Natalie-Jane Howard, Agariadne Dwinggo Samala
Learning management systems occupy an almost ubiquitous position in higher education today and may be leveraged to streamline and standardise course delivery. Despite the potential for multiple enrolment, centralised courses to offer efficiency and consistency in institutions, there is a lack of research investigating the relationship between these courses and lecturer professional identities. To address this gap, this qualitative study, conducted in a Middle East college, draws on visual-elicitation interview data and positioning theory to examine how lecturers, working in a master-shell Blackboard course under a team leader, navigate reduced agency and tensions in material selection and presentation. The analysis yields three storylines, various interpreted subject positions and two new terms: inherited aberrations and vicarious representation. As Blackboard is positioned as a conduit of self-image, the study demonstrates how institutional mandates around centralised course design may be complicit in the de-skilling, disempowerment and professional exclusion of experienced lecturers which marginalises their identities. The research further suggests that there may be emancipatory value in acknowledging lecturers’ desire and willingness to engage in creative, thoughtful course design and to reconsider the remit of the gatekeeper role held by a sole team leader. © 2025 UCU.
Centre for Higher Education Research and Evaluation, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom; Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, Indonesia
