
• Remember – good work
rarely feels finished
When does it need to be
perfect?
Look at the tasks
you have listed.
Mark with a * the
tasks where being
perfectionist is
essential.
Liz’s Stats
TASK
Read first three 2000 word UG
essays
Read UG 2000 word essay
TIME
20 mins
10 mins = good essay
15 mins = bad essay
Feedback for 2000 word UG essay 10 mins
Read 30 pages of a book
60 mins
Read a 16 page research article
35 – 45 mins
Write 200 words using research
25 mins
Write 350 words first draft
25 mins
Read and reply to an email
Longer than I planned
What are your stats?
Look at the tasks you have
listed.
Do you know how long it
takes you to complete
these tasks?
Compare your answers
with others on your table.
Evidence-informed practice
LEARN ABOUT YOU
• Stop using guess
work
• Pomodoro technique
• Use evidence to
inform your plans
RESEARCH YOUR PRACTICE
• Learn how students learn
• Open Education – free
sharing and use of
teaching materials
• The Thesis Whisperer
(thethesiswhisperer.com)
Energy
• YOU HAVE A FINITE AMOUNT OF ENERGY – USE
IT STRATEGICALLY!
• Balance out depleting and invigorating tasks
• Work with the pattern of the academic year – not
against it
• Start with big plans and use monthly/ daily plans for
detail
Your balancing act
Look at the tasks you’ve
listed.
Using the table in your handout, sort these into tasks you
enjoy, are indifferent to, or
dislike/dread.
Your academic identity
• Compare your preferences with your
original list of drivers & beliefs
• How do these correspond?
• What does this tell you about the
current balance you strike?
Maintaining the balance
• Plan for the entirety of your academic
identity
• Protect your balance – you are the one
who sacrifices it