Self-development in support of innovative pedagogies:
Peer support and reflection using e-mail

Staff involved in pedagogic innovations are presented with challenges which take them outside their customary spheres of expertise and disciplinary identities. This paper presents an analysis of data collected from staff involved in a 'bottom' up pedagogic innovation involving the introduction of Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) for first year social science students. Data were collected in the form of transcripts of e-mails shared by staff on a week-by-week basis during the development, research interviews conducted after the module had finished, and a follow up e-mail questionnaire a year later asking them to reflect on the value of the original e-mail exchanges. The data point to a much messier picture of tutor learning than classical models of reflective practice would suggest. The e-mail exchanges were descriptive in content and close to action summaries of events in the classroom with little evidence of reflection. However, the follow-up interviews revealed states of uncertainty and liminality and a gap between buying into IBL principles and classroom know-how. The research context of the interviews appeared to license deeper forms of reflection as has been noted by coaches working with other groups of professionals. The paper argues that the characteristics of e-mail, as both informal and intimate and at the same time a public mode of exchange, allowed sharing which though apparently unreflective supported tutor learning. These accounts challenge some of the reconstructions of learning found in the reflective practice literature and suggest that mundane ICT usage can be powerful for peer learning.