CASTL - Building SoTL Communities

Three year agenda of the Building SoTL Communities Cluster

Tasks Start Date Completion Date       Status

Blog May 07 June 07   Complete

Website set-up May 07 Nov 07    Complete

SoTL understanding one page   May 07    June 07 Complete

Template for monthly report May 07   July 07

Implementation of monthly report template
May 07 May 09

Template for SoTL project data submission May 07 Nov 07 Complete

Implementation of SoTL template Nov 07 May 09

Template for case studies Nov 07 Nov 08

Apply for Funding for institutes Nov 07 May 08

Implementation of case study May 08 May 09

Apply for Funding for writing meeting
May 08 Nov 08

Group meeting (Ryerson) May 08 June 08

Toolkit Nov 08 May 09

Run/implement institutes Nov 08 Nov 09

Monograph writing week (Glasgow) May 09 June 09

Final meeting Nov 09 Dec 09

Initiatives from the OSU Cluster Meeting, May, 2007

Commonalities and Diversity in the Articulation of SoTL

This is a mapping of how we articulate SoTL within our own institutions. The commonalities reflect were a number of institutions reported back the identified features – however not all institutions agreed on all aspects, e.g. sharing – not everyone said all the examples. The diversity reflects areas that were highlighted in the feedback discussion as fracture points in our different ways of recognizing what constitutes SoTL.

Commonalities

Sharing - going public by the practitioner – with examples of SoTL (cross-discipline/within discipline, workshops, conversations, publishing, conference, institutes, seminars)

Sharing – going public about engaging practitioners in How to do SoTL, e.g. sessions on how to develop research questions, ethics and protocols, what is action research

Peer support – (practitioner-practitioner), e.g. learning communities, regular meetings of people in process of undertaking SoTL initiatives

Intuitional support (central teaching ad learning with practitioners), e.g. – one to one meetings, collaborations, rewards and recognition

Reflection – self on practice

To improve teaching and learning

An investigation into teaching learning

Diversity

The nature of the methodologies use to investigate

While we agree that an inquiry requires some methods the recognized approaches to the inquiry was not common. For some SoTL constitutes personal educational research, where it was of another’s teaching this was considered to be traditional educational research and not distinctly SoTL. Other differences was SoTL was an action research investigaton, or developing a teaching philosophy.

Informed by field or prior investigations – what’s already out there

Interdisciplinary

Of use within a discipline/faculty

Sharing – going public by supporting practitioners in developing academic practice, e.g. new faculty courses, assessment, evaluation etc

Initiatives from the OSU Cluster Meeting, May, 2007

Institutional Perspectives SoTL

Each of the institutional members were asked to answer - What do you do and why is it SoTL?

Ohio State University

The scholarship of teaching and learning is a method of approaching teaching and student learning from an investigative and self-reflective manner. The key to making it scholarship is presentation and so at OSU we have instituted regular meeting conferences/seminars based on how to investigate teaching. There are also educational research presentations and collaborative efforts across the entire university. Scholarship comes from the approach (research) – if you look at it from a typical hard science research problem you identify an aspect of teaching or student learning that you want to investigate. Design a study, collect data, etc. Using the tools of scholarship of discovery to investigate our own teaching. It is about our own teaching and our own students’ learning – it must be a personal investigation. It requires that we take these tools of investigation to improve our own teaching.

Southeast Missouri State University

SoTL is a critical introspection of teaching and learning.

Process of empirical assessment of teaching and learning within and across disciplines that includes innovations, adaptations, or approaches to teaching that focus on student learning.

Assess outcomes through a method of systematic analysis.

Sharing results with the academic community. This may include informal conversations, presentations to colleagues, workshops, institutes, and professional meetings, or publications.

Throughout the process, there is a system of encouragement, support, rewards, community, and collegiality.

Accomplished through the SoTL fellows Program that uses an Action Research format.

Queen’s University

It’s an inquiry into student learning from the perspective of the teacher for the purpose of improving your own practice and contributing to the field. It may take different forms but is typically:

Informed by the field,

Shared (made public – conversations on teaching, peer reviewed, publications),

Critical reflection

We are involved in helping people to develop all these skills/interests/capacities through consultations, workshops so that they can choose to engage in their own scholarship/projects.

Dartmouth

Sharing idea

Informed

Disperse research on teaching & learning

Improve teaching

Reflect on teaching (what works and what does not)

Collaboration (cross discipline, library, technical, etc.)

Highlighted in newsletter

University of Glasgow

Going public

Teaching development grants

Teaching development workshops, seminars

Journals

Supporting other people doing SoTL

Workshops around academic practice (course design, assessment)

3 credit bearing courses (graduate, new faculty, masters)

Want to enhance the student learning experience by practitioners engaging in informed reflection of their practice. Key – how this is evidenced – by practitioners being transparent or going public.    (May be an investigation of one’s own teaching or another’s.)

Ryerson University

An intentional examination of some aspect of the teaching learning process which includes:

A reflective process

Sharing with peers

A review and critique leading to new learning, new practices, and a recognition for all forms of inquiry into the teaching/learning process.

Faculty of Community Services Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.Focus on practice and engagement with our professional partners in the larger community.

Fostering inquiry and leadership for the improvement of student engagement and learning to advance professional preparation in community service;

developing synthesizing and sharing knowledge about learning and teaching, in support of professional preparation and partnership to advance community service and,

promoting academic and organizational change in support of the scholarship of teaching and learning.