Now where did I put that research Tom Tom?

'My research is like a pretend juggernaut crashing into a wall' is a bit melodramatic but that's how it feels when something means so much to you and it's just so hard to see a way forward. The problem I wanted to 'solve' in my research was TIME; and it's TIME that has been the slippery pretend oil under the wheels of my pretend juggernaut causing the crash - the issue of TIME it seems is insuperable for academic colleagues in terms of engaging with technology for learning and teaching - TIME and research/admin priorities. Despite the best will in the world - and the will is there, of that I have no doubt - very few colleagues are able to prioritise this area of activity sufficiently that I am able to make the intended intervention with Communities of Practice; thus the juggernaut crashes, the research stalls...

So, thanks to Nick's sympathetic ear, this is my new working plan - it's in note form and I missed Nick's beautifully eloquent description of a way forward which took us both by surprise (must record these encounters in future!)...

I critique my project and critique the model - What has brought me to this point? What was the vision? What was the positive idea? I start with my vision, my reading that helped me sustain a vision of pedagogic practice in the University as a response to... Time? Well, yes, but a gazillion other things to do with - perhaps - the Sociology of Higher Education (possible early book to read Sociology of Higher Education: Contributions and Their Contexts and early article in the field Development of the Sociology of Higher Education by Burton R. Clark 1973). 

I wanted to make an intervention - if I liberate myself from that it might be a more realistic account of the real conditions that pertain in a University like this, to give an account of the cultural conditions in the University that either impede or enable engagement. What is it - perhaps from Sociology of HE - that prevents or enables Communities of Practice to develop (there may be little pockets but it may not be the norm)? Can Communities of Practice be a solution in institutions that don't operate the taken-for-granted community model? What is the extent to which contemporary Universities can be considered to foster Communities of Practice? Possible starting point: Community by Gerard Delanty.

Affiliation to subjects vs University structures perhaps? Where does the individual academic get their sense of authenticity, power and recognition? Their CV... publications, awarded research projects - does the University itself give the status and recognition..?