Keynote given at the Media and Learning Conference in Leuven, Belgium, June 2nd 2022. Dr. Deborah Arnold National and International Projects coordinator, AUNEGe / Research collaborator, Edul@b, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya Join me on this journey into third space, where we’ll be looking at the complex interplay between leadership, academic and professional roles as universities strive to improve the way media and technology are used to support learning and teaching. As third space professionals working at the intersection of pedagogy and technology, what are the spaces we occupy, the knowledges we create, the relationships we build and nurture, the legitimacies we hold? How can leadership support this work, ensure the recognition of this very special skillset, and foster the development of future digital education leaders?

1. Close encounters
in third space
Leadership and organisational
dynamics for advancing Digital
Education
Dr. Deborah Arnold
AUNEGe / Edul@b, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
@DebJArnold
#MandL
Leuven, June 2nd, 2022

2. Close encounters?
I’m a learning
technologist, but…
I am the famous
Professor
Beeblebrox, who or
what are you?
Hey, we’re from
the Centre for
Teaching and
Learning!
Hi, I’m from AV
services!

4. Digital Education
Leadership Literacies for
Higher Education
(DELLHE)
A set of attitudes, mindsets
and behaviours that enable
HE leaders to solve complex
problems relating to the
integration of Digital
Education
Arnold (2021),
building on Davis (2012) and
Jameson (2013)

5. Third space – theoretical background
Celia Whitchurch
(since 2008)
Not about structures
and job titles
But about how we work
and who we work with
Distributed leadership
(Spillane, 2006)
Leadership-as-practice
(Youngs, 2017)
Relational leadership
(Uhl-Bien, 2006)

6. Third space of academia
Bolden et al. (2015, p. 7)
“in which professional staff engage in
leadership activity based on their
expertise, particularly in learning and
teaching support areas”
Jones et al. (2014, p. 425)
which “sees professional and
academics collaborating as they align
learning and teaching and research
quality to strategic aims and
accountability”

7. The spaces
we occupy
The
knowledges
we create
The relationships we
build and nurture
The
legitimacies
we hold
(Whitchurch, 2009;
McIntosh & Nutt, 2022)
Third space
“Blended”
integrated
practice

8. The spaces we
occupy

9. ANSTIA survey of
learning
technology
and AV units
(2021)
Direct report to Digital or
Learning Innovation Vice-
Rector
9.20%
Central services
13%
Education & training
directorate
9.30%
Educational
development unit
15.70%
Digital directorate
17.10%
Information systems
13.30%
Estates/logistics
1%
Other
20.90%
Communication
0.30%
N = 682
French HEIs
Nearly
1/3
1/4

10. Working
across silos
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Leaflet

11. Professional staff
Generalist/specialist/
niche roles
Third
space
Academic staff
Teaching/Research/
Public engagement
Staff development
AV/MM production
Technical support
Learning design
SoTL / research
Learning Analytics
Adapted from Whitchurch
(2008), p. 385
Perimeter roles Perimeter roles

12. So, what
might third
space look
like?

13. Physical third space
 Physical space designed to support
interactions
 Generating internal evidence through
research
 Students as partners
Students
Library
Educational
developers
Research
institute
Coworking
spaces
Source: https://www.northampton.ac.uk
(Paul Michael Hughes www.paulmichaelhughes.com)
Social spaces

14. Conceptual third space
 No restructructuring of professional services
 Networked structure as strategic concept
 Vision = self-steering organisation
 Incentives: funding for faculty groups if they
work cross-group on strategic projects
Leuven
Learnin
g Lab
Faculty
group A
Educationa
l
developers
Faculty
group B
Learning
technology
Faculty
group C
Media
production

15. The knowledges
we create

16. The knowledges we create in third space
Learning and
teaching
Media and
technology
Each other
Learners
Ways of
working
together
Context,
culture and
values

17. The relationships
we build and
nurture

18. RELATIONAL leadership literacies
Attitudes and mindsets
 Understanding institutional
dynamics
 Understanding the strategic
potential of third space
 Trust
 Recognising the importance of
building relationships
Behaviours and actions
 Fostering a culture of inquiry,
innovation and collaboration
 Facilitating the creation of shared
meaning
 Reaching across institutional silos
(Arnold, 2021; Davis, 2012)

19. We know how the tech
works…, what we
need to do is build
relationships with
people.
Head of a Learning Technology team
“Complex
Collaboration
Champion*”
Catalyst
Conduit
Facilitator
Coach
“
”
*McIntosh & Nutt, (2022);
Veles et al., (2019)

20. “
”
Embracing digital transformation at scale is
deeply uncomfortable though because it
requires switching control for trust, and
doing more of that investing in people
and working together stuff.
Anne-Marie Scott,
Deputy Provost, Athabasca University
https://ammienoot.com/brain-fluff/digital-transformation-and-why-it-cant-be-done-without-
learning-technologists/

21. The legitimacies
we hold

22. Identity and legitimacy
Techno-auto-ethnographies
telling our stories, our trajectories
inspired by Pip MacDonald @PipMac6
Image
by
Gerd
Altmann
from
Pixabay

23. My Techno-Auto-Ethnography
English teacher
using and
developing
CALL
Masters in
Media,
Communication
and Journalism
Audiovisual
production
assistant
Instructional
designer
eLearning
project
manager
Head of
Learning
Technology and
Distance
Education unit
Vice-President
EDEN
Digital strategy
advisor
Project
coordinator
Secretary MLA
PhD Digital
Education
Leadership
Teaching
Media &
technology
Leadership
(Project) Management
Research
And yours?

25. https://www.alt.ac.uk/sites/alt.ac.uk/files/public/How%20our%20profession%20is%20changing_%20ALT%20Annual%20Survey%20Report%202021%20%281%29.pdf

26. A question of
leadership

27. Issues for Leadership (Development)
RELATIONAL
 How do we build and maintain
relationships around Digital Education?
 How do we foster a climate of trust?
 How can we improve shared
understanding of Digital Education?
 How can we work better across
traditional boundaries?
LEARNINGFUL
 Who do we want to develop as Digital
Education leaders and how do we
support them?
 How do we develop a culture of
innovation?
 How do our physical and digital spaces
support organisational learning?
(Arnold, 2021)

28. We are not
alone!
Association Internationale de Pédagogie Universitaire
Association Nationale des Services TICE et Audiovisuels

29. Thank you for
joining me on
this journey
through third
space!
Dr. Deborah Arnold
National and international projects coordinator, AUNEGe
Research collaborator, Edul@b research group,
Universitat Oberta da Catalunya
Deborah.Arnold@aunege.fr

30. References
Arnold, D. (2021). Supporting Leadership Development in European Universities: A Mixed Methods Study of Digital Education Leadership Literacies in Higher
Education [Doctoral thesis, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya]. http://hdl.handle.net/10609/142686
Bolden, R., Jones, S., Davis, H., & Gentle, P. (2015). Developing and sustaining shared leadership in higher education. Leadership Foundation for Higher
Education. http://www.lhmartininstitute.edu.au/documents/publications/lfhespboldenfinal.pdf
Davis, H. (2012). Leadership Literacies for Professional Staff in Universities. [Doctoral thesis RMIT University].
https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/view/rmit:160335
Jameson, J. (2013). E-Leadership in higher education: The fifth “age” of educational technology research. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(6), 889–
915. https://doi.org/doi:10.1111/bjet.12103
Jones, S., Harvey, M., & Lefoe, G. (2014). A conceptual approach for blended leadership for tertiary education institutions. Journal of Higher Education Policy
and Management, 36(4), 418–429. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2014.916469
McIntosh, E., & Nutt, D. (Eds.). (2022). The Impact of the Integrated Practitioner in Higher Education: Studies in Third Space Professionalism. Routledge.
Spillane, J. P. (2006). Distributed leadership (1st ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Uhl-Bien, M. (2006). Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring the social processes of leadership and organizing. Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 654–676.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.007
Whitchurch, C. (2008). Shifting identities and blurring boundaries: The emergence of third space professionals in UK higher education. Higher Education
Quarterly, 62(4), 377–396. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00387.x
Whitchurch, C. (2018). Being a Higher Education Professional Today: Working in a Third Space. In C. Bossu & N. Brown (Eds.), University Development and
Administration. Professional and Support Staff in Higher Education (Issue January). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1607-3_31-1
Youngs, H. (2017). A critical exploration of collaborative and distributed leadership in higher education: developing an alternative ontology through leadership-
as-practice. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 39(2), 140–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2017.1276662