What is SoTL?
The Scholarship of Teaching of Learning (SoTL) involves faculty (sometimes in partnership with their students) undertaking systematic inquiry about student learning and going public with the results.
SoTL is popularized by Ernest L. Boyer in his influential 1990 book, Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. His call to elevate the value of teaching helped open the floodgates for faculty members to begin examining their work in the classroom. It has (1) developed over time from descriptive to sophisticated, (2) shaped the subset disciplined-based education research (DBER) in STEM disciplines, and (3) now focuses more on analytics – mining the data that can be found in learning-management systems and institutional research offices to scale up the study and address very specific questions.
SoTL Conferences and Journals
- Publishing Research on Teaching and Learning (Elon University Center for Engaged Learning)
- Teachings Conference Directory (Kennesaw State University Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning)
- Teaching Journals Directory (Kennesaw State University Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning)
SJR Scimago Journal & Country Rank: https://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php
SoTL at DKU
The CTL actively nurtures the scholarly work in teaching and learning at DKU by consulting with faculty, facilitating research efforts, and disseminating findings to improve educational practice. The potential scope of SoTL at DKU includes:
Conducting research on the effectiveness of innovative teaching approaches and technologies
Partnering with faculty, staff, and students to develop teaching and learning inquiries
Collaborating with units across the university to identify, analyze, and apply meaningful data
Offering grants, programs, guest speaker talks, workshops, and individualized consultations
Examples of CTL-supported SoTL initiatives include:
Co-administering Teaching and Assessment Grants with the Office of Assessment
Organizing a year-long Faculty Learning Community fellowship
Collaborating with Duke faculty on joint projects
