Abstract:

A national Quality Enhancement project is being facilitated by the Principal Fellows Network Scotland, representing a variety of disciplines across most higher education institutions in Scotland. Using the Evidencing Value Framework (EVF) developed as part of the previous Enhancement Theme, the cluster is exploring the construct of ‘resilience’ as an intangible asset, with potential value to the Scottish sector in revealing its influence on the creation of successful groups or communities that can lead and effect change in the higher education context. In responding to the current pandemic, ‘resilience’ may be a more appropriate and timely focus than one based on ideas of ‘excellence’.

Through a number of online gathering a number of the Principal Fellows have used a range of learning technologies including a Jamboard and a Padlet to construct a framework that reveals where resilient actions have been taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic that can be perceived to embed or symbolise resilience. Actions are explored in the four quadrants of the Evidencing Value Framework:
1 Ethos, cultures and identities
2 Core Educational and Support Components
3 Resources
4 Systems and Structures.

The embedded and contextualised nature of resilience is plotted across the four layers of the EVF;
* Micro level - Module and teams
* Meso-level - Programme/cluster/service
* Macro-level - Institution/college/faculty/school
* Exo-level - Government policies/laws/norms/cultures

Discussion focussed around online dialogue around examples of resilience that were of perceived value to Universities during the rapid response to COVID-19; For example to enhance resilience in the face of the move to blended/online learning, the need to redesign physical campus spaces and create new online spaces, need to review on curriculum design.

Findings were developed from a thematic analysis of the online dialogue on Teams Chat and the Jamboard and Padlet activities and presented as open, accessible academic blogs on the Quality Assurance Agency Scotland's website; sponsors of this national Enhancement Theme. These are revealing the distributive nature of resilience academic leadership across institutions. Finding also point to the value of using metaphor in exploring how to reveal the potential of this intangible asset of resilience in building individuals and universities that can 'bounce back' and 'grow and flourish' through recent adversity and the digital pivot.

Keywords:

Resilient academic leadership, intangible asset, evidencing value.