Scholarly teaching is what every one of us should be engaged in every day that we are in a classroom, in our office with students, tutoring, lecturing, conducting discussions, all the roles we play pedagogically. Our work as teachers should meet the highest scholarly standards of groundness, of openness, of clarity, and complexity. But it is only when we step back and reflect systematically on the teaching we have done, and that systematic analysis and reflection leads to a recounting of what we've done, in a form that can be publicly reviewed and built upon by our peers, that we have moved from scholarly teaching to the scholarship of teaching.
Lee Shulman, President, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
In 1905, Andrew Carnegie established The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching "to do all things necessary to encourage, uphold and dignify the profession of teaching." The Foundation is a non-profit organization governed by an independent, national Board of Trustees. Since 1997, the Foundation has embarked on a national effort to develop the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). As a result of these efforts, the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) was launched in 1998. The main goal of the Academy is "to create a scholarship of teaching and learning that will improve the quality of student learning and the status of teaching." This is building on the notion of teaching as scholarly work proposed in the Carnegie 1990 report, Scholarship Reconsidered, by former Carnegie Foundation President Ernest Boyer, and on the 1997 follow-up publication, Scholarship Assessed, by Charles Glassick, Mary Taylor Huber, and Gene Maeroff.
Lee Shulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and his colleagues at the CASTL seek to "render teaching public, subject to critical evaluation, and usable by others in their field" in ways that foster significant, long-lasting learning for all students. An underlying principle in SoTL is that teaching needs to be viewed as scholarly work. To call teaching scholarly work is to see it as a process of ongoing inquiry and reflection. It is to assert that teaching is a matter not simply of standing and delivering (no matter how skillfully or with what eloquence) but also of examining and advancing one's knowledge and practice (Pat Hutchings, Senior Scholar, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching).
What is the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning?
According to Pat Hutchings, SoTL has yet to be fully defined or conceptualized. However, those who embrace SoTL believe that teaching is important as a vehicle to facilitate student learning, that it can be done effectively or ineffectively, and that it can be improved upon; thus it is worth paying more attention to how it is done. It is also assumed that all faculty want to find ways to teach in ways that foster deep and long-lasting learning. The difference between excellent teaching and SoTL is that those who engage in scholarship believe they can always teach better and view their classrooms as an environment for inquiry. They systematically investigate issues of teaching and learning to not only enrich their students' learning but to contribute to effective teaching practices in their field or discipline. They study and research in their field or discipline; gather evidence; document the work and share the results; and engage in reflective practice. Randy Bass, faculty at Georgetown University and 1998 Carnegie Scholar states that teaching as a form of scholarship includes a broad vision of disciplinary questions and methods; it includes the capacity to plan and design activities that implement the vision; it includes the interactions that require particular skills and result in both expected and unexpected results; it includes certain outcomes from that complex process, and those outcomes necessitate some kind of analysis.
How Can One Get Started?
There is no single methodology or best approach for engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The methods to use to conduct inquiry and gathering evidence in the classroom will depend on the discipline, the research question posed, and the learning environment. One may start with a research question or not. What is most important is one's willingness to step back, observe phenomena, and record those observations, thus becoming a reflective practitioner.
A starting point may be to think of a potential issue or problem to investigate in your classroom and to design your project by applying the six standards suggested by Glassick, Huber, and Maeroff (Scholarship Assessed, 1997):
CLEAR GOALS
- Does the scholar state the basic purposes of his or her work clearly?
- Does the scholar define objectives that are realistic and achievable?
- Does the scholar identify important questions in the field?
ADEQUATE PREPARATION
- Does the scholar show an understanding of existing scholarship in the field?
- Does the scholar bring the necessary skills to his or her work?
- Does the scholar bring together the resources necessary to move the project forward?
APPROPRIATE METHODS
- Does the scholar use methods appropriate to the goals?
- Does the scholar apply effectively the methods selected?
- Does the scholar modify procedures in response to changing circumstances?
SIGNIFICANT RESULTS
- Does the scholar achieve the goals?
- Does the scholar's work add consequentially to the field?
- Does the scholar's work open additional areas for further exploration?
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
- Does the scholar use a suitable style and effective organization to present his or her work?
- Does the scholar use appropriate forums for communicating work to its intended audiences?
- Does the scholar present his or her message with clarity and integrity?
REFLECTIVE CRITIQUE
- Does the scholar critically evaluate his or her own work?
- Does the scholar bring an appropriate breadth of evidence to his or her critique?
- Does the scholar use evaluation to improve the quality of future work?
These lessons learned may also serve as a guideline to get started. They were shared by Carnegie Scholars in the book Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, edited by Pat Hutchings.
- Find something that you really care about, something you are really interested in learning about, something that fascinates you. ŠThere have to be aspects of teaching and learning that pique your curiosity, and those are the things you should go after in your investigations. (W. Cerbin)
- Start small and set time limits for the inquiry. (D. Duffy)
- Become familiar with the literature on teaching and learning -- and not only in your own field. (C. Fukami)
- Identify where the resources are to help do the work. (M. Kelly)
- Stay open to various approaches. Experiment with different methods and different kinds of data. (S. Linkon)
- Teaching and learning involve complex and complicated dynamics; it's unreasonable to expect quick, neat answers. (M. Phillips)
- Look closely at what you know, at the knowledge that is the subject matter of your scholarly work. If you want your students to think the way people in a discipline do, create assignments that make it possible for them to make these moves, to understand them, and to reflect on their effects. (M. Salvatori)
- Interact in an interdisciplinary way with other scholars. Periodic conversations with others can be invaluable. Seize any chance to maximize those opportunities. (D. Jacobs)
Practices in SoTL
The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL)
CASTL is a national network of over 200 institutions of higher education that engage in dialogue about what the scholarship of teaching and learning means and how it can be fostered at their campuses. CASTL's Program in Higher Education is funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
- The Teaching Academy Campus Program: This program is coordinated for The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching by The American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) and is designed for institutions of all types that are prepared to make a public commitment to foster and support the scholarship of teaching and learning. The Maricopa Community College District is a member of the Campus Program.
- Pew National Fellowship Program for Carnegie Scholars: A Program that brings together outstanding faculty from a variety of institutions and academic fields to design and undertake investigations, for a year, of issues in teaching and learning that will contribute to thought and practice in their fields. Mangala Joshua, Physics faculty at Mesa Community College and 1999 Maricopa Institute for Learning (MIL) Fellow, was a Carnegie Scholar in the 2001 class.
National and International Conferences
Publications
Other Initiatives at Colleges and Universities
- Teaching Circles: small groups of faculty, 4-10 per group, usually within a discipline or department, who meet throughout the academic year to work together on a specific issue or concern in their teaching and their students' learning.
- Teaching Academy: multidisciplinary communities of faculty whose scholarly interests and work include teaching and learning.
- Faculty Learning Communities: cross-disciplinary groups of faculty who engage in a yearlong program with a curriculum about how to enhance teaching and learning and with activities that provide learning, development, and communities.
- Individual faculty's study and research
- Teaching and course portfolios
SoTL in Maricopa
Maricopa Institute for Learning (MIL)
The MIL is a fellowship for Maricopa faculty who are interested in examining significant issues in their teaching fields and contributing to the scholarship of teaching and learning through classroom research projects. The MIL program supports the Fellows with time and resources to conduct their research and provides them varied opportunities to engage in scholarly thought, reflection, and dialogue about effective teaching and learning practices. Since the inception of the program in 1999, 22 faculty have participated, representing many disciplines and eight of the Maricopa colleges.
The MIL is not an award for teaching excellence nor an alternative to a sabbatical. The program, initially modeled after the Pew National Fellowship Program for Carnegie Scholars, is an effort to support Maricopa faculty who want to engage in inquiry and reflection about their teaching and how it impacts their students' learning. A secondary goal of the program is to create a community of scholars that will engage their colleagues in public conversations about teaching and learning.
MIL sends a clear message that innovations and research are encouraged and necessary. The experience of the participants in the MIL cadre results in networks of support, dialogue and innovation, so that the district as a whole has a fertile community of scholars who are willing to try new ideas and bring leading edge practices to our colleges.
(Dr. Martha Bergin, faculty at GateWay Community College)
The real power of the MIL is that it has the potential to touch faculty and students with a new synergy -- where innovative ideas are created that would not have been possible through individual efforts.
(John Gibson, Faculty at Glendale Community College and 2001 MIL Fellow)
Residential faculty interested in participating in the MIL should contact their deans of instruction or faculty developers. Nominations for 2003-2004 fellowships are due December 2, 2002.
For more information on MIL, visit the web site:
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mil/
Learning Grants
This program supports faculty and administrators who want to do projects designed to improve, advance, and enrich student learning. The grants are flexible and intended to support ideas and projects at their own stage of development. Qualifying proposals range from formative ideas that explore learning concepts to fully tested models ready to be adopted and disseminated. The submission cycle for 2003-2004 projects opens on December 2, 2002.
http:// www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learngrant/
Maricopa Learning eXchange (MLX)
The MLX is an electronic warehouse of ideas, examples, and resources (represented as "packages") that support teaching and student learning at the Maricopa Community Colleges. The MLX gives faculty an opportunity to share their work with their colleagues, thus becoming public.
http:// www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/
In the end, scholarship at its best should bring faculty together.
Ernest Boyer
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Other Maricopa Initiatives
Gateway Community College:
Dr. Elizabeth Skinner, 2001 MIL Fellow, began sharing with other faculty members in her department the research she was doing for her fellowship, teaching them concepts in scholarship and teaching along the way so that they could understand her project. In August, the college decided that the focus of the all-faculty in-service program would be SoTL, so that all faculty could learn about SoTL on a campus-wide basis. As a follow up, Elizabeth initiated an ongoing SoTL faculty circle on campus. This circle provides faculty with opportunities to discuss teaching and learning in instrumental and creative ways. The SoTL concept will also provide important input to the upcoming strategic plan for a Center for Teaching and Learning.
Glendale Community College:
As a result of MIL Fellows John Gibson's and Nancy Siefer's experience in the MIL, Glendale Community College has started a Forum on Teaching and Learning to bring together faculty from different departments to interact, share, and learn. The first meeting attracted dozens of faculty. The forums are now a monthly program and the leading faculty, Johnnie Clemens May, John Gibson, and Dr. Nancy Siefer are also developing a website and online discussion to involve more of the Glendale Community College community.
Mesa Community College:
Dr. Maria Chavira, 2000 MIL Fellow, will be extending the conversations on SoTL to her campus in her new role as faculty developer at the Center for Teaching and Learning. She is organizing faculty dialogues about the scholarship of teaching and learning and how SoTL is different from "good teaching."
If you are interested in learning more about the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and getting started, join us for:
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Dialogue Day
featuring Dr. Donna Killian Duffy
1998 Carnegie Scholar
Professor of Psychology at Middlesex Community College
Co-author of "Teaching Within the Rhythms of the Semester"
Friday, March 28, 2003
GateWay Community College
Saguaro Room
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Resources
Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning-CASTL
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/CASTL/highered
Maricopa Institute for Learning (MIL)
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mil/
Learning Grants
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learngrant/
Maricopa Learning eXchange (MLX)
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx
Extensive Annotated Bibliographies
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/CASTL/highered/bibliography.htm
http://www.ala.org/acrl/resjuly02.html
Articles/Papers
Bass, R. (1999). The Scholarship of Teaching: What's the Problem?. Inventio, 1(1).
http://www.doit.gmu.edu/Archives/feb98/rbass.htm
Hutchings, P. & Shulman, L. (1999). The Scholarship of Teaching. New Elaborations, New Developments. Change, 31(5), pp. 10-15.
http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/eLibrary/sotl1999.htm
Huber, M. T. (1999). Developing Discourse Communities Around the Scholarship of Teaching. Carnegie Chronicle, 8(6).
http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/carnegie/86huber.htm
Books (Available at MCLI)
Cross, K. P. & Steadman, M. (1996). Classroom Research: Implementing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
DeZure, Deborah (Ed.). (2000). Learning from Change. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.
Glassick, C., Huber, M., & Maeroff, G. (1997). Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the Professoriate. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Hutchings, P. (2000). Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Menlo Park, CA: Carnegie Publications.
Carnegie Scholars
For a list of Scholars and a description of their work, visit:
http://www.carnegiefoundation. org/CASTL/highered/scholarlist.htm
Online Journals
Inventio. Creative Thinking About Learning and Teaching.
http://www.doiiit.gmu.edu/inventio/
The Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL).
http://www.iusb.edu/~josotl/
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