The Academic Commons

"The scholarship of teaching and learning invites faculty... to view teaching as serious, intellectual work, ask good questions about their students' learning, seek evidence in their classrooms that can be used to improve practice, and make this work public so that others can critique it, build on it, and contribute to the wider teaching commons."
-Lee Shulman (Professor Emeritus, Stanford University)

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) uses systematic and methodological inquiry to research the impact of teaching practices and learning experiences. SoTL is a valuable exercise to reflect on your teaching practices, with the overall goal of improving learning. SoTL projects aim to enhance learning by finding more effective and engaging teaching methods.

SoTL projects use a variety of research practices and methodologies and take many forms. We can provide support and guidance if you're new to SoTL or if you have more experience.

Our Instructional Design team can help you:

• Design your SoTL project
• Find and use research tools to collect data
• Support your data analysis
• Identify outlets for publications and dissemination and prepare your project for publication (in partnership with the Office for Professional Writing, Publishing, and Communication)

Resources from Thomas Jefferson University

• Getting Started with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (self-paced learning module)
• Journal selection support from the Office for Professional Writing, Publishing, and Communication
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Library Guide

Additional Resources

• Annual SoTL Conferences (Website | University of Washington's Center for Teaching and Learning)
• Grant Funding Resources for Educational Initiatives (Website | Vanderbilt University's Center for Teaching)
• Intro to SoTL (Video series | Elon University's Center for Engaged Learning | 2013)
• The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (eBook | Murray, Rowena | 2008)
  
  (Available through the Jefferson Libraries. You may be prompted to sign in with your Campus Key and password to access.)
• SPSS Analytics Toolkit (Website | IMB | 2021)