Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Art of inquiry by Candace Nast

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) involves how practitioners like yourselves study, reflect on practice, research and seek out information about teaching and learning, and use this to improve your teaching. Some times SoTL is stimulated by a teaching and learning issue that arises or you may wish to introduce an innovation. Scholarship also includes disseminating information within your department, at conferences, and/or writing articles to share what you have learned. You could also think about SoTL as inquiry about your practice.

McKinney's short article offers a variety of definitions of the scholarship of teaching and learning. The following paragraph summarizes the concept of SoTL.

The scholarship of teaching and learning involves systematic study of teaching and/or learning and the public sharing and review of such work through presentations or publications. “Study” is broadly defined given disciplinary differences in epistemology and the need for interdisciplinary SoTL. Presentations and publications may be local, regional, national or international. SoTL, then, shares established criteria of scholarship in general, such as that it is made public, can be reviewed critically by members of the appropriate community, and can be built upon by others to advance the field.

Activity

Think about your scholarship, and consider what else you could do to develop this further. To assist, you are asked to look through Neil Haigh's booklet entitled The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - A Practical Introduction and Critique. This publication not only attempts to explain what SoTL is and why it is important, but also talks about SoTL in the New Zealand tertiary education context.