The SoTL Exchange presentation series
The Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is happy to announce a new presentation series, the SoTL Exchange, which will host presentations on a variety of topics intended to facilitate SoTL at MRU. The first presentation of the year will survey the current developments and debates in the wider SoTL community, and invite discussion and feedback about a new “definition” of SoTL for MRU and new Institute initiatives.
SoTL at MRU – What’s next?
Oct 23, 12:0-1:00 in Y324
Both new and experienced faculty interested in engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning are invited to attend. In particular, faculty intending to apply for the 2014 Nexen Scholar’s Program will find the October and November presentations useful.
http://blogs.mtroyal.ca/isotl/2013/09/20/call-for-applications-for-the-2014-nexen-scholars-program-deadline-dec-1/
A new online resource for understanding and doing SoTL
https://my.vanderbilt.edu/sotl/
Have a browse through this new online SoTL Guide from Vanderbilt University!
Free article: SoTL Scholars’ Identity Development
The recently published article, Conflicts and Configurations in a Liminal Space: SoTL Scholars’ Identity Development, is the free sample for the 2nd issue of Teaching and Learning Inquiry, so anyone can access this article. MRU’s Karen Manarin is one of the co-authors.
In it, the authors describe how “navigating among conflicting identities can lead us into a troublesome but deeply reflective liminal space, prompting profound realizations and the reconstruction of our academic identities.” Thanks to the authors for helping to normalise the sometimes “unsettling” experience of engaging in SoTL!
Nicola Simmons, Earle Abrahamson, Jessica M. Deshler, Barbara Kensington-Miller, Karen Manarin, Sue Morón-García, Carolyn Oliver and Joanna Renc-Roe
Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal
Vol. 1, No. 2, Special Issue: Writing Without Borders: 2013 International Writing Collaborative / Guest Editors: Mick Healey and Beth Marquis (2013) (pp. 9-21)
Intro to SoTL: Recommended Readings
The ISSoTL13 Online conference is hosting some Intro to SoTL sessions over the next couple of weeks. Here is their website and list of recommended readings:
- Bass, R. (1999). The Scholarship of Teaching: What’s the Problem? Inventio, 1(1).
- Bernstein, D. (2010). Finding Your Place in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 4(2).
- Bernstein, D., & Bass, R. (2005). The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Academe, 91(4), 37-43.
- Bernstein, D., Burnett, A. N., Goodburn, A., & Savory, P. (2006). Making Teaching and Learning Visible: Course Portfolios and the Peer Review of Teaching. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company.
- Felten, P. (2013). Principles of Good Practice in SoTL. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 1(1), 121-125.
- Huber, M. T. (2008). The Promise of Faculty Inquiry for Teaching and Learning Basic Skills. Strengthening Pre-Collegiate Education in Community Colleges. Stanford, CA: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
- Huber, M. T., & Morreale, S. P. (2002). Situating the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Cross-Disciplinary Conversation. Disciplinary Styles in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Exploring Common Ground. Stanford, CA: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
- Hutchings, P. (2000). Introduction: Approaching the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Stanford, CA: Carnegie Foundation.
- Hutchings, P. (2000). Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Stanford, CA: Carnegie Foundation.
- Hutchings, P., & Shulman, L. (1999). The Scholarship of Teaching: New Elaborations, New Developments. Change, 31(5), 10-15.
- InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching. Volume 8 (2013): Scholarly Teaching and Learning. [Includes an editorial by Pat Hutchings and several SoTL-related articles.]
- McKinney, K. (2004). The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Past Lessons, Current Challenges, and Future Visions. To Improve the Academy, 22, 3-19.
- McKinney, K. (2012). Increasing the Impact of SoTL: Two Sometimes Neglected Opportunities. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6(1).
- McKinney, K., & Chick, N. (2010). SoTL as Women’s Work: What do Existing Data Tell Us? International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 4(2).
- Shulman, L. (1993). Teaching as a Community Property: Putting an End to Pedagogical Solitude. Change, 25(6).
- Shulman, L. (1999). Taking Learning Seriously. Change, 31(4), 10-17.
- Shulman, L. (2011). The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Personal Account and Reflection. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 5(1).
- Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal.
IJ-SoTL Vol.7 No.2 is online
The new July 2013 issue of IJ-SoTL, published by the CTLS at Georgia Southern University, is now available online.
Note: It also includes a reader’s response from MRU’s April McGrath on describing and analyzing quantitative data!
new journal: Teaching and Learning Inquiry
Hi everyone – on the subject of venues for SoTL publication, I received my first copy of “Teaching Learning Inquiry” last week. TLI is the official journal of the International Society for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and is published by Indiana University Press. We are delighted to have both of the journal’s co-editors – Nancy Chick and Gary Poole – keynoting our SoTL Symposium in November. More information about Teaching Learning Inquiry is available here.
-posted by Jim Zimmer
using Think Alouds in “Calculations and Expectations: How engineering students describe three-dimensional forces”
Miller-Young, Janice (2013) “Calculations and Expectations: How engineering students describe three-dimensional forces,” The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 4.
This paper resulted from my original project in the 2009 Nexen Scholars program. I am posting it here because I thought the think-aloud protocol was particularly useful, and others may want to consider using it in a study.
The purpose of this inquiry was to determine the difficulties students in a first-year engineering class experience in learning to visualize 3D statics problems from 2D drawings. The main data source was think-alouds using two visualization problems. Think-alouds are a type of verbal protocol and are a mainstay in cognitive psychology. They are used to infer mental models by observing students while they are actually engaged in mental activities. In short, participants are asked to talk out loud about what they are thinking, while engaged in a task which could normally be carried out alone. One advantage of this type of interview protocol is that students’ thinking is captured in “real time”, rather than a retrospective reflection. However, the logistics of conducting and recording think-aloud protocols are a little more complicated if you do it during the semester, as I did.
The data from the think-aloud interviews was triangulated with data from individual course work, and gave me new insights into the types of visualization problems students initially struggle with in my class. See the paper for more details and references.