The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning:
Discovering the Research Opportunities in
Your Teaching
Twenty-second Annual Faculty Development Conference
St. Norbert College, January 22, 2009
Michael Smith, Ithaca College
Rebecca Nowacek, Marquette University
Communio
“Open dialogue, communication, consultation,
and collaboration”
“Our three traditions promote student learning
outcomes that include skill development in
critical and analytical thought, quantification,
synthesis, problem solving, and
communication.”
The foundations of the scholarship of
teaching and learning
 Good teaching
 Scholarly teaching
 And scholarship? What are the hallmarks of
scholarship in your discipline? (Process and
results.)
Defining scholarship
 Clear goals
 Adequate preparation
 Appropriate methods
 Significant results
 Effective presentation
 Reflective critique
From Glassick, Huber, Maeroff, Scholarship Assessed (1997)
Defining scholarship
“An act of intelligence or of artistic creation
becomes scholarship when it possesses at
least three attributes: it becomes public; it
becomes an object of critical review and
evaluation by members of one’s community;
and members of one’s community begin to
use, build upon, and develop those acts of
mind and creation.”
From Lee Shulman, “Taking Learning Seriously” (1999)
Definition of scholarship at St. Norbert
 “Scholarship at St. Norbert College is not an abstract
term but rather a way of life. It is a shared philosophy
that deeply values the idea of a community of
teacher-scholars learning and growing together—a
community where cooperation rather than
competition is the norm; a community where faculty /
student learning partnerships are the rule rather than
the exception; a community enfleshing the ‘mutual
respect and trust’ to which our mission statement
refers….
In essence, scholarship at St. Norbert College is the
bringing to bear of a trained mind on a problem or
question and the public sharing of the results of those
labors.” –SNC Faculty Handbook
Defining scholarship of learning
“[Faculty] who consciously reflect on the
goals, methods and strategies of teaching;
who strive to create classroom communities
where student learning is supported,
encouraged and finely honed; and who strive
continuously to refine their teaching methods
and explore new methods”
Belmont University
Defining scholarship of learning
“[Scholarship] which reflects on and
systematically analyzes the learning process,
then furthers an understanding of the process
by communicating the scholarly results to the
academy.”
Dominican University
Defining scholarship of learning
“The scholarship of teaching involves integrating the
experience of teaching with the scholarship of
research and producing a scholarly product out of
those integrative activities. It is the ongoing and
cumulative intellectual inquiry, through systematic
observation and longitudinal investigation by faculty,
into the impact of teaching on learning. Peer review
is the evaluation of a scholarly product by an editor or
editorial board, review committee, publisher, critic,
established scholar or professional outside the
scholar’s institution but authoritative in the scholar’s
field.”
Buffalo State College
Why engage in the scholarship of
teaching and learning?
 Help with classroom and program assessment efforts
 Use in program review and accreditation
 Strengthen faculty development efforts
 Develop partnerships among faculty, staff, and
students (including student research opportunities)
 Add publications and presentations to faculty
accomplishments
 Improve reflection on teaching and learning
--Kathleen McKinney, Enhancing Learning Through the Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning (2007)
Finding an entry point
 Your most memorable experience with
student learning.
A brief history of scholarship of
teaching and learning
 Disciplinary traditions in pedagogical
research
 Boyer’s Scholarship Reconsidered (1990)
 Lee Shulman and the Carnegie Academy for
the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
(CASTL)
 International Society for the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning
Teaching and learning commons
 Carnegie Foundation
(carnegiefoundation.org)
 Peer Review of Teaching Project
(courseportfolio.org)
Transforming a “problem” into an
opportunity
 “One telling measure of how differently
teaching is regarded from traditional
scholarship or research within the academy is
what difference it makes to have a ‘problem’
in one versus the other. In scholarship and
research having a ‘problem’ is at the heart of
the investigation process. It is the compound
of the generative questions around which all
creative and productive activity revolves….
Transforming (con’t)
 “But in one’s teaching, a ‘problem’ is something you
don’t want to have, and if you have one, you probably
want to fix it. Asking a colleague about a problem in
his or her research is an invitation; asking about a
problem in one’s teaching would probably seem like
an accusation. Changing the status of the problem in
teaching from terminal remediation to ongoing
investigation is precisely what the movement for a
scholarship of teaching is all about.”
--Randy Bass, “The Scholarship of Teaching: What’s the Problem?” (1999)
Taxonomy of SoTL research questions
 What works (examining effectiveness)
 What is (describing what learning looks like)
 Visions of the possible
 Theory building (new conceptual frameworks
about learning)
Analyzing and making public your
investigations
 Observations and questions
 Gathering evidence
 Inquiry and analysis
 Action (presentation)
 Peer review
 Community
Design and implementation
 Dr. Ray Zurawski: The view from the
Institutional Review Board at St. Norbert
 Dr. Cynthia Ochsner: The scholarship of
teaching and learning in action at St. Norbert
College
 Other models from CASTL
Connecting with other initiatives
 Dr. Bob Rutter: Assessment
 Previous faculty development efforts
(mentoring, undergraduate research)
 Planning and priorities process
Valuing the scholarship of teaching
and learning
 Going public
 Tenure and promotion
 Energizing teaching