Extend NZ/NZEXT105/Overview, course aim and learning outcomes
This module examines how we can use our classroom, our courses and/or our professional area of practice as a research lab, to
- explore how we might improve our teaching practice, and
- positively affect learner outcomes and satisfaction with the overall learning experience.
It invites us to consider research about learning and teaching within our discipline and provides a process to implement a research plan.
This kind of action research is often called the “scholarship of teaching and learning” (SoTL), and it involves an awareness and appreciation of effective, research-based, discipline-appropriate pedagogical approaches for examining your own practice.
| “ | The scholarship of teaching is not merely teaching our scholarship. Nor is it simply teaching well… The scholarship of teaching means that we invest in our teaching the intellectual powers we practice in our research. | ” |
| —Bender & Gray, 1998 | ||
The aim of this module is to create an action plan to examine key questions about improving learning outcomes in a specific discipline area using your own professional practice, informed by the research of others, to build your SoTL plan.
The objectives of this module are for you to:
- Explore key characteristics of SoTL
- Identify instructional practices or teaching strategies from your own discipline that you would like to explore or test within your own courses
- Identify a range of research strategies that suit your discipline
- Identify a framework for analysis of your research
- Select a strategy for sharing your research, for others to build on
