Think about your own workplace. If you are in academia, you probably have colleagues that share your disciplinary identity, at least to some extent, but they may also come from other disciplines. As pointed out previously, you are most likely part of many different microcultures, so think about one in relation to your role as an academic teacher.

Together you shape your own microculture: you are all both influenced by it but also influencing it, through your own actions.

If this was a meeting, formal or informal, in your microculture, and the conversation was about teaching and learning: what would you typically be talking about? Who would be talking? How would you characterise the conversation (anecdotal, constructive, critical, underpinned, etc)?

Reflect & discuss

How would you describe your own microculture?

What are significant traits?

Are there similarities and differences in relation to the model presented in the previous section?

What are your typical ways of teaching and assessing students?

To what extent do you share experiences and ideas about teaching and student learning?

How do you talk about your students?

In reflecting upon your own microculture you may discover typical patterns of your conversations (what you talk about, how you talk about it, and who talks to whom) that may actually influence your teaching culture. If you want to develop, as an individual in your collegial context, these aspects need to be taken into account.