The SoTL Body: Identifying and Navigating Points of Entry

Abstract

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) as a field invites researchers to examine their teaching practice with the goal of understanding its impact and effect on student learning (Hutchings & Shulman, 1999). Though inclusive by nature – belonging to no discipline yet informing practice in all – SoTL does have its own discourse, assumptions, and literature that may intimidate disciplinary scholars. This paper uses the human body as a metaphor to explain how researchers from diverse disciplines can use familiar entry points to ease their transition into SoTL. We identify and analyze parts and systems of the human and research body, revealing connections between particular disciplinary research bodies and the SoTL research body – connections that we hope provide disciplinary scholars with the confidence they need to navigate and engage in SoTL.