Introduction: Professional learning of lecturers for their teaching is a field in which Eli Bitzer
did important work, specifically during the earlier years of his career in higher
education. The hard work to establish the discipline of higher education studies
and the related fields of teaching in higher education and professional learning
for teaching is described by Eli himself in an autobiographical chapter dedicated
to his mentor, Professor Kalie Strydom of the University of the Free State (Bitzer
2009). The focus of this contribution is on the opportunity cost involved in professional
learning for teaching and the creation of ‘care-full’ (Milligan and Wiles 2010)
environments to counter these costs. In writing this chapter, I mainly draw from
my PhD, for which Professor Bitzer was the main supervisor.