Promote Data-Informed Teaching Through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Use this brief to learn how the scholarship of teaching and learning brings data for assessments and allows faculty to better understand the impact of the pedagogy.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Brings Rigor to Teaching By:

Explore barriers to SoTL expansion

There are numerous pain points throughout the SoTL research process that may limit faculty participation. One of the most pressing barrier is the lack of recognition for teaching innovation through promotion and tenure. With the ticking tenure clock, faculty deprioritize research on teaching and learning to focus on more traditional disciplinary research. Another important barrier to participation is unfamiliarity with the specifics of designing a SoTL research project, especially for faculty who do not regularly conduct research with human subjects.

A corollary of this problem is the need to obtain ethics board approval for such research. Many faculty members have never had to navigate the bureaucracy of their institutional review boards which disincentivizes their participation in SoTL. Lastly, while faculty may be able to obtain some data about the students in their courses through their learning management systems, they may need to coordinate with other institutional offices like the registrar to develop a more robust research model. Each of these elements create structural and procedural barriers to broader interest in conducting research on teaching and learning.

Encourage departments to value teaching and learning innovation

To encourage teaching and learning innovations, some institutions are experimenting with new approaches to promotion and tenure. In July 2016, the University of Windsor updated their promotion and tenure guidelines by developing Research and Teaching Evaluation Frameworks. Individual departments are encouraged to consider adapting these frameworks to establish evaluation criteria for renewal, tenure, and promotion. As such the School of Computer Science, History Department, and Faculty of Law have incorporated these frameworks into their tenure and promotion guidelines.

University of Windsor’s updated teaching evaluation framework comprises of seven criteria, each with corresponding indicators and suggested sources of evidence. Most notably, it includes a criterion evaluating the integration of scholarship, research, and professional activities in support of learning. This evaluates the extent to which faculty engage in teaching and learning scholarship and whether they incorporate such scholarship into their pedagogy. While departments are not mandated to adapt this framework to their disciplinary needs, the revised framework demonstrates that teaching and learning is an institutional priority.

Create tools to support the institutional review board (IRB)

Institutions that cannot develop a comprehensive SoTL course can create self-service tools and resources that help faculty navigate the complexities of the process. One such hurdle is the need to obtain ethics board approval for research involving human subjects. For faculty who are unfamiliar with the process, this can be a barrier to studying the impact of their pedagogy. To that end, many institutions have developed tools and resources to help faculty apply for IRB approval.

The centers of teaching and learning at both Carnegie Mellon University and Rice University, have collaborated with their respective IRBs to create a blanket IRB protocol for SoTL research based on common study designs. Through these protocols, instructors can join a study already in progress which removes the hurdle of applying for separate approval and reduces the time needed to secure it. Similarly, at Duke University, faculty can fill out a questionnaire to help them develop an appropriate consent form for their research. All these resources help streamline the research process and encourage faculty to participate in SoTL.