Do What Works: Using the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning to Improve Student Engagement in Group Projects

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
What Works ◽  
Group Projects

Gathering Evidence: The Basics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Dewar
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
What Works ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Gathering Data

Chapter 4 provides an introduction to gathering data for scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) investigations, including the importance of triangulation, that is, collecting several different types of evidence. Examples are given of typical kinds of quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (non-numerical) data that might be used in a SoTL study. That quantitative and qualitative data are more closely related than it might seem at first is discussed. The taxonomy of SoTL questions—What works? What is? What could be?—provides a starting point for considering what type of data to collect. Suggestions are offered for ways to design assignments so that the coursework students produce can also serve as evidence, something that benefits both students and their instructor.

scholarly journals 29. Two Models for Introducing Graduate Students to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Natasha Patrito Hannon ◽  
Svitlana Taraban-Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Effective Teaching ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Graduate Student ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Development ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching

Graduate students aspiring to become faculty members should be provided with meaningful opportunities to explore the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and to formulate questions about student learning and effective teaching. To this end, teaching and learning centres should incorporate SoTL-oriented components within the framework of educational development programs to prepare our future faculty. This article briefly reviews the emerging literature on graduate student engagement with SoTL and highlights two possible approaches for incorporating SoTL into educational development programs for graduate students.

scholarly journals Chasing impact: The tale of three SoTL studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-107
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Pechenkina
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
What Works ◽  
Shared Goal ◽  
The Impact

This article queries the notion of impact in studies of teaching and learning located within the field of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Grounded in literature focused on measuring and challenging the impact in SoTL, and primarily on the “what works” question, the author proposes a rubric by which to judge various levels and dimensions of impact achieved in SoTL-focused projects. To operationalize it, the rubric is applied to three completed projects, which while differing in their initial scope and intended outputs were united by a shared goal of improving learning by the means of innovative teaching. By using the rubric to analyze these projects’ outputs, strengths and weaknesses of each project’s design and evaluation methodology are revealed. Diverse levels and dimensions of impact are identified and discussed. The author invites scholars of teaching and learning to use, test, and critique the rubric in the context of their completed or in-progress studies.

Evidence: From Surveys

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Dewar
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
What Works ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Course Material ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Knowledge Survey

Chapter 5 describes the use of surveys in scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) studies. Topics include how to design a survey, the reliability and validity of surveys, and response rates and how to improve them. The chapter also includes a detailed discussion of a special type of survey called a knowledge survey that is used to measure students’ confidence in their knowledge of disciplinary content. Multiple uses for knowledge surveys are described: a means to assess changes in student learning, a way to improve course organization and coordination across multiple sections, and as guide through the course material for students. The importance of a survey being a good match for the type of research question—What works? What is? What could be?—is emphasized. Many examples are given of studies of student learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields that employed surveys.

scholarly journals The Importance of Making-While-Reading for Undergraduate Readers: An Example of Inductive SoTL

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Ingie Hovland
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Class I ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
Empirical Generalization ◽  
What Works ◽  
Inductive Research

This paper gives an example of an inductive Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) process, adapting Anthony Ciccone’s five conditions of a meaningful SoTL question. Presenting a study on pre-class reading in an undergraduate religion class, I describe how my question went through five life stages. I began with nine different pre-class reading assignments. Students judged the “map” assignment to be most helpful. This led to a further question: why maps? In a close reading of students’ reading reflections, two themes stood out: students experienced maps as helping them create a mental overview of the reading, and maps facilitated greater ownership of the act of reading. In conclusion, I argue that humanities instructors who wish to teach advanced reading skills can start by providing pre-class assignments that allow for making-while-reading, and that this making should not be merged with other reading steps. In an epilogue I reflect on the inductive research process. I suggest that SoTL scholars who use this process may reach an impasse when deciding how to present meaningful answers because their conceptual answers will stand in tension with SoTL’s practical orientation. I propose focusing on conceptual generalization (rather than empirical generalization), while still foregrounding a balance between “what works” and “what is.”

scholarly journals The Importance of Making-While-Reading for Undergraduate Readers: An Example of Inductive SoTL

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Ingie Hovland
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Class I ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
Empirical Generalization ◽  
What Works ◽  
Inductive Research

This paper gives an example of an inductive Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) process, adapting Anthony Ciccone’s five conditions of a meaningful SoTL question. Presenting a study on pre-class reading in an undergraduate religion class, I describe how my question went through five life stages. I began with nine different pre-class reading assignments. Students judged the “map” assignment to be most helpful. This led to a further question: why maps? In a close reading of students’ reading reflections, two themes stood out: students experienced maps as helping them create a mental overview of the reading, and maps facilitated greater ownership of the act of reading. In conclusion, I argue that humanities instructors who wish to teach advanced reading skills can start by providing pre-class assignments that allow for making-while-reading, and that this making should not be merged with other reading steps. In an epilogue I reflect on the inductive research process. I suggest that SoTL scholars who use this process may reach an impasse when deciding how to present meaningful answers because their conceptual answers will stand in tension with SoTL’s practical orientation. I propose focusing on conceptual generalization (rather than empirical generalization), while still foregrounding a balance between “what works” and “what is.”

Developing a Researchable Question

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Dewar
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Disciplinary Knowledge ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
What Works ◽  
Educational Literature ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
And Mathematics

Chapter 2 describes how to convert a problem or question about teaching or learning into a researchable question. It uses a taxonomy of scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) questions—What works? What is? What could be?—derived from the work of Carnegie scholars to guide the framing of a question. Since initially, most SoTL questions are quite broad, the chapter considers several methods for refining questions. It discusses how to conduct searches of educational literature and why they are valuable when developing a question. It shows how to use disciplinary knowledge and situational factors to refine a question. It describes how identifying underlying assumptions and considering feasibility can help to further refine or perhaps reformulate SoTL research questions. Multiple examples from and references to published SoTL studies of teaching and learning in science engineering and mathematics are provided.

scholarly journals A Qualitative Inquiry in to the Impact of an Arts-Based, Self-Portrait Assignment on Third Year Child and Youth Care Students

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-101
Author(s):  
Gerard Bellefeuille ◽  
Luciann Crazyboy ◽  
Jereecah Dela Cruz ◽  
Amanda Gladue ◽  
Hailey Walper
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Youth Care ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
Child And Youth Care ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Mainstream Education ◽  
The Impact

A growing body of research shows that arts-based teaching and learning has the power to energize and promote student engagement by increasing opportunities for students to articulate their learning in many different ways. It is particularly effective for students who tend to struggle with the fast-paced and highly structured nature of mainstream education, which favours primarily cognitive and verbal forms of teaching and assessment. This study contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) by reporting on the learning experiences of third-year child and youth care (CYC) students involved in an arts-based self-portrait assignment.

scholarly journals Introduction to the special issue of SOTL in the South: advancing student engagement in learning – experiences from Pakistan

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tashmin Khamis ◽  
Geraldine Van Gyn ◽  
Jane Rarieya
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Editorial Introduction ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The South ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
Creative Commons

Tashmin Khamis, Geraldine van Gyn and Jane Rarieya edited this special issue of SOTL in the South. This publication is one of  the noteworthy outcomes of the September 2017 SoTL Conference on Active Learning Pedagogies in Higher Education, hosted by the Network of Teaching and Learning at the Aga Khan University (AKU), that was held in Karachi, Pakistan. The theme which unites all the articles in this special issue is Advancing Student Engagement in Learning.    How to cite this editorial:  KHAMIS, Tashmin; VAN GYN, Geraldine; RARIEYA, Jane. Editorial: Introduction to the special issue of SOTL in the South: advancing student engagement in learning – experiences from Pakistan. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. v. 3, n. 1, p. 1-5, Apr. 2019. Available at: https://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=102&path%5B%5D=33   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Designing a Research Study

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline M. Dewar
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Scholarship Of Teaching ◽  
What Works ◽  
Group A ◽  
And Control

Chapter 3 examines basic considerations of education research design, such as whether or not to have experimental and control groups. Because many scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) questions arise in situations where it is not possible to have a control group, a number of other options are presented. The taxonomy of SoTL questions—What works? What is? What could be?—and frameworks such as “decoding the disciplines” and “threshold concepts” are used to suggest different ways to conduct an investigation. The importance of aligning the evidence with the research question and choosing an appropriate measure of change are also considered. The chapter closes with a discussion of the requirement to obtain human subjects clearance in order to make the results of a SoTL study public.

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