Abstract

The Covid-19 global pandemic placed an unprecedented strain on Higher Education Institutions to rapidly respond and adapt, pivoting teaching and learning from traditional face-to-face models to fully online, and subsequently, hybrid delivery as restrictions eased. The stability of the entire sector was tested and many educators, through hard work and effort, successfully adapted their teaching to adopt online pedagogies (Carlson, 2020). Of the many lessons learnt from the global pandemic; one that must be acknowledged is that the risk of further unexpected, sector-wide disruption is real and could further challenge the responsiveness and adaptability of Higher Education.
The ‘third-space' between professional and academic spheres of activity offers dynamic new working practices for the higher education sector (Whitchurch, 2013). Partnerships within the third space have implications not only for identities in HE, but for management and leadership development. Third-space partnerships offer a cross-boundary collaborative working practice, drawing together diverse talent, skills and knowledge which could well bear dynamic solutions to unexpected disruptors, as seen in the collaborative efforts between teaching academics and learning technologists through the Covid-19 pandemic.
How do we empower staff to have the autonomy to seek out co-operative partnerships and develop third space working practices? This paper will explore both institutional practices, and the individual experiences of third-space working to change the shape of the HE working environment in response to disruption, and how these lessons must continue, developing the culture of collaboration, in order for institutions to remain agile in the face of unanticipated challenges.