The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is becoming a more widely known and used term in higher education. It focuses on how we, as academics and teachers, use research to support our learning and teaching endeavours and research our own practice with the view to furthering the domain knowledge. When we use research and evidence to support our practice, we are undertaking scholarly teaching, and when we share that with our colleagues, we are embarking on the scholarship of teaching and learning. To understand the difference between scholarly teaching and SoTL a bit further, watch the following ISSoTL video [7:49] and ask yourself these questions:
How does this discussion impact my understanding of SoTL?
What are my opinions on this definitional debate?
What connections am I making to my own practice?
So what does it actually mean?
So far, SoTL might seem a bit abstract and you might already be doing it. So, for further clarification, Huber & Hutchings (as cited in Hutchings et al., 2011, Chapter 1) described today’s scholars of teaching and learning as ones who:
treat their classrooms and programs as a source of interesting questions about learning;
find ways to explore and shed light on these questions;
use this evidence in designing and refining new activities and assessments; and
share what they’ve found with colleagues who can comment, critique and build on new insights.
Thinking about this more broadly, SoTL provides us with evidence to underpin our learning and teaching practice. As with most other disciplines, tertiary teaching has a growing research literature that allows us to teach in new and improved ways. We don’t need to teach as we were taught.
To engage in SoTL, we need to:
be informed;
‘experiment’ with our teaching; and
make public the outcomes of that experimentation.
These three elements of SoTL are on continuums from informal practice through to formal practice. The following image shows the continuum of what would be considered scholarly teaching and SoTL.
That is, "being informed" ranges from informal activities like discussions with colleagues through to conducting a literature review with a clear SoTL focus. "Enquiry", or experimenting with our teaching, range from the typical changes that we make to our courses at the beginning of the semester based on feedback and experience through to conducting a research project. The dissemination continuum moves from simply talking with colleagues and sharing your work through to peer-reviewed articles, conferences, and more.
How does this relate to me in my GELTS?
Simply put, your GELTS is SoTL. In your GELTS application, you were asked to identify your student problem, provide some background to the problem, and propose a way forward. These form part of your SoTL focus and are the first steps in the SoTL cycle (which will be discussed in a later post). For now, consider the following questions:
What is your SoTL focus?
What does the literature say about your SoTL focus?
What are your plans to address your SoTL focus?
Discuss your responses to these questions below in the comments. If you want to share a SoTL focus that you have outside of your GELTS, then feel free to do that, too.
Further information
The following resources can provide you with more details about SoTL and how it can look for an academic. These resources are provided as a starting point in your SoTL journey with your GELTS.
Bass, R. (1999) The Scholarship of Teaching: What's the Problem? Creative thinking about learning and teaching, 1(1).
Kerber, C. (2007) What‘s It Really All About? The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning as an Authentic Practice. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1(1), Article 3. doi: 10.20429/ijsotl.2007.010103
References
Hutchings, P., Huber, M. T., & Ciccone, A. (2011). The scholarship of teaching and learning reconsidered: Institutional integration and impact, Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA.