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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

What is SoTL?
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is "systematic reflection on teaching and learning made public." This definition arose from the work of a diverse group of faculty, staff, and students involved in the early Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Campus Program in 1998. In their reflections on the value of SoTL, they noted as follows: Most faculty care deeply about their teaching and their students' learning; many today are trying new classroom approaches in the hopes of strengthening the learning of students from increasingly diverse backgrounds and levels of preparation. But much of this work is lost to the larger academic community because it is private, undocumented, and untested. To build useful, shared understandings about teaching, growing numbers of faculty are now bringing their knowledge, skills, and commitments as scholars to their classroom work. The scholarship of teaching and learning invites faculty to examine their own classroom practice, document what works, and share lessons learned in ways that others can build on.

Where Can I Learn More?

POD: The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education fosters human development in higher education through faculty, instructional, and organizational development. For more information, go to: http://www.podnetwork.org/ ELI is the teaching and learning arm of EDUCAUSE, the association for higher education IT administrators, and focuses on advancing learning through information technology innovation http://www.educause.edu/eli Stanford Universitys website contains teaching tips on lectures, discussions, small group work, using a computer to enhance learning, and using writing to facilitate learning. http://ctl.stanford.edu/teachingta/handouts-and-teaching-tips.html The International Lilly Conference on College Teaching focuses on higher education. http://www.units.muohio.edu/lillycon/ The TLT Group (Teaching, Learning, Technology) provides resources online, even to those who do not subscribe to their service. http://www.tltgroup.org/about.htm Newletters, Listservs: The Teaching Professor, Tomorrows Professor, The National Teaching & Learning Forum

What writings have been key in its development?

The following key articles have either been highly influential in the development of SoTL or provide accessible introductions to the world of SoTL. Bass, Randy, The Scholarship of Teaching: Whats the Problem?, Inventio, 1 (1), 1999. In this article, Randy Bass compares the use of the word problem in traditional scholarly research (where finding a problem to work on is a good thing) and in teaching (where problems are to be avoided). Bass suggests that finding problems in ones teaching is an important component of SoTL. In this article, E. Bender provides a history of the SoTL movement and of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. In this article, Daniel Bernstein, former director of the Peer Review of Teaching Project, and Randy Bass, director of the Visible Knowledge Project, compare and contrast the scholarship of teaching and learning

Bender, Eileen T., CASTLs in the Air: The SOTL Movement in Mid-Flight, Change, Sept/Oct 2005 Bernstein, Daniel, and Randy Bass, The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,Academe, 91 (4), 2005.

seen in their respective projects. Hutchings, Pat, Approaching the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, introduction to Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Carnegie Foundation, 2000. In this introduction to Opening Lines, Pat Hutchings summarizes and compares the approaches to SoTL taken by the Carnegie Scholars whose articles appear in the rest of the volume. This essay includes the useful What is?, What works?, and Whats possible? taxonomy of SoTL questions. Hutchings and Shulman explore the state of the SoTL field in this article and explain why the idea of a scholarship of teaching transformed into a scholarship of teachingand learning.

Hutchings, Pat, and Lee Shulman, The Scholarship of Teaching: New Elaborations, New Developments, Change, 31 (5), 1999.

Shulman, Lee, Teaching as Community Property: Lee Shulman introduces the idea of making teaching community Putting an End to Pedagogical Solitude, Change, 25 (6), property in this essay and presents three strategies for doing so. 1993. Shulman, Lee, Taking Learning Seriously,Change, 31 (4), 1999. In this article, Lee Shulman examines the professional roles and responsibilities of faculty at academic institutions in regard to teaching, learning, and SoTL.

Whos conducted research on SoTL?

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Annotated Bibliography This annotated bibliography from the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) provides a literature review through 2002. www.carnegiefoundation.org Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Selected Bibliography This bibliography lacks the annotations of the one above, but it is more current, covering literature on SoTL through January 2005. www.sotl.ilstu.edu Guide to Literature Searches for SoTL Research www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=3207 This Indiana University-Bloomington Library page lists key library databases to use when searching for SoTL research. See also their page listing useful search terms. www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=3214 Tutorial on SoTL This excellent resource provides examples of Faculty SoTL projects along with an overview of SoTL and an overview of the topic. www.issotl.org/tutorial/sotltutorial/home.html Journals focusing on teaching and learning (more, including discipline-specific journals, are available on CTEs website): o Journal on Excellence in College Teaching (all issues available online thru Galileo) o International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (Ga. Southern online journal) o New Directions for Teaching and Learning offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and on the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers. (all issues available online thru Galileo) o Innovative Higher Education focuses on innovations and provocative new ideas in higher education o See also Getting SoTL Articles PublishedA Few Tips, an article in which Kathleen McKinney, Cross Chair in SoTL and Professor of Sociology at Illinois State University, presents suggestions for publishing SoTL . www.sotl.ilstu.edu/resLinks/sotlMats/getPub.shtml

Conferences (in-state): The SoTL Commons: A Conference for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning, Georgia
Southern University and Georgia Conference on College & University Teaching, Kennesaw State University

Conferences (by discipline): See GGCs CTE website for a list of SoTL conferences by discipline.