ABSTRACT
As an academic staff developer, I encourage colleagues to adopt ways of teaching that increase the potential for open and flexible learning and try to model them in my own practice. More recently, I decided that I should commit myself to making greater use of these approaches and to extending my repertoire of associated skills. Two factors account for this decision. First, I became aware that a gap was opening up between what I was advocating and the reality of my own practice. Second, for the first time initiatives were being proposed within my university to encourage and help teachers to adopt these approaches. As a result, I could anticipate a substantial increase in requests for support from colleagues who were beginning to explore them.
