This short post is about the implicit connection between tutoring and scholarship; specifically, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). From my perspective, one of the key principles of educational practice is reflection: thinking about what we are doing and asking ourselves the important question of ‘how can improve what we have done?’ I view scholarship of teaching and learning to be a formalised extension of reflection. By thinking in terms of scholarship, we also consider how we might share our teaching experiences and reflections with others. We also begin to consider important methodological approaches, such as action research, which formalise our reflections about what we do.
In an earlier blog about tutor professional development, I started to explore the differences between scholarship and research. I’ve previously described differences in terms of impact. Scholarship has the potential to provide ‘internal’ impact; to impact on practices of teaching and learning. This might be personal impact, or impact amongst a group or a community of practitioners. Research, on the other hand, is more concerned with disciplinary research.
The term scholarship can also refer to finding something out about something that is known (such as teaching practices), rather than carrying research into something that is potentially new (within a discipline, or subject). I also see the difference in terms of ‘knowing’ and ‘finding’. It is important to remember, both have value. I don’t think that research is more important than scholarship.
Scholarship centres
An important idea is the notion of a ‘learning organisation’; an organisation that learns about and refines its own practices. Universities sit within a context which is continually changing. Scholarship plays an important role in understanding the changing characteristics of students, subjects and society. To support scholarship practices, the OU has a scholarship centre for each faculty:
- eSTEeM: Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Centre for Scholarship and Innovation
- FASSTEST: Centre for Scholarship and Innovation in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)
- Praxis: Centre for Scholarship and Innovation in the Faulty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS)
- SCiLAB: The Scholarship Centre for innovation in online Legal and Business education (SCiLAB)
Resources
I’ve been aware of several potential useful resources. The first is an open access edited book, published by Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning:
Young, J. M. & Chick, N. L. (2024) Becoming a SoTL Scholar. Available at: https://doi.org/10.36284/celelon.oa6
The entire book can be downloaded as a PDF, or the book can be viewed through the accompanying book website.
For those within the STEM faculty, there is a useful OpenLearn resource, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in STEM.
The relationship between scholarship and impact is also highlighted within the following blog summary of a professional development event about scholarship: Planning and evaluating impact of a scholarship project.
Reflections
If I were to ever ask myself the question ‘what is the best way of doing something?’ this simple thought could lead to a scholarship of teaching and learning project. Scholarship represents an important way to carry out personal professional development to enhance skills and knowledge, whilst thinking about the work that we do. A scholarship project should also have wider impact within the community in which we work.
There is a lot of work that is going on. It is hard to keep up. Many projects are listed on the faculty scholarship sites, and many of the projects are very specific to particular modules at a moment in time. The diversity of projects reflect the notion of the ‘learning organisation’ and the need to find answer to questions that enable us to collectively deliver effective teaching and learning.