Research on Teaching and Learning

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

It is critical to understand that a scholarship of teaching is not synonymous with excellent teaching. Faculty frame and systematically investigate questions related to student learning not only to improve their own classrooms but to advance practice beyond them. 

                                  Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) movement recognizes teaching and learning as areas worthy of rigorous scholarly investigation. SoTL work is based on encouraging dialogue among educators and on opening up what educators do behind closed doors. It promotes careful investigation of student learning and public documentation of one's research and its results to make teaching “community property.”

The SoTL movement is spearheaded by the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, two organizations dedicated to working on issues of teaching and learning across regions, disciplines and levels of the education system.  Douglas College is co-chair of the Carnegie Academy’s (Institutional Leadership Program )Cross-cutting Themes in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning group.

 At Douglas, our work in the scholarship of teaching and learning recognizes that three tenets of scholarship in ANY academic field include making one's research:

1. Public
2. Susceptible to critical review and evaluation, and
3. Accessible for exchange and use by other members of one’s scholarly community.

The scholarship of teaching and learning recognizes three different phases in the development of thoughtful, analytical educators and researchers.

1. The first is the reflective practice phase where faculty analyse their teaching with an eye to future improvement.
2. The second phase, scholarly practice, adds to the first by including academic educational literature to connect teaching practices to educational theory.
3. The third phase of development includes conducting formal research and writing peer reviewed articles for publication. This is research on teaching and learning.