Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL – rhymes with yodel) is a systematic investigation of a teaching and learning method. The findings can be shared for public review through publications in peer-reviewed, scholarly journals or presented at conferences. In other words, this type of research applies to the practice of teaching and can be conducted in any discipline.

Peter Felten of Elon University (2013) suggests that there are five key characteristics of SoTL research: “inquiry focused on student learning… grounded in both scholarly and local context… methodologically sound… conducted in partnership with students… [and] involves ‘going public'” (pp. 122-123).

Nancy Chick, Director of the Endeavor Foundation Center for Faculty Development at Rollins College and longtime contributor to the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, explains that SoTL is… 

• Inquiry to understand or improve student learning in higher education and the teaching approaches & practices that affect student learning.  
• Informed by research on teaching and learning  
• Conducted by educators who draw from their disciplinary expertise  
• Evidence that is gathered and analyzed in own specific contexts  
• Shared broadly to contribute to knowledge and practices in teaching and learning.

Why conduct SoTL research?

SoTL research can impact your tenure, promotion and/or continuing appointment. This research may demonstrate a faculty member's investment in improving teaching and sharing findings with others. It is an investment in your teaching and our university's ability to support our students' learning. As a reflective investigation, SoTL can improve your teaching. It gives you evidence to support your pedagogical choices so that you have evidence to support your perspective on your feelings about how a particular method impacted (or not) the teaching and learning dynamic. SoTL research broadens your research opportunities: SoTL is rigorous, quantifiable research that may use a quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods approach. In some departments, Professors of Practice in particular may find themselves well poised to conduct SoTL research given that they often have higher teaching loads or there may be specific faculty lines devoted to teaching and to SoTL or DBER research. There are many discipline-specific SOTL journals and interdisciplinary SoTL journals.

Research Questions and Design

Research questions can help to define your work and clarify your thinking. For your consideration, the following general questions may serve as a starting place:

What course and/or area of specialization does your project target?

Who are your students and how many do you expect to enroll in your course?

Describe your proposed research project. What tool or strategy will you use and how? What parts of your course will be impacted?

How do you anticipate that this might enhance student learning?

What challenges do you anticipate in terms of student learning?

How might this use create opportunities in your course (e.g. support students with different levels of preparation or academic backgrounds, address differences in student outcomes, etc.)?

What is your timeline for implementing and completing this project?

What student course work could you use as data to assess changes in students' learning and/or performance?

What other ways could you measure impacts on students?

How could you include a control condition or comparison group to measure impacts?

What possible publication outlets might be relevant for this work? These might include SoTL-specific journals or discipline specific peer-reviewed publications.

What is your timeline for implementing and completing this project

 

Another way to consider your SoTL project is to use the inquiry framework created by Hutchings (2000), which offers four kinds of questions:

• “Is it working” questions: Inquiry into the effectiveness of teaching practices and pedagogical approaches
  • Example: Do students learn more when they are in a class that incorporates learning assistants and peer instruction pedagogy?  
• “What is” question: Descriptive inquiry about students' learning, students' prior knowledge, characteristics of a pedagogical approach, a problem a teacher has encountered in a classroom, etc.
  • Example: What prior knowledge do my students bring to my first-year Chemistry course?
• “What would it look like” question: Inquiry focused on what might be
  • Example: How might a semester-long roleplaying simulation help students to understand the context of composer and conductor, Aaron Copeland?  
• “What could happen” Formulating new conceptual frameworks: Models and frameworks that lead to new inquiry questions
  • Example: What themes emerge from studies on reflection that might help us understand students' development of metacognitive awareness?

Common assessment techniques for SoTL research may involve pre/post-tests, assessments, or knowledge indicators, surveys and questionnaires, observation, focus groups, interviews, or writing samples.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Human Subjects: OP 74.09

IRB approval is needed when your project meets the definition of human subject research. The Texas Tech IRB – Human Research Protection Program recommends that all SOTL research go through an IRB process for the purpose of publication in peer-reviewed, scholarly journals or presentation at conferences. If the purpose of the SOTL research is internal program review or personal edification, an IRB is not needed but is still recommended in the event that the researcher changes their mind and wishes to make the information public.

Frequently, SoTL research falls into the Exempt, Category 1 review status, meaning that established or commonly accepted educational processes will be utilized. Research in the Exempt category includes research that involves minimal risk and fits certain precisely defined categories (45 CFR 46.104). The data are typically collected or received in a manner that is anonymous or de-identified.  Exempt research still requires an IRB to be submitted through Cayuse IRB. For more information about SoTL and IRB, please contact Dr. CassiDE Street, Director of the Human Research Protection Program. 

How can the TLPDC support you?

The TLPDC is highly invested in SoTL scholarship and can assist in the following ways: 

• Individual consultations to help consider your research questions and design as well as opportunities for dissemination and publication. 
   
• When resources allow, the TLPDC supports SoTL mini-grants that serve as a starting point for your work. These mini-grants are typically announced in late spring.  
   
• We are glad to partner with you in collaboration with Institutional Research (the official data source of institutional data for the university).

Where can I share my SoTL findings?

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Kennesaw State University maintains a large list of SoTL Journals, which can be filtered by discipline or topic. They also maintain a directory of teaching conferences which may provide outlets for presentations. 

Additional resources

A guide to the scholarship of teaching and learning. 2024. University of Minnesota. https://cei.umn.edu/teaching-resources/guide-scholarship-teaching-and-learning

Chick, N. Understanding SoTL. https://nancychick.wordpress.com/sotl-guide/

Felten, Peter. (2013). Principles of good practice in SoTL. Teachng & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 1(1), 121-125. Retrieved from https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/TLI/article/view/57376/43149

Hutchings, Pat. (2000). Introduction: Approaching the scholarship of teaching and learning. In Pat Hutchings (Ed.), Opening lines: Approaches to the scholarship of teaching and learning (pp. 1-10). Menlo Park, CA: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.