Crossing Institutional Boundaries: Co-curricular Partnerships in SOTL

Lesley Smith

Darren Cambridge

ISSOTL, Edmonton, CA

October 17, 2008

Evolution of the SOTL: New Questions and Partners

1990 Scholarship of Teaching

Late 90s Scholarship of Teaching &Learning

2008 Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Three curricula

Kathleen Yancey, Reflection in the Writing Classroom

What’s the buzz?

What is an issue on your campus related to student learning that is gaining momentum within your institution?– What’s the context?– As a scholar of teaching and learning, what role

could you fulfill or would like to fulfill?

Our Context

Our ePortfolio Team

Juliet Blank-Godlove, Director of Leadership Education and Development

Darren Cambridge, Asst. Professor, New Century College

Kara Danner, Director, Portal Communications

Kimberly Eby, Assc. Provost for Faculty Development/Director, CTE

Heather Hare, Asst. Director, Center for Leadership and Community Engagement

Julie Owen, Asst. Professor, New Century College

Lesley Smith, Assc. Professor, New Century College

Our Project

Central question: What are the implications of evidence selection and use for integration, learning, and student engagement?

Portfolio contexts: Integrative approach to learning with specific attention to classroom-based, experiential, and co-curricular learning

NCC and portfolio-based assessment Intentional collaboration with University Life Part of the Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research Small data sets over two cohorts (spring ’07; spring ’08); additional

cohort beginning in fall ‘08

An Emergent Typology of Use of Evidence in ePortfolios

Characteristics of item used as evidence– Agency– Media

Purpose of incorporating evidence– Rhetorical Function– Object

Characteristics of associated learning activities– Sponsorship– Participation

An Example: Richard Zepp’s ePortfolio

With whom can you partner?

Who are the experts on your campus who could contribute to investigating your issue– What is the scholarly contribution that they will

bring to your endeavors. – How will you honor categories of expertise? – How will you acknowledge your partners as

scholars of/in their own work?

Leadership Reconsidered

“Empowering beliefs…can lead to actions that not only strengthen the institution and model leadership for students but that also improve and enrich the individual faculty member’s working life.” (p. 54)

Constraining beliefs lead to:– Knowledge of self becomes

distorted as individuals underestimate their capacities to act purposefully

– Commitments are withheld as individuals feel disempowered

– Competence is diminished as individuals by-pass opportunities to act (p. 68)

Thinking of partners as scholars of T & L, what are your:

Limiting beliefs Empowering beliefs

Takeaway

In the light of work, what is one positive step could take on campus when return to establish a new inquiry-oriented partnerships with co-curricular educators?