SoTL Draft Page

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Welcome to Mount Royal 's Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Collaborative Work Space!

Contents

[edit] About Mount Royal's SoTL Network Collaborative Work Space

The purpose of this work space is to share ideas and resources related to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).

The space consists of three main areas:

  • Resources (Web sites, articles and studies related to SoTL)
  • MRC Events (SoTL Speaker Series and other related events)
  • External Events (Conferences and activities)

[edit] Resources

This section of the page consists of links to our monthly SoTL Digest, journals, defintions, research methods, articles and studies related to SoTL.

[edit] SoTL Digest

You can access our SoTL Digest by clicking on the following link.

[edit] Journals

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning is an open, peer-reviewed, international electronic journal published twice a year by the Center for Excellence in Teaching at Georgia Southern University to be an international vehicle for articles, essays, and discussions about the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and its applications in higher/tertiary education today. All submissions undergo a double-blind peer-review.
Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
This journal offers an opportunity for those involved in University learning and teaching to disseminate their practice. It aims to publish accounts of scholarly practice that report on small-scale practitioner research and case studies of practice that involve reflection, critique, implications for future practice and are informed by relevant literature, with a focus on enhancement of student learning. This publication thus offers a forum to develop and share scholarly informed practice in Higher Education through either works in progress or more detailed accounts of scholarly practice. There will be opportunities for discussions/comments regarding works in progress to be shared with journal readers on the journal site. The journal is published twice a year (April and October).
MountainRise 
MountainRise is an open, peer-reviewed, international electronic journal published twice a year by the Coulter Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning at Western Carolina University for the purpose of being an international vehicle for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL).
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL) is a forum for the dissemination of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in higher education for the community of teacher-scholars. Our peer reviewed Journal promotes SoTL investigations that are theory-based and supported by evidence. JoSoTL’s objective is to publish articles that promote effective practices in teaching and learning and add to the knowledge base.
Insight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching
The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) is proud to publish InSight, the first peer-reviewed publication to be sponsored by Park University. InSight is a refereed journal published annually by CETL that features theoretical and empirically-based research articles, critical reflection pieces, case studies and classroom innovations relevant to teaching, learning and assessment. Unique from many discipline-based and teaching-oriented journals, InSight focuses each edition on a specific topic or theme relevant to current trends in higher education.

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
The International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education provides a forum for higher education faculty, staff, administrators, researchers, and students who are interested in improving post-secondary instruction. The IJTLHE provides broad coverage of higher education pedagogy and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) across diverse content areas. All manuscripts are refereed (blind) using a peer-review process involving at least two reviewers. The review process typically takes approximately three months.
Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal
Transformative Dialogues is a forum for conversations intended to foster the improvement of adult teaching and learning. TD facilitates the multi-disciplinary exchange of ideas, actions, and results of innovative and professional practice in the scholarship of teaching and learning. These conversations are intended to span a wide range of reflections on the processes of teaching and learning ranging from the scholarly to scholarship. Reflections and understandings shared are focused on improving student and faculty learning, and critical thought processes in their current and future life long learning. We understand that scholarship may play out differently in different disciplines, but the basic principles should be consistent (Boyer, 1992).

Our journal adopts the principle that strategies, techniques and methods of teaching and learning transcend the boundaries of specific subject fields. We welcome relevant contributions from diverse settings such as academia, vocational training, continuing professional development, workplace learning, selected commercial exemplars, and social networking via communications technologies.

Academic Commons
Academic Commons aims to share knowledge, develop collaborations, and evaluate and disseminate digital tools and innovative practices for teaching and learning with technology.

Interdisciplinary SoTL Journals 
A compendium of interdisciplinary (and discipline-specific) outlets for dissemination of SoTL work.
Journal Outlets for Scholarship of Teaching Articles
The University of Wisconsin, Whitewater provides a link to a series of journals that publish SoTL studies in higher education.
Places to Publish Your Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
An extensive list of SoTL related journals from Buffalo State University along with some tips for publishing SoTL articles.

[edit] Research Methods

The What, Why and How of Classroom Action Research
What is Classroom Action Research? Why should you consider doing it? How do you do it? How does it differ from traditional research on teaching and learning? This essay by Gwynn Mettetal, founding co-editor of The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, is an attempt to answer those questions.
Action Research: Analyzing and Collecting Data
Action research has survived for many years via the support of enthusiasts, practitioners, and newcomers. Many new action researchers are educators and some are education students. From pre-service to in-service and from undergraduate to graduate programs there is a desire to become involved in action research projects related to education, teaching and improvement. Enthusiasts seek-out, and request guidance, support and reassurance as they move forward toward educational goals and research outcomes. Even veteran researchers take note of new developments and observe both the quality and pace of evolution within action research efforts. The following information was developed to address some of the needs of action researchers and to reexamine critical elements of action research such as the collection and analysis of data within action inquiries.

[edit] Research Tools

Flashlight Online Survey Tool
This is an online survey tool that comes with a large item bank of validated questions for SoTL studies. MRC has a site license to use this tool and you can contact Pattie Mascaro in ADC (pmascaro@mtroyal.ca or 6723) if you would like to know more about Flashlight (as well as receive a username and password for the system).

GetFAST
This is a free online survey tool that was developed by Bruce Ravelli and Z Patz at Mount Royal College. This application is widely used across North America as a Classroom Assessment tool.

[edit] Institutional and Organizational Web Sites

International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (ISSOTL) serves faculty members, staff, and students who care about teaching and learning as serious intellectual work. The goal of the Society is to foster inquiry and disseminate findings about what improves and articulates post-secondary learning and teaching.
Illinois State University SoTL Resource Site
Illinois State has defined SoTL as "systematic reflection on teaching and learning made public." This site contains links to SoTL resources and materials, examples of SoTL work, and an inventory of SoTL dissemination outlets.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Indiana University, Bloomington
The Indiana University Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Program is a faculty-driven initiative to improve undergraduate learning by fostering faculty inquiry into learning and by building interdisciplinary communities that support and refine this inquiry.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at the University of Saskatchewan
The work of Ernest Boyer has emphasized that teaching is not distinct from scholarship, which is too often and too narrowly interpreted as meaning only publication in refereed journals. Boyer reminds us that teaching is scholarship: that the concept of scholarship is already inherent in teaching. However, we must use the same robust criteria for documenting and evaluating teaching as we do other forms of scholarship.

[edit] Articles

Teaching – the overlooked research outlet
Monographs, conferences and keynotes are vital elements of the modern scholarly world, but they are by no means the only, let alone the best, ways to spread ideas and insights. As Tara Brabazon notes, teaching can be a powerful, and inspiring, method of disseminating findings.

Electronic Portfolios: Engaged Students Create Multimedia-Rich Artifacts
This paper briefly summarizes the implementation of a university-wide electronic portfolio requirement. We begin with a systemic view of the ePortfolio Program and narrow our focus to a view of ePortfolio integration into two different classes. The rationale behind the Clemson University ePortfolio Program is to build a mechanism through which core competencies are demonstrated and evaluated. The target classes are a general education English class focusing on 20th and 21st century literature and a professional development seminar in computer science. Both classes allow students to select their topics and present their work to the class using a variety of media types, and both include a form of peer evaluation. These classes confirm that when students’ choice is built into the assignments we are pleasantly surprised by the outcomes. In addition, an extensive variety of artifacts are generated from each course that can be used to demonstrate the general education competencies, provide authentic evidence of learning, and generate a career portfolio. In our examples, we will describe the planning, implementation, and dissemination processes necessary to integrate the ePortfolio Program into university courses.

The Scholarship of Teaching: What's the Problem?
Randy Bass of Georgetown University states that one telling measure of how differently teaching is regarded from traditional scholarship or research within the academy is what a difference it makes to have a "problem" in one versus the other. In scholarship and research, having a "problem" is at the heart of the investigative process; it is the compound of the generative questions around which all creative and productive activity revolves. But in one’s teaching, a "problem" is something you don’t want to have, and if you have one, you probably want to fix it. Asking a colleague about a problem in his or her research is an invitation; asking about a problem in one’s teaching would probably seem like an accusation. Changing the status of the problemin teaching from terminal remediation to ongoing investigation is precisely what the movement for a scholarship of teaching is all about. How might we make the problematization of teaching a matter of regular communal discourse? How might we think of teaching practice, and the evidence of student learning, as problems to be investigated, analyzed, represented, and debated?

Asking the Right Question: What Does Research Tell Us About Technology and Higher Learning?
Steve Ehrmann has been involved with innovation in higher education -- its funding, its evaluation, and research about it -- for thirty years, especially innovations having to do with computing, video and telecommunications. During that time he has often been asked “What do computers teach best?” “Does video encourage passive learning?” and “Is it cheaper to teach with telecommunications?” He indicates that he doesn’t have answers to those questions. He doesn’t think they can be answered in any reliable, valid way. He argues that it takes just as much effort to answer a useless question as a useful one. The quest for useful information about technology begins with an exacting search for the right questions. This essay by Steve discusses some useless questions, a few useful ones (and the findings that have resulted), and one type of question that ought to be asked next about our uses of computing, video and telecommunications for learning.

[edit] MRC Events

This section of the page consists of events that will take place at MRC.

[edit] SoTL in Progress Speaker Series

[edit] Winter 2009 Sessions

[edit] How Much Choice is Too Much?
Providing a learner-centered perspective is in keeping with modern constructivist approaches to learning, and this means that courses must be designed with learner attributes and choice in mind. In computer science, concerns over accreditation and the need for accountability at the post-secondary level seem to contradict freedom of choice and flexibility of term work, but this need not be the case. This presentation outlined numerous strategies for offering choice and flexibility to students in a freshman programming course. Approaches include flexible deadlines, the ability to re-submit work that has already been assessed, small writing tasks, contributing to course content, bonuses for embellishments and extra work, and choices about which problems to solve. All of the strategies have been employed in classes, and students’ reactions as well as effects on student engagement and quality of work are described.
[edit] Investigating the efficacy of embedment: experiments in information literacy integration
  • Meagan Bowler, Library and Kori Street, Bissett School of Business
  • Session Handout
In this session, Meaghan and Kori presented the findings of a series of experiments in embedding a librarian at a variety of levels into the undergraduate classroom. This study aimed to determine whether different levels of librarian embedment correlated with improvement in undergraduate students’ information literacy (IL) skills.
[edit] The Role of Virtual Learning Environments in the Engagement and Academic Achievement of Undergraduate Medical Students
In this session, Jim shared preliminary results from his PhD thesis which examined the impact of a virtual learning environment (learning management system) on academic engagement and achievement of undergraduate medical students at the University of Calgary. Implications for future study of learner engagement and efficacious use of virtual learning environments in post-secondary contexts will be discussed.
[edit] Evolution of the "Newsroom in the Classroom" Project
This study traces the evolution of a Problem (Project) Based Learning approach to the teaching of Journalism in the Applied Degree Program in the Centre for Communication Studies at Mount Royal College. It focuses on the evolution of a “newsroom in the classroom” structure which has grown from a model classroom newspaper through a campus-focused newspaper to a fully-developed community newspaper. It examines how this approach, deploying classic PBL techniques, has refined the technical and broader professional skills of journalism students, created a noticeably more effective and efficient delivery of a package of journalism skill sets and a more sophisticated and better prepared graduate.

[edit] Fall 2008 Sessions

[edit] How can we encourage students to think about study skills, and what happens when they do?
  • Gen Thurlow & Nancy Odgen, Psychology Department and Suzanne Evans, Learning Skills Department

An earlier pilot project indicated that when study skills are presented in a relevant context (associated with course content) and modeled throughout the term in the classroom, students benefit more than when the information is offered in discrete non-context-related presentations. We knew, however, that modeling study skills might be problematic in very large multi-sectioned courses, and we wondered whether web-based study skills information presented in context (linked to course content and accessed over the term) would be as effective. We created a "Psychology Study Skills Site" (the "SSS") and, during two terms with a potential participant population of over 1500 Intro Psyc students, we experimentally assessed the effects of using the study skills website. In this presentation we'll describe the study and its results, and discuss the implications of our work.

[edit] Watching Learning Happen: Results from a long term study of Journalism students

The information skills of journalism study develop in response to formal instruction, work experience and the changing information environment. One simple instrument encourages them to reflect on their skills and to draw these disparate influences together. The data gathered through the project had direct benefits on curriculum over the course of the study, and has proved a rich resource for research, illustrating not only what students learn and retain, but how they use diverse information tools and skills in their professional work.

[edit] The Appreciative Comments Approach to Teaching
  • Jeff Jewett, Theatre, Speech & Music Performance Department
  • Presentation

The Problem-Solution approach focuses on problems while the Appreciative Comments Approach focuses on what can be appreciated. It goes beyond positive thinking. Appreciative Comments Approach is based on the Appreciative Enquiry theory that claims that focusing on the good will cause weaknesses to fade away. It is the process of identifying and endorsing the strengths or the good that an individual possesses. It is thought that this approach could be the catalyst of developing strengths that will lead to change. The session will demonstrate how this approach can be applied to comments related to student assessment.

[edit] SoTL of Entrepreneurship
  • Alex Bruton, Bissett School of Business

It has been argued by some that entrepreneurship can't be taught: either you're born with it or you're not, goes the argument. On the other hand, policymakers are calling for our undergraduate institutions to provide an "entrepreneurial launch pad" for our youth so that Alberta can “be in control of its own economic destiny.” In this talk, Alex will share his perspective on meeting this teaching and learning challenge, based on his experience leading the team renewing our entrepreneurship curriculum. While we have found that the very nature of entrepreneurship requires everyone – the administrator, the curriculum designer, the teacher and the learner – to dig deeper into their toolboxes than they otherwise might, we are also seeing some extremely encouraging outcomes as a result of our efforts to do so. This talk shares some of those outcomes and offers an introduction to what we are up to on the teaching and learning front.

[edit] Other MRC Events''''''''''''''''''''

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[edit] Research and Scholarship@Lunch

All sessions will be in EA3101 between 12 noon and 1pm

For each seminar tea, coffee and dessert will be provided. All are welcome.

[edit] External Events

This section of the page consists of external events (outside of MRC).

[edit] Conferences

The Ethics of Inquiry, 2009 National CASTL Institute for the Development of Scholars of Teaching and Learning
June 3-6, 2009 at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska

The Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education's 29th Annual Conference
June 17-20, 2009 at the University of New Brunswick, in Fredericton, New Brunswick
STLHE is a national association of academics interested in the improvement of teaching and learning in higher education. Its members comprise faculty and teaching and learning resource professionals from institutions of post-secondary education across Canada and beyond. Founded in 1981, the bilingual STLHE is home to the Council of 3M Teaching Fellows and the Educational Developers Caucus. This year’s conference, Between the Tides, is expected to attract more than 600 individuals from Canada, the United States and abroad. Each year, the STLHE conference participants exchange ideas, communicate research findings, and connect with old and new colleagues. This year’s conference, Between the Tides, will explore various tensions and debates that pull instructors and faculty in different directions.

What the Best College Teachers Do: 14th Annual International Summer Institute
June 17-19, 2009 in the New York City Area
A Three-day institute based on Ken Bain's award-winning and best selling book What the Best College Teachers Do* (Harvard University Press, 2004), and featuring author Ken Bain and some of the subjects of the 15-year study of excellence in college education. Institute combines resources of Montclair State University, Northwestern University, University of Texas, Rhode Island School of Design, and Vanderbilt University.


34th International Conference on Improving University Teaching 2009
July 14-17, 2009 at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC
This year's theme is Navigating Innovations in Teaching and Learning. New technologies and pedagogies are being introduced at an accelerated rate. Information sharing systems and communication possibilities, along with recent advances in active learning, demonstrate the amazing potential a new generation of learners now expect. In what ways can we best use the resources and knowledge available, without being buried by the very change surrounding us, that will help us all. That is, how does one decide which trends to adopt and what fads to avoid? Or, how can we all “navigate these
innovations in teaching and learning?”

7th International Conference on Imagination and Education
July 15-18, 2009 at the Coast Hotel, English Bay, Vancouver, Canada

During the past decade engaging and developing the imagination has come to the forefront as essential to building more educated, just, and sustainable societies. This 7th International Conference on Imagination and Education continues to build on growing interest around the world in the role of imagination in teaching and learning not only in schools, but also in a wide variety of educational settings that include museums, outdoor and experiential venues, and new media applications such as on-line games and social networks.

UPEI Faculty Development Summer Institute on Active Learning
August 3-7, 2009 at the University of Prince Edward Island
In 2009 the UPEI Faculty Development Summer Institute on Active Learning and Teaching will celebrate its 26th year of great faculty professional development. It remains the only one of its kind in Canada. The overall goal of the Institute is to improve teaching and learning by supporting teachers to learn and use active learning in their classrooms.

Integrating the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning into Academic Culture: Crafting a Commitment to Classroom Research

October 2 & 3, 2009, A Working Conference at Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri
Who should attend:

  • Faculty who are new to SoTL
  • Faculty who have been engaged in SoTL work
  • Directors of Centers of Teaching and Learning, Chairs, Deans, and Academic Affairs officers who are engaged in improving teaching effectiveness and learning outcomes


Annual Conference of the International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning
October 8-10, 2009, Radisson Plaza Warwick Hotel Philadelphia
Are you interested in fostering excellence in college teaching and learning? Are you interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning? Are you interested in meeting with like-minded professionals in a relaxing, yet serious environment? Then, the ISETL conference is for you!

The purposes of the International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning are to encourage the study of instruction and principles of learning in order to implement practical, effective methods of teaching and learning, promote the application, development and evaluation of such methods, and foster the scholarship of teaching and learning among practicing post-secondary educators. Society members are drawn from the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, nursing, business, education, and other disciplines and share a commitment to improving the quality of their teaching and the quality of their students' learning.


International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) Annual Conference

  • "Solid Foundations, Emerging Knowledge, Shared Futures"
    * Oct 22-25, 2009, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning presents a unique opportunity to bring together scholars from around the world, to explore the interconnections between teaching, learning and scholarship.

[edit] ISSOTL2008 Conference Reflections and Resources

You can view and post reflections and resources related to the ISSOTL2008 conference by clicking on this link.

[edit] Mount Royal SoTL Network Survey Results

A survey was carried out recently via the SoTL Network Listserv.

By 9/28/2008 4:00:49 PM, 35 people had responded. You can see those responses here.

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