Since we are in the midst of our annual reviews, I have been pondering this topic extensively. Particularly, still remembering the early 2000s where centres of excellence sprouted like mushrooms in autumn.
So I figured I ask AI for a useful definition:
Excellence is a dynamic concept that refers to the exceptional quality and impact of academic endeavors across various domains. It goes beyond mere competence, signifying an outstanding level of achievement and a commitment to continuous improvement.
The second sentence of this definition is rather interesting. What is outstanding? Who says so? I asked AI to count my invited contributions and keynotes–some 30 odd–is this outstanding? How do you measure this? How is it weighted?
You all know that this blog is very much a mixture of me thinking out loud, with the odd teaching tips, SoTL reflections, and very rarely a fully cited post thrown in the mix. And despite–or because of–the casual approach to this blog, I had colleagues from Germany come and visit us in Glasgow, my team and I are now involved in an international German speaking group, I have been approached over the years about and for various things. Just because I write out loud and despite my blog really not being that excellent!
Is it more important to have 3000 unique visitors, and many more returning who read and engage, rather than writing a journal article that maybe gets cited?
What is excellence?
To me that last section of the definition above: a commitment to continuous improvement rang true. What is excellence for me might be very different to what is excellence for you!
You might join us in the SoTL-verse from a non-cognate discipline and the new knowledge system imposed by educational inquiries might be ill-fitting and strange. Excellence is becoming familiar with new terminology, reading SoTL papers and slowly but surely being able to make a judgement call about the quality of a paper, which is not a randomised control trial.
Excellence might be to have your first paper accepted in a SoTL journal because you have now developed your writing voice so much that you managed to speak that language.
Excellence might be helping a new colleague who is struggling to find their feet by introducing them to some of the support available.
And yes excellence might also be an invitation to Cambridge Uni for a keynote.
And it is important to embrace where you are at, recognise that things take their time, and that a not so excellent blog1 can still have excellent impact.
- I mean the typos and crimes on grammar in some of my posts are rather spectacular!
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Nathalie Tasler, PhD, SFHEA, MPhil, PGDip CCM, PGCert LTHE 