Academic excellence for business and the professions

Raising the Profile of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning(SoTL) in schools and across the institution

Dr Pam Parker and Dr Rachael-AnneKnightSEDA Conference 20th November 2015

Session Outcomes

By the end of this session, we hope you will be able to:

•Outline recent debates in the field of SoTL

•Share different approaches to raising the profile of SoTL

•Reflect on their institutional and school/divisional level practices, policies and procedures in relation to SoTL

Group introductions

Could you all spend just three minutes introducing yourselves and indicate your current knowledge around SoTL and issues including participants’ current knowledge and awareness of issues around SoTL.

Current Issues related to SOTL

• Increased importance to ensure research and education seen as equal

• Changes in academic roles (Locke, 2012, 2014; Macfarlane, 2011)

• Links to reward and recognition (Chalmers, 2011; Gunn and Fisk 2013)

• Links to promotion (Cashmore and Ramsden, 2009)

• Institutional response to support SOTL (Hutchings et al, 2011)

Defining and supporting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL): A sector wide study published on HEA website

https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resource/defining-and-supporting-scholarship-teaching-and-learning-sotl-sector-wide-study

Institutional Response – PPDP Module• The Professional and Personal Development Planning module is

compulsory for all students completing their postgraduate certificate.

• We introduce students on this module to the concept of SOTL although they will have engaged with the literature on other modules.

• They all do some online activities for this module and one is that they are divided into groups around the UKPSF areas of activity and each participants is required to post a summary of two articles relevant to their area to share with their group.

Institutional Response - Journal

• We launched a Learning at City Journal which was to publish articles around SoTL

• Encouraged many students from the MA Academic Practice to publish their academic work

• Others from the institution publish their teaching projects.

Institutional Response - LEaD Fellows Scheme• Created a Fellows scheme so those involved in T and L over a

sustained period could support others but also so there was a network and we could engage in SoTL

• Hold events and write articles

• This year we are starting something new so fellows can have coaching and reflect on the theory that underpins their practice

Institutional Response – Writing Groups/Partners

• RISES programme to gain HEA Fellowship

• Hold writing events to develop claims

• Try to encourage mentors/pairs and groups for writing

School response – EPR group• The School of Health Sciences has Research Centres, distinct from

academic divisions

• Each Research Centre is home to a number of research groups

• The Education for Practice research group is one of 30 such groups, and sits under the Centre for Health Services research and management (problem?)

• Meetings are monthly and attract good numbers of participants with mixed backgrounds

School response – EPR sessions

• We aim to provide a foundation for both new and experienced researchers to:

– understand the concepts and methodologies of SoTL (Huber, 2006)

– Access information underpinning pedagogical research• ethics procedures (Hack, 2015)• types of educational research (Scwartz, 2011) • routes to dissemination.

School response - mentoring• Mentoring has been recognised as beneficial in SoTL research

(Hubbal, Clarke and Pool, 2010)

• The EPR group acts as a community of practice

• Individual short- and long-term mentoring is also provided

• Two new projects are currently undergoing ethics review as part of this process, and one paper has been published

School response - issues

• Definitions of research vs. educational research

• Expected research / scholarship from those on education routes

• Knowledge and definition of SoTL

• Location of the group within a particular research centre

• Location of the group at school rather than institutional level

• Resources, given large number of junior researchers

Group Discussions

In your groups spend 15 minutes discussing

•What is your institutional approach to defining SoTL or raising the profile?

•How do you engage staff with SoTL?

•What are the challenges?

•How do you share good practice?

Points from the discussion• The issue around terminology are real with many not know what SOTL is

so would using educational research help?

• Promotion routes were discussed and people felt that often the composition of the panel was key. Having clear criteria was essential too.

• The location of the L and T centre was often an issue so if in professional services this was seen as a barrier to undertaking research. Some had set up a research centre to overcome this.

• Issues remain around REF and the role of SOTL and educational research in this.

• Including research artefacts on the PG cert was important

Any Questions?

References• Cashmore, A. and Ramsden, P. (2009) Reward and Recognition in Higher Education: Institutional policies and their

implementation York: Higher Education Academy.

•  Chalmers, D. (2011) Progress and challenges to the recognition and reward of the scholarship of teaching in higher education. Higher Education Research and Development Journal.Special issue: Institutional approaches to SoTL. 30(1): 25-38.

• Gunn, V. and A. Fisk (2013). Considering teaching excellence in higher education: 2007-2013. York, Higher Education Academy.

• Hack C. (2015) Pedagogic Research in the UK Higher Education Sector Are the ethical review processes fit for purpose? Lambert Academic Publishing. 

• Huber M.T. (2004) Balancing acts: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in academic careers. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

• Hubball H, Clarke A & Poole G (2010) Ten‐year reflections on mentoring SoTL research in a research‐intensive university, International Journal for Academic Development, 15:2, 117-129

•  Hutchings, P., Huber, M. T. & Ciccone, A. (2011) Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Reconsidered: Institutional Integration and Impact. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

• Locke, W. (2012) The Dislocation of Teaching and Research and the Reconfiguring of Academic Work. London Review of Education. Special issue on ‘Managing higher education in the post-2012 era’. 10 (3): 261–74

•  Locke, W. (2014) Shifting academic careers: implications for enhancing professionalism in teaching and supporting learning. York : HEA

• Macfarlane, B. (2011) The Morphing of Academic Practice: Unbundling and the Rise of the Para-academic Higher Education Quarterly 65 (1): 59-73

• Schwartz, B. M. (2011) Optimizing teaching and learning: Practicing pedagogical research. London John Wiley & Sons.