While many professors explicitly examine their own practices as a way to inform their teaching, a smaller number of faculty engage in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and its systematic inquiry into how to maximize student learning through effective teaching. They come from a wide range of research contexts and disciplines, a situation that brings richness to the field while posing challenges to the researcher venturing into a new area of research. Many are not familiar with research methods in SoTL and the constraints related to conducting research involving human participants (Fenton & Szala-Meneok, 2010). Hence, the Teaching Commons offers a variety of opportunities to explore and engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
The Writing Circle
The Writing Circle offers dedicated, on-going writing opportunities for the purpose of making progress on a writing project preferably related to teaching and learning in higher education. It is structured to enable writing and reflection about your writing and offers the opportunity for feedback among peers. It takes place one Friday per month, alternating between morning and afternoon. Find out when we meet here.
These workshops aim at supporting faculty interested in investigating teaching and learning in their own classroom.
An Overview of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
In this workshop, we will discuss the nature of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), which aims to better understand student learning and the teaching practices that affect it. We begin from the standpoint that faculty are often already engaged in many aspects of SoTL, albeit unknowingly, and later provide a framework for a more systematic inquiry into teaching and learning. In doing so, we will highlight a 6-step process to engage in SoTL.
November 20, 2018, 10 am to 12 pm in DB 1014: Register here
July 16, 2019 10 am to 12:30 pm in DB 1014: Register here
Designing an Ethical SoTL Study
In this workshop, we will consider the ethical requirements of a SoTL study and discuss how study design can alleviate ethical concerns in situations where one's students are also their subjects of research. We will explore different research designs in light of what can realistically and ethically be studied within the confines of one's classroom.
November 27, 2018, 10 am to 12 noon in DB 1014: Register here
July 30, 2019, 10 am to 12:30 pm in DB 1014: Register here
The Power of Conducting Qualitative Research: A Primer
In this two-hour workshop we will provide an overview of qualitative research in the context of doing the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Various situations will be explored where one might engage in this type of research. Participants will engage in a research design process and consider the requirements of a SoTL study. A case study will be presented to provide a concrete example of how qualitative research can be used to extract meaning.
November 19, 2018, 10 am to 12 noon in DB 1012: Register here
