Brookfield's lens

Susan Ainsworth's reflections

Brookfield’s (1995) lenses

- Theoretical lens (research and theory on university teaching)

- Autobiographical lens (our histories as students and teachers)

- Peer lens (engaging with the views of our colleagues)

- Student lens (student’s perspectives and experience of our teaching)

The perspective of peers is central to professional university teaching.

Exploring student perspectives on my own teaching reminded me both of my own experience as a student and the gaps between my intentions as a teacher and student perceptions and experiences of my teaching.

Nixon et al. (1998) argue that it should denote a more outward looking freedom, where academic professionalism includes promoting freedom for others to “speak their own minds, to learn in accordance with their own interests, and to enjoy a secure framework within which to learn” (p. 278).