Designing a SOTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) Research Project
Dr Rachel Spencer | JANuary 2025
One of the main focuses that I have when talking about SOTL, is that the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is energising. It can reinvigorate the passion for teaching and learning. This is the focus that I have for my workshop on designing a SOTL Research Project.
One of the main focuses that I have when talking about SOTL, is that the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is energising. It can reinvigorate the passion for teaching and learning. This is the focus that I have for my workshop on designing a SOTL Research Project.
My workshop on SOTL – the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning –is about the learning that you experience when you research your own teaching practice, and how you share your findings with your colleagues on a local, national and international scale.
This workshop is suitable for all disciplines.
The Workshop Objectives are as follows:
Enhance Capabilities: Provide participants with the essential knowledge, skills, and resources to conceptualise, design, and undertake a SoTL project aligned with their teaching goals.
Foster Collaboration: Encourage networking and promote interdisciplinary partnerships.
Stimulate Scholarship: Establish mentoring networks for research writing that leads to a scholarly output.
The Expected Outcomes include participants gaining actionable strategies and tools for initiating and managing a SoTL project; the establishment of mutually beneficial collaborative and mentoring relationships; participants committing to engaging in the sharing of their progress; and the generation of research outputs.
The whole-day workshop is divided into four sessions.
Session 1: The Teaching Research Nexus – What is it?
I think it’s useful in a conversation about SOTL, like any good researcher, to ground our investigations in some theory. In this session I briefly summarise the literature about the teaching/research traditions in higher education and current scholarly views about the existence, value and relevance of the “teaching-research nexus”. “In the second half of this session we look at the origins of SOTL and how it has become a field of scholarship in its own right.
Session 2: How can I leverage my teaching to begin developing research ideas?
I am particularly interested in the development of a personal narrative about professional identity to help establish short term, medium-term and long-term goals. Through a series of activities set out in a workbook (hard copy and digital) that I have designed for this process, participants are encouraged to reflect on their own professional identities and goals. We start by considering:
• Who am I as a teacher?
• Who am I as a researcher?
• What do I stand for?
• What is my professional identity?
Participants then work through a series of steps, involving private reflection, brainstorming and discussion, to explore how to generate ideas for a SOTL project and how to develop a research question.
Session 3: What problem am I investigating and where do I start?
This session provides a step-by-step plan to get a SOTL project started and then offers suggestions on how to refine and develop a SOTL research question.
Session 4: Create a tangible plan for a SOTL Project
Using mind maps, this session explores how to plan and design all the stages of a SOTL research project including gathering data, analysing data, finding time to write and sharing findings by making your work public.
The overall aim of the SOTL workshop is to generate ideas and to provide a structure for the development of a professional narrative that will inform the commencement of a SOTL project. It will give participants the tools to ultimately produce at least one tangible research output while simultaneously improving teaching practices, ultimately benefiting students.
Please contact Outside Opinion if you are interested in Rachel Spencer presenting a workshop for your team
