Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Programme
“A scholarship of teaching requires a kind of going ‘meta’ in which faculty frame and systematically investigate questions related to student learning-the conditions under which it occurs, what it looks like, how to deepen it and so forth and so on, with an eye not only to improving their own classroom but to advancing practice beyond it.” (Hutchings and Schulman, 1999:13). The purpose is not just to make an impact on student learning, but through formal, peer-reviewed communication, to contribute to the knowledge base of teaching and learning.
The SoTL Programme provides opportunities for staff to engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). As a professional development programme SoTL involves deliberative and systematic inquiry into the academic project and seeks to contribute to theorised, contextualised, relevant and responsive higher education practices for social, epistemic and environmental justice. An output of SoTL is making public such inquiries through conferences, seminars, publications so that these are open to critique by peers and it enables others to build on the work. The Programme offers a collaborative space to critically explore issues, challenges, complexities impacting on higher education and to construct and advance knowledge about learning and teaching in the discipline/programme and higher education in South Africa. Through fostering research-informed, scholarly teaching and learning the SoTL Programme aims to strengthen the nexus between teaching and research.
During the Programme participants engage in identifying, designing, implementing and reporting on a SoTL research project. This will involve participants:
· Interrogating various aspects of their practices, including their assumptions about context and about knowledge production and its legitimation in the discipline/ programme.
· drawing on appropriate methodologies and relevant substantive theories to design research projects on LTA and knowledge/ curriculum in the discipline/ programme
· engaging in scholarship through producing conference outputs and articles for publications
These activities will be facilitated through structured support involving SoTL workshops, writing retreats, and continued sustained support from CELT project team members throughout the duration of the programme.
The Programme is offered annually. Staff interested in participating in the SoTL Programme are invited to submit an Expression of Interest that outlines a possible topic and summary of the SoTL Project that will be developed further in the Programme. Spaces are limited to 20 participants.
Contact Details
Nalini Chitanand (nalinic@dut.ac.za)
