With a renewed emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) both in the field and at the Teaching Commons, it was quite timely for me to attend this year's Canadian Society for Studies in Education (CSSE) Conference, held this year in Regina, Saskatchewan. CSSE is a particularly large conference, gathering scholars and practitioners from across Canada under a variety of different associations and interest groups representing diverse areas of education, including inclusive education, graduate students in education, and teacher education.
What I found to be most fascinating about this conference was its purposeful and continued emphasis on research. While this may be a mainstay of most conferences, CSSE in particular strongly encourages session proposals that lead with a discussion of a research study that has informed insights into or recommendations for our collective practice. In the constant interplay between scholar and practitioner in my work, I can often fall into the day to day of practice (and administration) without always being conscious of the myriad of research that informs and continues to inform my work. Many of the sessions I attended were an important and timely reminder of the intimate connection between the scholarly investigation of our practice and how previous studies can, and should, give us pause to think critically about our work in academia.
The session I presented at this conference highlighted preliminary findings of a research study exploring the perceived impact of our pilot formative classroom observation program. Also unlike other conferences I have attended in the past, my timeslot also included two other conference papers intentionally chosen as similar in theme and scope. Having the opportunity to both present my findings and here the work of the other two presenters prompted an interesting interplay of ideas and perspectives that is often rare at other conferences, where there is only one discussant and one point of view. This isn't to say that multiple perspectives aren't represented at other conference sessions, but this unique format allowed for an even richer dialogue as attendees would often ask questions that tied our three presentations together - they themselves began to discover common themes and insightful questions highlighting larger conversations around, for example, supporting and modelling reflective practice.
During my session, we began an important discussion around supporting instructors in developing an ongoing and fruitful reflective (or perhaps reflexive) dialogue around teaching and learning. Early results from our study indicate that instructors appreciate and value this as part of their practice, but may find it difficult to integrate reflection into their day to day teaching and other responsibilities. It was encouraging to see that the other two papers highlighted opportunities to model this work in our own programming, and offered some ideas around considering reflective practice as an opportunity to deepen our understanding of ourselves as teachers, while also exchanging ideas and important questions about teaching and learning that are meant to continually inform our practice.
As an Educational Developer, I see myself as continually moving along the continuum of scholar-practitioner. What I enjoyed most about this conference is that while there was a key emphasis on research and scholarship, I found myself reflecting on these data-driven insights in a way that has allowed me to consider how they may inform my practice. Many of the presenters also considered similar ideas, and being involved in numerous conversations that clearly demonstrated an appreciation for the link between scholarship and practice was inspiring. I am looking forward to using these new insights for our continued program development, and hope to engage in similar conversations with our colleagues. The scholarly investigation of our teaching, it seems, is both inspiring and essential.
