Research on Teaching and Learning

Research on teaching, or the Scholarship for Teaching and Learning (SoTL), is a growing movement in post-secondary education that seeks to understand or improve student learning and the teaching approaches and practices that affect student learning. SoTL is a scholarly activity in which an instructor engages in careful planning, evaluation, and dissemination of their study in order to inform their own teaching and also to influence practice beyond their own classroom. It is practiced across all disciplines in higher education and thus employs a wide range of lenses and methods. The principles of best practice in SoTL (Felten 2013) are that an inquiry is:

• Focused on student learning
• Grounded in context (both in the literature and in a teaching-learning context)
• Conducted using sound methodology
• Conducted in partnership with students (ethics approval, at a minimum)
• Disseminated to contribute to both knowledge and practice

About SoTL

• SoTL Guide from the University of Calgary
• Action Research, SoTL, DBER by the Discipline Based Education Research Group
• Felten, P. (2013). Principles of Good Practice in SoTL. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, The ISSOTL Journal 1(1), 121-125.
• Hubball, H. and Clarke, A. (2010). Diverse methodological approaches and considerations for SoTL in Higher Education. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 1(1).
• Miller-Young, J. & Yeo, M.(2015). Conceptualizing and Communicating SoTL: A Framework from the Field. Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal 3(2), 37-53.

Getting Started:

• Researching Teaching and Student Outcomes in Postsecondary Education: A Guide
• Doing the scholarship of teaching and learning: Measuring systematic changes to teaching and improvements in learning
• A compendium of scales for use in the scholarship of teaching and learning
• Seidel, S.B., & Tanner, K.D. (2013). "What if students revolt?" - Considering student resistance: Origins, options, and opportunities for investigation. CBE Life Sciences Education, 12, 586-595.

Societies:

• Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE)
• International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL)
• SoTL Canada

Multidisciplinary SoTL Journals:

• Teaching and Learning Inquiry (TLI)
• The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CJSoTL)
• New Directions for Teaching and Learning
• Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching (CELT)

If you have questions regarding SoTL, request a consultation here.