Two Peas in a POD: Faculty Development and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

MountainRise, the International Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning v.8 n.1 Spring 2013 Peas in a POD: Faculty Development and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Laura Cruz, Editor When Ernest Boyer originally wrote about SoTL, he called it the Scholarship of Teaching. The “L” part of SoTL, learning, was added later to acknowledge the deep relationship between teaching and learning that had arisen from the learning-centered revolution in higher education pedagogy (Hutchings & Shulman, 1999). Since that time, SoTL has emphasized and, indeed, celebrated the primacy of student learning outcomes as evidence of effective practice. It is easy, however, to downplay the T, teaching. At the institutional level, SoTL initiative are often housed in Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs), which are focused on SoTL as part of comprehensive faculty development programs. What CTLs have found is that the production of SoTL solidifies and rewards teaching as a reflective act, and the consumption of SoTL promotes and encourages innovation and collaboration. The articles in the Spring 2013 issue of MountainRise share a focus on the “t” and highlight the contributions of SoTL work to the professional development of highly effective teachers.