Engaging In The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning

This is a book for anyone who has ever considered engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning – known familiarly as SoTL – and needs a better understanding of what it is, and how to engage in it. The authors describe how to create a SoTL project, its implications for promotion and tenure, and how it fosters:* Increased satisfaction and fulfillment in teaching* Improved student learning* Increased productivity of scholarly publication* Collaboration with colleagues across disciplines* Contributing to a growing and important body of literatureThis guide provides prospective SoTL scholars with the necessary background information, foundational theory, tools, resources, and methodology to develop their own SoTL projects, taking the reader through the five stages of the process: Generating a research question; Designing the study; Collecting the data; Analyzing the data; and Presenting and publishing your SoTL project. Each stage is illustrated by examples of actual SoTL studies, and is accompanied by worksheets to help the reader refine ideas and map out his or her next steps. The process and worksheets are the fruit of the successful SoTL workshops the authors have offered at their institution for many years. SoTL differs from scholarly and reflective teaching in that it not only involves questioning one’s teaching or a teaching strategy, but also formally gathering and exploring evidence, researching the literature, refining and testing practices, and finally going public. The purpose of SoTL is not just to make an impact on student learning, but through formal, peer-reviewed communication, to contribute to the larger knowledge base on teaching and learning. While the roots of SoTL go back some 30 years, it was Ernest Boyer in his classic Scholarship Reconsidered who made the case for the parity of the scholarships of integration, of discovery, of application, and of scholarship of teaching as vital to the health of higher education. Glassick, Huber, and Maeroff ’s subsequent Scholarship Assessed articulated the quality standards for SoTL, since when the field has burgeoned with the formation of related associations, a proliferation of conferences, the launching of numerous journals, and increasing recognition and validation by institutions.

Provides a state-of-the-field review of recent SoTL scholarship

The Challenges and Joys of Juggling There has been growing demand for workshops and materials to help those in higher education conduct and use the scholarship of teaching and learning. This book offers advice on how to do, share, and apply SoTL work to improve student learning and development. Written for college-level faculty members as well as faculty developers, administrators, academic staff, and graduate students, this book will also help undergraduate students collaborating with faculty on SoTL projects. Though targeted at those new to the field of SoTL, more seasoned SoTL researchers and those attempting to support SoTL efforts will find the book valuable. It can be used as an individual reading, a shared reading in SoTL writing circles, a resource in workshops on SoTL, and a text in seminars on teaching. Contents include: Defining SoTL The functions, value, rewards, and standards for SoTL work Working with colleagues, involving students, writing grants, integrating SoTL into your professional life, and finding useful resources Practical and ethical issues associated with SoTL work Making your SoTL public and documenting your work The status of SoTL in disciplinary and institutional contexts Applying the goals of SoTL to enhance student learning and development.

Through its impact on students in their lives in and beyond college, and recognizing the porous boundary between the classroom and the “real world,” SoTL can offer insights into broader societal issues, offer evidence of activities that facilitate everyday learning, promote intrinsic motivation, better support people from underrepresented communities, or uncover the ripple effects of changing educational environments. It has the potential to deliver messages of broad public interest. This book extends the field-building work of Boyer’s Scholarship Reconsidered and Hutchings, Huber, and Ciccone’s The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Reconsidered by taking a new look at SoTL’s ubiquitous call to “go public.” Going Public Reconsidered explores the potential impacts of knowledge generated by SoTL, considers its varied public audiences, and offers guidance for the appropriate media and modes of communication to reach them, including the use of social media. It urges the SoTL community to step up and contribute its expertise to conversations about the crises that face our communities, nations, and the world, and disseminate the relevance of its research for the world outside of the classroom.Recognizing that many practitioners find it difficult to conceptualize the public in public SoTL beyond the higher education audiences they routinely address, this book focusses on conceptualizing, planning, and shaping the message, and clarifying appropriate audiences. It offers guidance on the “who” and the “how” of public SoTL. Going Public Reconsidered addresses such questions as: ● What is happening in the world that would benefit from a SoTL-informed perspective?● What information, insight, or knowledge does SoTL generate?● Who beyond higher education might care about this information, insight, or knowledge, and why?● How can we adapt to the venues and platforms where they currently get their information and knowledge?The fifteen editors and contributors explore the potential and the implications of extending SoTL beyond its current horizons by reflecting on the ultimate responsibility of those who profess SoTL; examining SoTL’s audiences and the notion of “the public”; considering what topics and Grand Challenges public SoTL might address; offering case studies of outreach in the US and abroad; and providing guidance on the use of social media for public SoTL – from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube to blogs – as well as on developing relationships with mainstream media. The book’s message is that public SoTL isn’t a radical departure from SoTL-as-we-know-it, but a natural expansion of its methods and goals, offering the potential of broadening its impact domestically and internationally. It offers inspiration and challenges to practitioners across the globe.

A guide to developing productive student-faculty partnerships in higher education Student-faculty partnerships is an innovation that is gaining traction on campuses across the country. There are few established models in this new endeavor, however. Engaging Students as Partners in Learning and Teaching: A Guide for Faculty offers administrators, faculty, and students both the theoretical grounding and practical guidelines needed to develop student-faculty partnerships that affirm and improve teaching and learning in higher education. Provides theory and evidence to support new efforts in student-faculty partnerships Describes various models for creating and supporting such partnerships Helps faculty overcome some of the perceived barriers to student-faculty partnerships Suggests a range of possible levels of partnership that might be appropriate in different circumstances Includes helpful responses to a range of questions as well as advice from faculty, students, and administrators who have hands-on experience with partnership programs Balancing theory, step-by-step guidelines, expert advice, and practitioner experience, this book is a comprehensive why- and how-to handbook for developing a successful student-faculty partnership program.

Writing about Learning and Teaching in Higher Education offers detailed guidance to scholars at all stages-experienced and new academics, graduate students, and undergraduates-regarding how to write about learning and teaching in higher education. It evokes established practices, recommends new ones, and challenges readers to expand notions of scholarship by describing reasons for publishing across a range of genres, from the traditional empirical research article to modes such as stories and social media that are newly recognized in scholarly arenas. The book provides practical guidance for scholars in writing each genre-and in getting them published. To illustrate how choices about writing play out in practice, we share throughout the book our own experiences as well as reflections from a range of scholars, including both highly experienced, widely published experts and newcomers to writing about learning and teaching in higher education. The diversity of voices we include is intended to complement the variety of genres we discuss, enacting as well as arguing for an embrace of multiplicity in writing about learning and teaching in higher education.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning unleashes great potential in librarianship, and academic librarians are ideal candidates for participation in SoTL projects: We're inquisitive, passionate, and we care about student success. The Grounded Instruction Librarian can provide innovative ideas and methods to help you use SoTL as a professional development tool, a research agenda, a way to create theory, or for a deeper understanding of your teaching and your students' learning.