The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or SoTL, is a growing focus of professionals within higher education. When we talk about SoTL, we are describing the process of evaluating and observing how we teach and how our students learn within the context of Higher Education. Choosing to engage in SoTL means understanding and exploring the differences between knowing our content area and being able to deliver instruction of our content area in a meaningful way. It also means abandoning preconceived notions about how students learn, and deliberating upon how students engage with the information we provide.
The resources in these sections are selected with the intention to spark exploration and inquiry that improves instruction and increases student engagement.
Peter Felton provides a primer for SoTL through his publication "Principles of Good Practice in SoTL". In it, Felton identifies five key principles that he argues may be used as "guideposts".
Abstract
For the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) to be understood as significant intellectual work in the academy, SoTL practitioners need to identify shared principles of good practice. While honoring the diversity of SoTL in its many forms across the globe, such principles can serve as a heuristic for assessing work in our field. These principles include (1) inquiry into student learning, (2) grounded in context, (3) methodologically sound, (4) conducted in partnership with students, and (5) appropriately public. Taken together, these five principles can be guideposts for developing and refining individual SoTL inquiries and larger SoTL initiatives. These principles also can clarify and demystify SoTL to those on our campuses who evaluate our work, helping us to make the case for institutional resources and support for SoTL. Even more importantly, these principles articulate a vision of a scholarship that enhances, perhaps even transforms, teaching and learning in higher education
Felten, P. (2013). Principles of Good Practice in SoTL. Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 1(1), 121-125. doi:10.2979/teachlearninqu.1.1.121
