Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is rooted in Ernest Boyer’s call to reassess the type of scholarship that should “count” in any college or university. Boyer believed that teaching informs “research and practice,” and argued that the scholarship of teaching could provide a firm foundation for expanding the definition of research. What has emerged is a multifaceted approach to the pedagogical processes and practices associated with student learning. Because researchers employ their disciplinary lens (theoretical and methodological), this process is flexible and dynamic. By systematically exploring the interaction between pedagogical strategies and the selection of student learning outcomes, the researcher reflects upon and assesses best practices and personal applications. Thus, the SoTL is best characterized as an intentional, theoretically grounded, and methodologically diverse approach to researching the efficacy of student learning in a particular classroom setting. At their best, SoTL researchers provide rich details about the context of their classroom to enhance the likelihood that other researchers can build upon or expand their research and pedagogical knowledge.

The SoTL moves beyond reflection upon one’s teaching strategies to rigorous inquiry that employs disciplinary-accepted criteria for conducting scholarly research and encourages a willingness to reconsidering long-held pedagogical theories and practices. The underlying assumption is that the research method employed and the theoretical frame used must be substantiated for its realistic and authentic application in the researcher’s (and others’) discipline. This entry explores various research characteristics of the SoTL to explicate the processes used when conducting this type of research.