Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence
A Scholarly Approach to Teaching
The scholarship of teaching and learning is a synthesis of teaching, learning, and research in higher education that aims to bring a scholarly approach to what happens in the classroom.
SoTL involves
- making relevant student learning visible as evidence of thinking and learning (or mis-learning)
- systematically analyzing this evidence
- sharing the results of that analysis publicly to invite review and to contribute to the body of knowledge on student learning in a variety of contexts are all ways to answer meaningful questions about student learning and about the teaching activities intended to facilitate student learning.
SoTL provides a scholarly approach because it begins with intellectual curiosity, is conducted deliberately and systematically, is grounded in an analysis of some evidence, and results in findings shared with peers to be reviewed and to expand a knowledge base.
