Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Professional

Identities

Clarke MathanyErin Aspenlieder

Katie ClowUniversity of Guelph

Setting the Context

• University of Guelph– Midsize, comprehensive – 20, 291 full time

undergraduate & graduate students

– 840 faculty, 2000 staff– Open Learning and

Educational Support • Inspiring and empowering

excellence in teaching and learning

Setting the Context

• Study bridges two areas: – scholarly identity formation– ‘engagement’ with the scholarship of teaching and

learning

• With few exceptions (Simmons, et al 2013), current research on ‘engagement’ with SoTL focuses on faculty perspectives

• Current research on academic identity focuses on the ‘discipline’ as core.

Setting the Context: Academic ‘Identity’

• Identity is shaped and formed by strong and stable communities and the social processes generated within them (Henkel, 2005).

• For academics, the discipline is at the core of their academic identity and is reinforced by entrenched reward systems and interests, values and deeply ingrained ways of understanding research and inquiry. (Chalmers, 2011).

Research Questions

1. Do participants conceive of themselves as researchers in the scholarship of teaching and learning?

2. How does the scholarship of teaching and learning fit in within their own disciplinary or professional identity?

3. What, if any, barriers do scholarship of teaching and learning researchers experience when engaging in SoTL research?

Methods90 minute semi-structured focus groups

7 Faculty 1 Sessional

Range from 1.5 to 32 years of SoTL

experience

5 Graduate Students

PhD students at all stages

6 Professional Staff

LibraryLearning Commons

Teaching and Learning Centre

Transcribed, initial coding and thematic analysis

Five Themes that Impact Identity Emerging

Definitions Training

AnxietiesIdentity

Motivation

Barriers

Definitions

“It’s like an umbrella term for all the different avenues that research can take”

“I’m thinking about the word scholar...it’s someone who is considered an expert within a particular field.”

“If I am doing research in SOTL, I am actually conducting a research study in that area.”

“It’s a systematic, evidence-based way for me to evaluate my teaching as well as to do research on my teaching.”

“I think it is primarily a faculty-orientated term.“

“..Intentionally engaged in a project related to teaching and/or learning, with the intent to publish or present at a conference”

“...a way of looking at the trends of what people are implementing in their teaching and also the trends in learning.”

FacultyGraduate students

Staff

Definitions

SoTL continuum

Where is the line? Do you need to publish for it to be research?

Formal research with

publication

Scholarly approach to

teaching

Faculty and staffGraduate students

Definitions

• What might be the value or drawback of a universal definition of SoTL?

Motivations

Faculty

➔ Fulfill professional responsibility

➔ Foster continuous improvement in teaching

Graduate Students

➔ Strengthen CV➔ Stand out in a

competitive job market

➔ Diversify research skills

➔ Collaborate with other disciplines

Staff

➔ Establish credibility with faculty

➔ Foster continuous improvement in programming

➔ Facilitate positive change in the education

➔ Make a place for ‘learning’ in SoTL

Make a difference to students.

TrainingFormal training Increased

confidence inconducting SoTL + credibility

Informal training Supports dissemination

e.g. Developmental, longer-term programs that include scaffolded opportunities in different areas of SoTL research (formulating research questions, methodologies, ethics)

e.g. Mentorship, communities of practice, critical reflection.

Training

- How might these different research and academic identities impact our programming?

Common Barriers

● Funding

● Systemic ○ value of SoTL across institution ○ research ethics ○ information targeted at faculty

Unique Barriers

Faculty Graduate Students Staff

● pigeon-holed● discipline leaders may

devalue● faculty status and

contribution toward T&P● support (or lack of from

departmental chair)● PD resource allocation to

SoTL or discipline?

● awareness of literature● lack of prescribed

methods● value judgment of

department / advisor● time to complete side

projects

● gaining access to campus SoTL network

● time dedicated within position - is overtime worth it?

● confidence in applying methods

Barriers

• What are some of the ways you currently foster a culture that is supportive of SoTL?

AnxietiesFaculty

➔ Scholar suggests credentials & depth of knowledge

➔ Perception of colleagues that SoTL journals are ‘tiny-tots’

Graduate Students

➔ Only lead to teaching-centric positions

➔ Misunderstanding leads to resistance

➔ No disciplinary home - being on the fringe

➔ Hide it or own it?

Staff

➔ Imposter syndrome➔ Resentment toward

perceived teaching / classroom focus of SoTL

➔ Require coaching to be proud of SoTL research

A ‘second class citizen’

Levels the playing field

Not everyone identified anxieties

“I see absolutely zero disadvantages to identifying as a SoTL researcher....I only align myself with people who are pro-teaching, student-centred SoTL researcher and if you don’t like that about me, then I don’t work with you.” - P4, Faculty

Research(er) Identities

Faculty

Grad Students

Staff

All identify as researchers; many separate disciplinary research from SoTL research and claim SoTL researcher when the activity is formal.

Some identify as researchers in their discipline - all as ‘developing’ researchers; none as SoTL researchers - even those doing SoTL projects.

“And I think too, when I think of myself as a researcher, it’s not actually when I’m taking a scholarly approach to teaching, it’s whe I’m doing actual research with REB or something” (F, P2)

“I would say that I’ve conducted SoTL research, but I wouldn’t say that I identify as a SOTL researcher. I think the reasons being are that I don’t identify as being a researcher in general. I think you grow into that identity the more you do it” (GS, P3).

Many do not identify as researchers at all; with some expressing lacking confidence or credibility.

“Take out the word SoTL and I didn’t even think I was a researcher” (S, P6).

Research(er) Identities

How would you describe the relationship between a disciplinary research identity and a SoTL research identity?

Next steps with our research

- Refine coding- Solidify thematic analysis - Consider implications for our campus support of

SoTL programming - Look to impact campus culture - back to our

departmental vision

Discussion

- Considering the information presented, what strategies for supporting SoTL researchers at your institution might you change or develop?

Questions

ReferencesChalmers, D. (2011). Progress and challenges to the recognition and reward of the Scholarship of Teaching in higher education, Higher Education Research & Development, 30:1, 25-38, DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2011.536970

McKinney, K. (2006). Attitudinal and structural factors contributing to challenges in the work of the scholarship of teaching and learning. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2006(129), 37-50.

Simmons, N., Abrahamson, E., Deshler, J. M., Kensington-Miller, B., Manarin, K., Morón-García, S., et al. (2013). Conflicts and Configurations in a Liminal Space: SoTL Scholars' Identity Development. Teaching and Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 1(2), 9-21.