Pass the SoLT

This podcast produced on ABC Radio and the related story published in this week's Campus Review argues that research is the wrong priority in universities. Professor Adrian Lee from the University of New South Wales passionately puts the case that Australian universities' obsession with research is a mistake. He goes go to say that what the public want from universities is quality learning and teaching. Yet many universities are blinded by the desire to rise up the international research league tables. I particularly like his use of "Ockham's Razor" to test the hypothesis that teaching matters most. I encourage you to find out more about "Ockham's Razor" by listening to the podcast...

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2011/08/orr_20110821.mp3

If you take time to listen to the podcast then you will learn that perhaps the title of this blog posting should have read, "Move over research... teaching rules!"

I'm running short of time so this entry is a quick 'copy and paste' of the contents page of the latest special issue of the journal 'Higher Education Research and Development'. The issue is devoted to the topic of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and so far it makes good reading. I started with the article that reports a stocktake of SoTL in New Zealand and then read Denise Chalmer's piece. I'll come back to some of the other work when I find a small window in my diary. In the meantime, I recommend the special issue which Massey staff/students can access online through the Library.

Introduction

The changing relationship between the Scholarship of Teaching (and Learning) and universities, Pages 1 - 7
Author: Iris Vardi
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0729-4360&volume=30&issue=1&spage=1&uno_jumptype=alert&uno_alerttype=new_issue_alert,email

Articles

Undertaking an institutional ‘stock-take’ of SoTL: New Zealand university case studies, Pages 9 - 23
Authors: Neil Haigh; Peter Gossman; Xiaomin Jiao
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0729-4360&volume=30&issue=1&spage=9&uno_jumptype=alert&uno_alerttype=new_issue_alert,email

Progress and challenges to the recognition and reward of the Scholarship of Teaching in higher education, Pages 25 - 38
Author: Denise Chalmers
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0729-4360&volume=30&issue=1&spage=25&uno_jumptype=alert&uno_alerttype=new_issue_alert,email

Promotion and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Pages 39 - 49
Authors: Iris Vardi; Robyn Quin
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0729-4360&volume=30&issue=1&spage=39&uno_jumptype=alert&uno_alerttype=new_issue_alert,email

Developing a quality culture through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Pages 51 - 62
Authors: Katarina Mårtensson; Torgny Roxå; Thomas Olsson
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0729-4360&volume=30&issue=1&spage=51&uno_jumptype=alert&uno_alerttype=new_issue_alert,email

Joining the dots: the Scholarship of Teaching as part of institutional research, Pages 63 - 74
Author: Alison Shreeve
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0729-4360&volume=30&issue=1&spage=63&uno_jumptype=alert&uno_alerttype=new_issue_alert,email

A transformative perspective on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Pages 75 - 86
Author: Patricia Cranton
Link: http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0729-4360&volume=30&issue=1&spage=75&uno_jumptype=alert&uno_alerttype=new_issue_alert,email

With all the recent talk about ebooks, it's time to return to the central theme of this blog--that is, the scholarship of learning and teaching (SoLT). First, I need to apologise for reversing the conventional order of words to make a better acronym for the purpose of this blog.

A recent article by Angela Brew (2010) in the International Journal for Academic Development (15:2) provides a valuable contrast to different approaches to supporting the work and growth of academic staff. In this recent think piece, Brew talks about the increasing importance of transforming academic practice through scholarship. The paper's Abstract reads:

In the context of the fast changing university, how are academics to grow the capacity to cope with continual change and what can academic/faculty developers do to assist them? The paper first establishes the context of higher education as a challenging environment. It then reviews ideas about scholarship and explores the application of these ideas to university study of students and academics. It examines the role of the scholarship of teaching and learning in developing the capacity for critical reflection and then applies these ideas to academic practice more generally. Finally, the implications for academic development are addressed.

At the core of the paper is an assumption that scholarship is not an activity but rather needs to be understood as a quality of the way academic work is or should be done. Brew goes on to argue that this notion of scholarship is a key to redefining the nature of academic practice and the type of academic and professional development required in today's "super complex" university. Drawing on Trigwell, Martin, Benjamin, and Prosser (2000), the following four dimensions of the scholarship of teaching are described:

• being informed about teaching and learning;
• critically reflecting on teaching;
• communicating knowledge about teaching; and
• how teaching is conceptualised.

The remainder of the paper expands on the importance of critical reflection as this is claimed to underpin all four dimensions. There is certainly a wealth of literature supporting this assertion and the paper takes the position that academic development needs to support emancipatory reflection which goes beyond the existing situation. The concept of emancipation or transformation is then discussed in the context of academic and professional development in which problematic events and experiences form the basis of rich critical reflection for action. Brew (2010) argues:

A key role for academic developers is that they should encourage academics to question those taken for granted assumptions of the university and of their disciplinary community. This requires challenge (p. 113).

Accordingly, academic developers and teaching consultants need to set up the conditions where inquiries into problematic aspects of academic practice become part of the everyday life. A good example of this is the intensification of academic workload and how the use of new digital technology for teaching, learning and administration is both part of the problem and part of the solution.

The implication is that we need to confront some of the realities, myths and half-truths of academic work if we are to truly help transform practice. Little will be gained by ignoring the genuine concerns of academic staff. Following on the previous example, this might involve offering a symposium on managing academic workload in the digital university or producing case studies of how selected staff address this problem in their learning design. That said, Brew does point out that:

Academic developers are unlikely to be able to do this if they themselves are not engaged in the scholarship of their own practice (Brew, 2010, p.113).

Put another way, this type of scholarship requires a mindset that seeks out the problematic and looks for light through the cracks. However, this is not an individual activity as it requires a combination of cooperative inquiry, quality circles, action learning sets and shared leadership programmes.

Overall the major contribution of this paper is the ethos that it promotes around effective academic and professional development for transformative change. It highlights the value of an integrated model of academic support and the limitations of traditional approaches to professional development which fail to engage staff in critical reflection leading to better outcomes for learners. Although there are no simple solutions, the paper advocates the value of critical conversations and negotiations around problematic issues within a spirit of inquiry.

Click to see the Massey University holding of this publication.