Call for Proposals: Banff Symposium on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Nov 10-12 2016
- Research on teaching and learning – presentations on active or completed SoTL projects
- Involving undergraduate students in SoTL – presentations on best practices or example projects where undergraduate students are acting as co-researchers
- Teaching and learning with technology – presentations on the utility and impact of technology for teaching and learning
- Collaborating beyond the single classroom – presentations on multi-class, interdisciplinary, or cross-institutional projects
- Methodologies and innovative approaches to data gathering and analysis – presentations providing a ‘how to’ introduction to specific research methods and theoretical frameworks
- Calls for collaboration, triangulation, and development (poster session only) – poster presentations that share early-stage research questions with the objective of establishing connections with like-minded researchers
What Students Want You to Know About Conducting SoTL Research
A video of this fantastic keynote at last year’s SoTL Symposium is now online – thank you to Ana Sepulveda, Ranee Drader and Margy MacMillan for sharing their experiences and perspectives about how students can contribute to SoTL work, what they learn, and how faculty can help make it as positive an experience as possible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILNOIq4ycGg&feature=youtu.be
Abstract:
These two scholarship of teaching and learning undergraduate student co-investigators talk about why they got involved in SoTL research, describe the projects they’ve worked on and what they’ve learned, and share their perspectives on how faculty and students can work together toward improving student learning. Some key themes from their talk include how they now have a better understanding of what research is and what universities do, how much they were inspired and excited by doing the research and gained confidence by being able to add value to a research project, and also how it taught them life skills such as developing time management skills, learning that setbacks are okay, and balancing work/life/school. However, they also discussed some of the challenges of being in a dual role of a research assistant working for their own professors. Their advice for faculty: be patient and remember that undergraduate students are just learning about research; make students feel comfortable bringing up new ideas yet provide constructive criticism; be flexible and realize that your students still have a life outside of school; realize that the relationship you develop will be different than a professor/student relationship; and remember the importance of place – having a dedicated space and community on campus for doing their work is important for them not only to focus but also to feel supported rather than isolated.
See what we’re up to! in I-SoTL’s April report
… including a reminder of the upcoming
Proposal Deadline for the Banff Symposium, April 24!!
isotlsymposium.mtroyal.ca
and
an announcement that Karen Manarin has accepted the new position of Research Associate with the Institute (hooray!) The primary responsibility of this position will be to take a leadership role in an emerging, interdisciplinary research theme such as undergraduate research.
Call for Proposals: 6th annual Banff Symposium on SoTL, Connecting People, Practices, and Pedagogies
Mount Royal University Annual Symposium on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Connecting People, Practices, and Pedagogies
Nov 12-14, 2015
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Proposal Deadline: April 24, 2015
Call for Proposals: http://isotlsymposium.mtroyal.ca/call-for-proposals.html
The Symposium on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is a practitioners’ conference dedicated to developing teaching and learning research, sharing initial findings, going public with results of completed projects, and building an extended scholarly community. This year’s conference opens with a reception and keynote presentation by Dr. Peter Felten, and will provide a wide variety of plenary and concurrent presentations, and a dedicated poster session. In its 6th year, the conference draws together faculty, students, and administrators interested in the systematic inquiry of teaching and learning.
We invite proposals that match one of the conference tracks (see below) from individuals or teams of scholars for the following formats:
Oral presentations (40 minutes including time for questions)
Workshops (3-hour pre-conference workshops);
Poster presentations
The conference tracks are:
- Research on teaching and learning – presentations on active or completed SoTL projects
- Involving undergraduate students in SoTL – presentations on best practices or example projects where undergraduate students are acting as co-researchers
- Teaching and learning with technology – presentations on the utility and impact of technology for teaching and learning
- Collaborating beyond the single classroom – presentations on multi-class, interdisciplinary, or cross-institutional projects
- Methodologies and innovative approaches to data gathering and analysis – presentations providing a ‘how to’ introduction to specific research methods and theoretical frameworks
- Calls for collaboration, triangulation, and development (poster session only) – poster presentations that share early-stage research questions with the objective of establishing connections with like-minded researchers
Proposals are encouraged from students, faculty, administrators, or community members committed to the systematic scholarly inquiry into aspects of teaching and learning in a higher education setting.
highlights from the 2014 Banff Symposium on SoTL
We had a fantastic conference in Banff last week and many collaborative conversations about the value of interdisciplinary, the imperative of changing our teaching to address the big problems of today’s world, and the importance of collaborating with students.
Please see Margy’s “storify” from the twitter feed of our Symposium in Banff last week for twitter highlights:
https://storify.com/margymaclibrary/ssotl-2014-symposium-on-scholarship-of-teaching-an
and a few photos from the twitter feed below:
Countdown to Banff (3 days!) Some final details below:
We have over 100 scholars registered for the 5th annual Symposium on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Banff on November 6-8! The Symposium includes 3 pre-conference workshops plus keynotes from international, regional and local scholars and students, not to mention energizing examples of SoTL research, deep dives into methodology, and refreshing perspectives on teaching and learning.
Our program is posted at
www.isotlsymposium.mtroyal.ca
Notes for presenters
If you are presenting in a concurrent session:
- There are no moderators for these sessions so please introduce yourself. The last person presenting in a session may act as the timekeeper.
- We will have attendance sheets at the front of each room. We hope you will assist by filling them out. We intend to use the information for planning purposes (for example, we are interested in which types of sessions attract higher attendance to facilitate future scheduling).
If you are presenting a poster:
- Tripods, boards, and velcro stickies will be available Castle/Assiniboine rooms. We ask you to set your posters up before the opening reception so that they may be viewed throughout the Symposium.
- Poster session will begin Friday at 2:30 pm.
One project the Institute is supporting this year is to develop and collect resources for scholars. To contribute, please check your emails for an invitation to participate in a very brief survey on Key Figures in SoTL.
If you are not from the area, please note that forecasts for Friday through Saturday are for highs of about 5 degrees (Celcius) and lows below freezing. Gloves and warm shoes and jackets are recommended.
And finally, for the technophiles among us, we have started a twitter hashtag at #ssotl14.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
The Symposium Organizing Committee
Janice Miller-Young, Brett McCollum, Margy MacMillan, Heather Nelson
Mount Royal University
Early bird registration for Banff Symposium on SoTL closes Oct 10!
Banff Symposium on SoTL, Nov 6-8 2014
Pre-conference workshops and concurrent sessions range from exploring both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to dissemination of SoTL work in courses across the curriculum and from a broad range of disciplines.
http://isotlsymposium.mtroyal.ca/registration.html
Keynotes:
Vive la différence! Deploying Disciplinary Knowledge in Collaborative Work
Sherry Lee Linkon, Georgetown University
Professor of English, Director of Writing Curriculum Initiatives
Seeing Red, Telling Time, and Catalyzing Change
Peter Mahaffy, The King’s University College
Professor of Chemistry, Co-Director of King’s Centre for Visualization in Science, 3M National Teaching Fellow
Conversations Within Communities of Practice
Gladys Sterenberg, Kevin O’Connor, and Ranee Drader, Mount Royal University
Professors of Education; Undergrad. Research Assistant
What Students Want you to Know about Conducting SoTL Research
Ranee Drader (Education & Schooling), Kyle Kinaschuk (major: English; minor: Philosophy), Ana Sepulveda (Science), Mount Royal University
SoTL events and activities update
The following post first appeared on the SoTL Canada website:
http://sotlcanada.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/sotl-developments-at-mount-royal-university/
Things are busy here at MRU with the end of the semester approaching and many of us rushing around trying to finalize abstract submissions for ISSoTL and our own annual Symposium on SoTL. Also, we are just now putting the finishing touches on our spring event (the Forum) as well as deep into the planning of the Symposium!! In fact, there is so much SoTL activity at the moment that I’ve almost forgotten about the rotten weather and also that I really should have started my tomato seeds weeks ago. Now that’s saying something!
Recent developments
Up until this year, the major programming of the Institute has primarily been the Symposium and the Nexen Scholars Program, an annual one-year program which brings together faculty from a range of academic disciplines into a community of practice committed to developing and conducting course-based teaching and learning inquiries. Thanks to our recent TransCanada donation, we also now offer Collaborative SoTL Inquiry Grants, and this March we received 7 strong applications, including whole-program, inter-disciplinary, and multi-institutional studies ranging from one to three years. Successful applications will be announced shortly – stay tuned by following the Institute’s blog!!
Events
5th annual Symposium on SoTL in beautiful Banff, Alberta, November 6-8, 2014
We are thrilled to announce that Sherry Linkon will be one of our keynote speakers at this year’s Symposium. This year’s theme is Collaborative Conversations. The call for proposals can be found here and they are being accepted until April 30. We would also like to invite our colleagues from other institutions to become more involved with the organization and execution of the conference, so we’ll be sending out a request for reviewers to SoTL Canada shortly.
TransCanada International Forum on SoTL May 20, 2014
We are reviving the Forum event thanks to a generous donation from TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. The theme this year is Undergraduate Research and Inquiry for Student Learning. The day will include keynote presentations from Mick Healey, presentations from some of Mount Royal’s own SoTL scholars and their students, and lots of time for discussion. Faculty, students and staff from outside Mount Royal University are also invited to attend (and for students, it’s free!)
the Institute at MRU
It has been my privilege be the new Director for the Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University since July 1 2013. The goals of the Institute include supporting and facilitating the engagement of Mount Royal University faculty in teaching-learning related scholarship, building a culture of scholarship related to teaching and learning, and encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration.
The Nexen Scholars Program has been operating since 2009 and I can see that we are really starting to reap the benefits of that program, with many scholars going on to conduct new inquiries, to develop multi-course, multi-disciplinary initiatives on important questions about students’ reading, writing or inquiry skills, and also to mentor and collaborate with new SoTL colleagues. Former scholars have also contributed to the Institute by helping to facilitate the Nexen Program, review grant applications, sit on the advisory committee, and contribute to various other Institute projects and initiatives. The capacity of the Institute really depends on the contributions of such smart and generous people! A group of us are doing a systematic study of the impact of the Nexen Program as part of a collaboration with the SoTL Canada publication special interest group.
One of my own goals has been to communicate a broader, more inclusive definition of SoTL and the kinds of inquiries the Institute will support, because I know that not only does each discipline have its own “signature pedagogies”, but it will also have methodologies and philosophies that will align with the discipline and the kinds of questions about teaching and learning that the discipline might be interested in. To conclude, I invite your feedback on MRU’s description of SoTL:
• focused on student learning, grounded in context, methodologically sound, conducted in partnership with students, and publicly disseminated (Felten 2013);
• inclusive and unified by its potential to have impact in the classroom and to contribute to the production of knowledge and the understanding of teaching and learning;
• diverse in discipline, theory, methodology, and method.
References
Felten, P. 2013. Principles of good practice in SoTL. Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 1:1, 121-125.
Gurung, R., N. Chick, & A. Haynie, Eds. 2009. Exploring signature pedagogies: approaches to teaching disciplinary habits of mind. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Call for Proposals: 2014 Symposium on SoTL in Banff, Alberta
Our new Symposium website and Call for Proposals is live!
Proposal deadline: April 30, 2014
