Working in the blur: From transactional encounters to transformative partnerships
By Rita Prestigiacomo & Diana Saragi Turnip
Published on 15 December 2025
This post is the first in a three-part series titled Beyond boundaries: Collaboration for systemic change in higher education. The series explores how academics and professional staff at UNSW are reimagining partnerships from everyday interactions to broader institutional change.
It might be a coincidence, but both of us have been wearing glasses since a young age. More recently, we have begun relying on multifocal lenses to sharpen what is right in front of us while still noticing the wider world. For us, collaboration in higher education often feels similar. The boundaries blur as we shift between granular learning tasks and broader pedagogical questions. Through the Nexus Program, many of us are learning to work with new lenses that bring both into focus at once, helping us see the task and the pedagogy, the near and the far, together.
Can you recall a moment when collaboration between academics and learning and teaching colleagues became more relational or transformative?
Rita (Academic): As a passionate educator, I found myself talking with an educational developer from the Faculty of Engineering about what learning and teaching means to me, how to improve my course, and how to adapt and evolve my teaching practice. Because we shared similar teaching values, we entered a collegial partnership that mirrored a “balanced give and take [...] of perspectives” and practices (Cook-Sather & Felten, 2017, p. 176). Beyond a one-off consultation, it felt a shared learning journey.
Diana (Learning and Teaching Professional): In the early years of my work, most requests from academics came as quick-turnaround tasks: updating assessments, fixing Moodle sites, responding to compliance. Over time, I realised that behind every small fix was a broader learning design question. Through Nexus, collaboration began with curiosity rather than compliance, shifting conversations from outputs to learning intentions. This is what Veles et al. (2023) describe as cross-role collaboration, where different forms of expertise converge to create shared insights.
The trust and understanding formed in those early exchanges prompted us to reflect on what it means to be in an authentic partnership.
What does an authentic partnership look like to you?
Rita: A partnership is authentic when both parties are empowered to operate outside a hierarchical mindset (Higgins, et al., 2019). In my case, our distinct roles did not hinder collaboration – if anything, they strengthened it in a mutually productive and supportive way. I also found that empathy, joy and creativity, which echoed the CAST Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, fuelled a healthy knowledge co-construction process. Being in partnership means becoming aware of other disciplines, their language, and the need to learn how to speak those languages. This is not an easy task, but it is definitely rewarding.
Diana: For me, authentic partnerships grow from transparency about what we each bring. They are defined by ongoing, genuine dialogue where ideas can evolve safely. Being embedded with academic teams, even informally, helps relationships deepen beyond the project brief and creates space for reflection. This aligns with Moriau et al. (2025), who describe learning circles as environments that nurture trust, relational growth, and shared professional learning. When we begin to see one another as colleagues working toward the same educational vision, collaboration becomes fluid and creative, grounded in Clegg’s (2008) principle of mutual respect for overlapping identities.
These relationships created a strong foundation of trust that allowed us to step into the blur with greater confidence and to rethink not only who we are, but who we want to become as collaborators.
What did we learn?
We learned that transformative collaboration does not always happen in formal meetings or structured projects. It often begins in the corridor, over coffee, or during a shared moment of curiosity (Gribble & Beckmann, 2023). Talk to colleagues—and be “out there”!
Our diverse disciplinary knowledge, professional backgrounds, and different ways of being, knowing and doing can inspire new ideas and spark interest in learning the language of other disciplines. By challenging traditional power dynamics and embracing more fluid and creative collaboration, we become what McIntosh and Nutt (2022) call “integrated practitioners” who navigate boundaries for the benefit of institutional learning.
Working in the blur is a space to embrace. We look forward to continuing this conversation and hearing stories of successful collaboration across roles, disciplines, and perspectives. Let’s keep adjusting our lenses together!
This post begins our Beyond boundaries trilogy on collaboration at UNSW. The next post, “The spark of collaboration: Connecting expertise for institutional impact” will focus on how co-design and reflection can strengthen cross-role partnerships.