Academic support as a ‘third space’: a team’s reflection on post-pandemic practice

This paper describes and reflects upon the re-organisation of academic support across a department of architecture, art and design within a British post-92 university drawing on the concept of ‘third space’ in relation to student success. Both the department and the institution are committed to soc...

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Main Authors: Jon Baldwin, Bonita Charles, Emma Davenport, John Keefe, Debora Minà
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) 2025-01-01
Series:Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe/article/view/1192
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author Jon Baldwin
Bonita Charles
Emma Davenport
John Keefe
Debora Minà
author_facet Jon Baldwin
Bonita Charles
Emma Davenport
John Keefe
Debora Minà
author_sort Jon Baldwin
collection DOAJ
description This paper describes and reflects upon the re-organisation of academic support across a department of architecture, art and design within a British post-92 university drawing on the concept of ‘third space’ in relation to student success. Both the department and the institution are committed to social justice, widening participation and academic success. With the introduction of online support during the pandemic and a new team of colleagues, an opportunity arose to revise how academic support was delivered to undergraduate students. For this team, which includes academic mentors and an academic manager, the COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges that impacted our historical delivery of academic support, requiring us to redefine our service to students and colleagues in the light of student success and inspired by the concept of the ‘third space’. This paper reflects upon the changes we made, as a case study, with reference to quantitative data, students’ feedback and Whitchurch’s (2009) framework of knowledges, legitimacies and relationships for blended professionals.
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spelling doaj-art-f3a78b1f18454f998a6cc68f434e25432025-01-31T07:56:49ZengAssociation for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE)Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education1759-667X2025-01-013310.47408/jldhe.vi33.1192Academic support as a ‘third space’: a team’s reflection on post-pandemic practice Jon Baldwin0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1132-1614Bonita Charles1https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0234-0193Emma Davenport2https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6892-6903John Keefe3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6173-5084Debora Minà4https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1675-6441London Metropolitan UniversityLondon Metropolitan UniversityLondon Metropolitan UniversityLondon Metropolitan UniversityLondon Metropolitan University This paper describes and reflects upon the re-organisation of academic support across a department of architecture, art and design within a British post-92 university drawing on the concept of ‘third space’ in relation to student success. Both the department and the institution are committed to social justice, widening participation and academic success. With the introduction of online support during the pandemic and a new team of colleagues, an opportunity arose to revise how academic support was delivered to undergraduate students. For this team, which includes academic mentors and an academic manager, the COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges that impacted our historical delivery of academic support, requiring us to redefine our service to students and colleagues in the light of student success and inspired by the concept of the ‘third space’. This paper reflects upon the changes we made, as a case study, with reference to quantitative data, students’ feedback and Whitchurch’s (2009) framework of knowledges, legitimacies and relationships for blended professionals. https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe/article/view/1192third spacestudent successacademic mentorsrelationshipscompassion awarding gap
spellingShingle Jon Baldwin
Bonita Charles
Emma Davenport
John Keefe
Debora Minà
Academic support as a ‘third space’: a team’s reflection on post-pandemic practice
Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education
third space
student success
academic mentors
relationships
compassion
awarding gap
title Academic support as a ‘third space’: a team’s reflection on post-pandemic practice
title_full Academic support as a ‘third space’: a team’s reflection on post-pandemic practice
title_fullStr Academic support as a ‘third space’: a team’s reflection on post-pandemic practice
title_full_unstemmed Academic support as a ‘third space’: a team’s reflection on post-pandemic practice
title_short Academic support as a ‘third space’: a team’s reflection on post-pandemic practice
title_sort academic support as a third space a team s reflection on post pandemic practice
topic third space
student success
academic mentors
relationships
compassion
awarding gap
url https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe/article/view/1192
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