A Systematic Review of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Research in Higher Education Institutes from 2014–2019

Abstract

This chapter provides a systematic review of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research in the higher education context. This review aims to report on the key themes and concerns addressed by SoTL researchers in the last five years. A total of 181 articles were analyzed and five salient themes of research emerged based on how the research questions and/or methodological approaches related to SoTL in the context of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). These themes are (1) Conceptualizing and framing SoTL, which focuses on the definitions and conceptualizations of SoTL in specific contexts, and the development of conceptual or theoretical frameworks for SoTL; (2) SoTL methodologies and approaches, which concerns particular methodologies used in SoTL research, as well as the synthesis of diverse SoTL methodologies; (3) Teaching and learning strategies and tools, which covers strategies for faculty professional development, strategies for improving student learning experience, and tools for teaching and learning; (4) Applied SoTL research, which includes applied research in the context of specific academic disciplines and across multiple disciplines, as well as SoTL research involving collaborative partnerships between researchers; and (5) Institutional support for SoTL, which comprises strategies and practices for supporting SoTL at the institutional level, the role of education leadership in advancing SoTL, and the development of an institutional culture for SoTL. We concluded the analysis by summarizing the major trends from the literature review and determined specific gaps in the literature to offer suggestions for future research.