Spheres of Influence: Ventures and Visions in Educational Development*

3-6 July, 2002
The University of Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia

Abstract

Engaging and supporting academics in the scholarship of teaching & learning (SoTL): Guidelines from research and best practice

Thomas Angelo, The University of Akron, USA

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) - introduced by Ernest Boyer in 1990 and elaborated by Carnegie Foundation staff and many others since - has become both an influential vision and a common venture in academic development worldwide. But, given that many previous reform efforts have failed or stalled, how can we increase the odds that the SoTL will lead to new knowledge, improved practice, and better outcomes? This seminar analyzes past and present academic development practice and draws on relevant research - from the United States, Britain, Australasia and elsewhere - to address this challenge.

The seminar first places the SoTL in the context of current teaching and learning reform movements generally, and of outcomes assessment, specifically. It then considers why outcomes assessment has yet to produce demonstrably deep, widespread learning improvement. A case study - the dissemination of Classroom Assessment and Classroom Research - is used to illustrate 'necessary conditions' for successful reform. Practical, empirically and theoretically based guidelines follow for successfully engaging and supporting academics in the SoTL.

Three premises undergird the arguments and guidelines offered. The first is that the SoTL can improve educational quality only by engaging enough influential 'producers' and 'consumers.' That is, a significant fraction of academic leaders (scholarship producers) must engage and succeed in the SoTL. At the same time, a much larger proportion of the academic staff (scholarship consumers) must be convinced to take SoTL seriously as scholarship and to apply SoTL results to improve their practice. The second premise is that productive, influential academics will engage in SoTL only if they find it intellectually compelling, professionally rewarding, and relatively unburdensome. And the third is that - to be intellectually compelling, rewarded, and effective - SoTL efforts must be designed and implemented according to the highest, most broadly accepted standards of academic scholarship.

Key words:
Scholarship of Teaching; Guidelines; Best Practice

Objectives, outcomes and activities:
Seminar participants will learn:

1. How the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is commonly defined
2. Why many similar educational reform efforts have failed or stalled
3. How to build in success by learning lessons from prior reform efforts and from relevant research
4. How to evaluate an institution or unit's readiness for a SoTL effort
5. Whom to involve at which stages of the SoTL effort
6. How to engage, support, and sustain academics in high-quality, high impact SoTL
7. Where to look for further references and resources

In this seminar, participants will receive handouts of all slides, and engage in very brief, focused pair work to identify shared questions and potential applications of guidelines presented.

Tom Angelo is Professor of Education, Associate Provost, and founding Director of the Institute for Teaching & Learning at the University of Akron (Ohio). He has previously served as teacher, administrator, and/or academic developer at DePaul University, Miami University, the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), UC Berkeley, and Harvard. Co-author of Classroom Assessment Techniques, with K. Patricia Cross, Angelo was 1998 visiting scholar for the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA).

Contact: Thomas Angelo, email: tangelo@uakron.edu