Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning Research Research Articles

Scholarship of teaching and learning at AACSB accredited business school: who’s doing it, and how’s it captured?

PurposeThis paper explores who among the AACSB categorization of academics conducts the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) research within business schools and how AACSB-accredited business schools capture SoTL research as part of their portfolio of intellectual contributions.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a qualitative-method research design by collecting primary data through surveys, semi-structured interviews and secondary data in policy documents focused on AACSB-accredited business schools in Canada and the United States.FindingsThe findings establish that scholarly and practice academics who possess rigorously acquired research skills due to their terminal degrees are most likely to conduct SoTL research. The results also reveal an even split among respondents regarding whether their AACSB-accredited business school captures SoTL with their journal ranking frameworks.Practical implicationsBased on the findings, two recommendations are offered to foster more SoTL research at AACSB-accredited schools. First, higher education leaders (e.g. business school deans) can further inculcate a culture of SoTL research at the department and institutional levels by creating communities of practice (CoPs). Second, AACSB-accredited business schools could adopt more inclusive journal ranking frameworks to capture better and incentivize SoTL research.Originality/valueThis is the first known study to explore how AACSB Standards 3 and 8 are implemented and operationalized regarding SoTL research. Understanding how these standards are adopted and implemented could help institutional leaders, standard setters and administrators better facilitate SoTL research.

SoTL in Human Movement Sciences: Moving Forward in South Africa

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is an emerging focus within South Africa (SA). In Human Movement Sciences (HMS) in SA, research is primarily discipline-specific, and many researchers are unfamiliar with SoTL. To explore how we (as HMS lecturers) could integrate SoTL into our research, we formed a community of practice (CoP). The SoTL unicycle depiction of Swart et al. (2016) suited our visual analogy since the focus of HMS is on the human body that is in motion. For us, the unicycle represented HMS SoTL in motion. Swart et al. (2016) viewed the SoTL movement as an academic’s individual journey, whereas we saw SoTL from a CoP perspective. Therefore, we adapted the unicycle into a tandem bicycle, representing our collaborative engagements. Participatory action learning and action research (PALAR) formed our theoretical framework. Through our dialogue, each tandem wheel’s focus emerged. The back wheel was about deciding to SoTL (or not). This became a linchpin of our critical dialogue during the relationship-building phase of our CoP. Once we committed, we needed to learn how to keep our CoP moving forward. This became the middle wheel of our tandem bicycle. Next, the front wheel and handlebar became our guide into what the future of SoTL would be for us. The tandem bicycle, therefore, represents our collective cycles of learning as we became SoTL researchers. We believe our learning can support others transitioning from discipline-specific research to engaging in SoTL. *Please note that this poster is best viewed in Adobe on a computer/laptop for interactivity. Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post.

Sustaining Positive Change in the Teaching Scholars’ Online Community of Practice

In this paper, we emphasize the value of an online community of practice (OCoP) for bringing together faculty from across disciplines to share and leverage their diverse expertise and perspectives. We examine the transition of an interdisciplinary community of practice through the pivot into an online environment for engagement, communication, and collaboration. Through this paper we describe our individual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) projects and how we have navigated these projects within the Teaching Scholars OCoP, as well as our reflections and key learnings that have resulted from this sustained collaboration. We contribute key learnings and online strategies which can inform and be tailored by other academics and institutions who are developing online communities of practice as an approach to sustaining educational leadership and change in SoTL research and practice in diverse and distributed contexts.

Reconceptualizing participant vulnerability in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research: exploring the perspectives of health faculty students in Aotearoa New Zealand

While the need to protect vulnerable research participants is universal, conceptual challenges with the notion of vulnerability may result in the under or over-protection of participants. Ethics review bodies making assumptions about who is vulnerable and in what circumstance can be viewed as paternalistic if they do not consider participant viewpoints. Our study focuses on participant vulnerability in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research. We aim to illuminate students’ views on participant vulnerability to contribute to critical analysis of the role and processes of ethics review. Additionally, we aim to highlight the importance of seeking the views of participant communities, especially in research environments beyond ethics review’s medical origins. Thirty-four students from a health-related faculty at a university in Aotearoa New Zealand, participated in five focus groups. Participants discussed factors affecting their potential participation in research drawing upon a series of vignettes based on examples of published SoTL projects. Themes, generated using reflexive thematic analysis, built a participant-informed picture of vulnerability. Findings indicate that students do not generally consider themselves vulnerable and instead consider participation in SoTL research through an agentic lens. Students expect that participation will be voluntary, not negatively impact their grades, and not single them out so that others could judge them. Our study also highlights the value students place on relationships with one another and teaching staff and the implications these have for SoTL research participation and future professional practice. This research challenges research ethics committees to think further about vulnerability in the context of SoTL whilst highlighting the importance of providing opportunities for research participants more broadly to explore and vocalize their views as members of participant communities.

Modalities of Faculty Engagement with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

This article reports on a mixed-methods study examining the ways in which faculty and staff engage with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at a medium-sized research-intensive university in southern Ontario, Canada. Survey data was collected from fifty-six faculty and staff respondents, along with eight faculty completing follow-up semi-structured interviews. We found respondents used multiple engagement modalities to stay informed on SoTL literature, carry out SoTL research, and disseminate their findings. Barriers to SoTL participation include lack of dedicated time, limited formal SoTL training, and inexperience with different disciplinary norms found in SoTL articles. Participants emphasized the importance of collaborative SoTL inquiry, highlighting in particular the benefits of partnering with students on scholarly projects. Additionally, participants underscored the importance of implementing evidence-based teaching strategies. Our findings mirror trends in the literature regarding SoTL engagement activities, barriers to participation, and faculty perceptions of SoTL. This study contributes novel insight into the ways faculty choose to engage with SoTL and common obstacles, as well as suggestions for how teaching and learning centers can use engagement data to better support faculty and staff SoTL scholars.

Searching the Literature on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): An Academic Literacies Perspective

There are few references that critically evaluate the different ways of searching the literature on scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), or how these are related to researchers’ goals. We use an academic literacies perspective as a lens with which to explore the different ways that literature searches may be undertaken. While searching the literature is often presented as a scientific objective process, the reality is much messier, nuanced, and iterative. It is a complex, context-dependent process. We provide a practical, critical guide to undertaking SoTL literature searches and argue that these need to be seen as socially constructed processes. There is no one right way of searching the SoTL literature. The academic literacies perspective leads us to emphasise the variety of different purposes for carrying out a literature search. We distinguish between using comprehensive tools and selective sources. We end by arguing that there is a need for SoTL researchers to be less insular and take purposeful steps to search for, cite, and amplify diverse voices. This article complements a separate one where we review and synthesise the SoTL literature.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Construction Management Education amidst the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Recommendations from a Scientometric Analysis

Purpose: The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) has gained traction in a wide range of academic disciplines as a legitimate and compelling form of scholarly and creative work for faculty. SoTL has explored questions about teaching strategies; student engagement, growth and learning; and other aspects of the teaching and learning process. Like the Fourth Industrial Revolution, SoTL is a disruptive force in higher education by, at its very core, making clearer how to support and enhance students’ learning. The research presented here contextualises SoTL in Construction Management Education (CME), seeks to enrich CME models for teaching and learning, spur collaboration and advance SoTL as a whole. Methodology: The overarching epistemology adopted both interpretivist and pragmatist philosophical stances embedded within inductive reasoning to critically analyse extant literature as a secondary data source. Groupings of SoTL research activity were established and common themes identified using scientometrics. Findings: Research findings illustrate that, whilst SoTL has received increasing attention and development within higher education, a considerable scarcity of SoTL in CME is present. A comparative analysis between CME and select disciplines with a high representation of SoTL research allowed for the establishment of shared themes among the disciplines resulting in an initial set of recommendations for advancing SoTL in CME. Originality: This research highlights the lack of SoTL inquiry and practice within CME and, in so doing, underscores the urgency for collaboration both within and outside of built environment disciplines to optimise future CME practices amidst the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

SoTL at Georgia Southern: perceptions, engagement and impact

The purpose of this study was to investigate the state of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) at our institution, including SoTL perceptions, engagement and impact. A link to an online anonymous survey (31 questions) in Qualtrics was distributed to all academic units. The final sample consisted of 90 faculty and administrators from a population of 1,327, reflecting a response rate of almost 7%. Over half of the participants engaged in SoTL research. More often they presented their work at conferences than in publications. Perceptions of support at departmental and Faculty Center levels were positive, but negative at the institutional level. Qualitative data indicated the legitimacy of SoTL and lack of support as major barriers to SoTL research. There was strong agreement among participants that SoTL positively impacted course design, types of assessments used, personal expectations and quality of student learning.

Faculty Empowering Faculty

Faculty are increasingly interested in engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) across disciplines, necessitating educational development support. While many institutions utilize one-time workshops and faculty communities offering professional development funding, the case study presented in this article takes a different approach. The aim of the Engaged Teacher-Scholar (ETS) program is to support faculty growth in a process of becoming ETS leaders across the university campus. ETS leaders advance an individual SoTL research project and are trained to develop a plan for and offer professional development events to their department, college, and university related to SoTL. The article presents an overview of the program’s objectives, organization, and outcomes over four years of implementation. The article concludes with implications for implementation at other institutions.

The SoTL Body: Identifying and Navigating Points of Entry

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.

What Do SoTL Practitioners Need to Know about Learning?

What does someone embarking on a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project need to know about how students learn? And how can the SoTL novice reconcile their goals to improve teaching and learning with the vastness of the literature on the science of learning? In this article, we consider the complexity of this literature and its intersection with SoTL. We also review several popular books and websites that might be used by the SoTL novice as entry points for grounding their SoTL studies, informing the questions they ask and narrowing the literature they read. In these brief reviews, we offer practical tips and advice on how to use these resources effectively so that one does not have to become an expert in the science of learning to perform outstanding SoTL research.

What Do SoTL Practitioners Need to Know about Learning?

What does someone embarking on a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project need to know about how students learn? And how can the SoTL novice reconcile their goals to improve teaching and learning with the vastness of the literature on the science of learning? In this article, we consider the complexity of this literature and its intersection with SoTL. We also review several popular books and websites that might be used by the SoTL novice as entry points for grounding their SoTL studies, informing the questions they ask and narrowing the literature they read. In these brief reviews, we offer practical tips and advice on how to use these resources effectively so that one does not have to become an expert in the science of learning to perform outstanding SoTL research.

On nurturing the emergent SoTL researcher: responding to challenges and opportunities

ABSTRACT This study reports on an investigation into the experiences of faculty engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Common challenges that emerged across the interviews included competing priorities, and a lack of background knowledge and research skills relevant to their SoTL work. These challenges were often overcome by working alongside colleagues, as well as receiving support provided by the institutional teaching and learning centre. The findings of this study offer insights into how institutions can best support and encourage SoTL research among faculty, and thereby enhance the quality of teaching.

Facilitators and Barriers to Engagement and Effective SoTL Research Collaborations in Faculty Learning Communities

To determine factors that influence faculty engagement and success in faculty learning communities focused on collaborative Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), our project gathered information on (1) faculty motivation to engage with SoTL; (2) structures that support collaboration; (3) the perceived impact of SoTL on teaching, scholarship, and faculty engagement in academic communities on campus and beyond; and (4) the role of the teaching center in supporting collaborative faculty learning communities focused on SoTL. In this explanatory, sequential design mixed-methods study, participants were asked to complete a survey on their experience as participants in faculty learning communities at a large comprehensive public university in the southeastern United States; researchers then conducted one-on-one interviews with select participants to gain an in-depth understanding of trends and questions emerging from the survey data. Results indicate that personal, institutional, professional, and team factors contribute to participants’ perception of the success and effectiveness of collaborative research teams. Findings from the study offer guidance for setting up effective collaborative structures for SoTL projects and nurturing inter-disciplinary research among faculty members, thus providing insights that can inform the design and facilitation of similar programs in the United States and internationally.

Students’ Learning Support and Perceptions in an Online Mathematics Course in a Business Faculty

Online courses are growing in higher education, resulting from an increased access to information and communication technologies. While such courses allow time and/or space flexibility for both students and instructors, they also promote active learning and require more autonomy from the students. In this paper, we present the main design features of a new prerequisite mathematics online course in a business faculty. While most of the course was designed in an asynchronous mode, it also includes blended synchronous support sessions that students can attend each week. As a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project, we related the design features of the course to students’ learning support and perceptions by analyzing the content of the learning management system as well as students’ narrative comments in course teaching evaluations over five semesters. The main themes reported concerned the appreciated course design and structure, the enhanced instructor’s presence through commented slideshows and support sessions, the instructor’s accessibility and care, a challenging but relevant course, and collaborative practice with a software application. In particular, the instructor’s presence and follow-up throughout the semester was highlighted by the students as a means to support their learning. Furthermore, most students’ comments reported positive perceptions about the online course and specific design features. Several comments also allowed to identify potential areas for change in a future version on the course, as part of the SoTL research that focuses on teaching and learning improvement.

“This Is How You Do It, Right?!” Practical Suggestions for Designing and Implementing Education Research Projects within the Anatomy Classroom

Anatomy educators have become leaders in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) within the biomedical sciences. Our classrooms and laboratories are learning hubs filled with innovative, evidence‐based pedagogies that we commonly systematically evaluate for learning effectiveness. As we continue to push the boundaries of innovative teaching, we must be careful to ensure we are developing, implementing, and disseminating education research projects with strong and resilient designs. Within the broad field of SoTL and education research there are common design flaws that can be avoided with careful preparation and forethought. Specifically, this presentation will focus on six themes of education research each with common concerns: 1) selecting an appropriate methodology and data collection strategy that best aligns with the specific research question(s), 2) establishing appropriate and informative comparison groups, 3) using randomization to control for between‐student factors (and to avoid self‐selection bias), 4) including appropriate considerations of power differential when using one's own students as research participants, 5) obtaining informed consent in a manner that respects student autonomy, and 6) selecting robust statistical analyses that fit the research design. Each theme will be thoroughly expanded upon in the context of the anatomy classroom/laboratory with concrete, practical suggestions for effective and meaningful SoTL projects. Positive examples will be extracted from recently published works to showcase exemplary research designs in the field. Ultimately, the goal of this presentation is to initiate and fuel constructive conversations on education research design elements; a conversation that will benefit junior and senior anatomy educators alike. By encouraging and facilitating strong, resilient, and thoughtful education research projects, anatomy educators can continue to be at the forefront of innovative SoTL practices that enhance learning for our students and positively impact biomedical education at large.Support or Funding Informationn/aThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Phenomenology as a methodology for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a rich forum where scholars from different fields and philosophical orientations find space to share their research on teaching and learning in higher education. Within this paper, we will share our individual and collective experiences of why we perceive phenomenology as a methodology well-suited for a broad range of SoTL purposes. Phenomenology is a research approach that focuses on describing the common meaning of the lived experience of several individuals about a particular phenomenon. We will discuss how phenomenology informed our own SoTL research projects, exploring the experiences of faculty and undergraduates in higher education. We will highlight the challenges and affordances that emerged from our use of this methodology. Phenomenology has motivated us to tell our stories of SoTL research and within those, to share the stories that faculty and students shared.

The scholarship of teaching and learning in emergency management and homeland security: Trends, gaps, barriers, and opportunities.

Underlying the nature of what is and is not a profession are education standards. Among the characteristics defining a profession's specialized boundaries are the education standards comprising its academic programs. The status of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is explored for both emergency management and homeland security (EM/HS) at this point in time. The aim of this article is to increase the conceptual understanding of SoTL by discussing what SoTL is, explaining why it is important, exploring our current state of knowledge in this area, and by identifying current barriers and opportunities for improvement. Several possible means of better integrating SoTL into the EM/HS discipines are highlighted: Making SoTL a higher priority, increasing exposure to existing research, advancing knowledge within our own disciplines, sharing knowledge through publications and conferences, and applying knowledge in our teaching. Conclusively, the vital nature of SoTL research can more deeply establish the professional boundaries for both disciplines.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Changing the Dominant Narrative About (and In) Research Institutions

Despite calls for and advances in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) over the years, research-intensive institutions have a persistent reputation as preferring and demanding Boyer’s “scholarship of discovery” at the expense of SOTL work. In this article, we challenge the dominant narrative that research-focused institutions—the Carnegie “R1”and “R2”—do not engage in or value SOTL research in business and management education (BME). In a previous empirical study, we found evidence that a surprising proportion of R1 and R2 schools are already creating and disseminating innovative and impactful BME work. Using diffusion of innovations theory, we argue that those institutions can provide leadership due to their BME work, and examine what this might mean in terms of the prospects for diffusion of BME research among all research-intensive institutions. Due to external stakeholder pressures for excellent, evidence-based instruction, we assert that institutions that do subordinate SOTL to discipline-based scholarship will be forced to reframe their research portfolios. We end the article with solutions for how faculty could include BME work within their overall research efforts and challenge institutions to reconsider how BME scholarship may help them craft a more inclusive research narrative.

Research Approaches in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Publications: A Systematic Literature Review

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has been described as the fastest growing academic development movement in higher education. As this field of inquiry matures, there is a need to understand how SoTL research is conducted. The purpose of our study was toinform this debate by investigating research approaches used in SoTL publications. We analysed 223 empirical research studies published from 2012 to 2014 in three explicitly focused SoTL journals. We classified the studies as either qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods using an analytical framework devised from existing literature on research methods. We found that the use of the three research designs was fairly evenly distributed across the papers examined: qualitative (37.2%), quantitative (29.6%), and mixed methods (33.2%). However, there was an over-reliance on data collection from a single source in 83.9% of papers analysed, and this source was primarily students. There was some, but limited, evidence of the use of triangulation through the use of multiple data collection instruments (e.g. survey, assessment tasks, grade databases). Similarly, only one-third of publications classified as mixed methods integrated the analysis and interpretation of the qualitative and quantitative data equally within the study. We conclude that current SoTL research is characterised by methodological pluralism but could be advanced through inclusion of more diverse approaches, such as close reading, and adoption of strategies known to enhance the quality of research, for example, triangulation and visual representation.