It Works for Me with SoTL

 Authors: 

Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe, & Russell Carpenter

The authors wrote this book, the tenth in their "It Works for Me" Series, to encourage scholars to attempt to produce the fastest growing form of research, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or SoTL. The collection begins with their essay on the rapid growth of this form from one of Boyer’s four types of scholarship to today’s SoTL, and they even provide a succinct rationale for attempting such scholarship, including personal discussions on the best articles they have written on the subject.

The next section in the book covers historical and theoretical perspectives on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Following that, another section offers actual tips for the production of SoTL, which is followed by a section describing some SoTL projects.

The authors then put forth a step-by-step guide to help you with a SoTL project and conclude with their speculations on future developments in this form.

Preface vii

I. The Coming of Age of SoTL 1

II. The Best Two SoTL Articles We Ever Wrote 7

III. Theories of SoTL: An Overview 11

Part A. Historical Perspectives 12

Designing Effective Cooperative Learning Workshops
through Reflective Practice 12

Understanding Cooperative, Collaborative, Problem-Based,
and Team-Based Learning through the Scholarship of Integration 16

Personal Retrospective on the Genesis of Cooperative Small Group
Discovery Learning in Mathematics 19

Personal Retrospective on a Lengthy Career with the Scholarship
of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) 25

Part B. Theoretical Perspectives 39

The Theoretical Framework: Gatekeeper to the Scholarship
of Teaching & Learning 39

Student-Faculty Collaboration in Higher Education 43

The Fourth R, The Relationship Skills: Definition, Taxonomy,
Procedures for Teaching, and Applications for Graduate Education 46

Best Practice Teaching: What Individual and Contextual Variables
Affect Who Adopts Best Practices Teaching Technology? 52

IV. Preparing to Create SoTL: An Overview 55

Building Institutional Support for SoTL 56

Try Out Your New Pedagogy. Find Out What Works. Share It
with the World. Hold on! Not So Fast . . . 58

Navigating the IRB for SoTL Research: Guideline for the IRB Process 60

How SoTL Can Work for You 64

Why Not Study Syllabi? Conduct High Quality Research
on What You Already Know and Do 66

Taking Steps to Control Variables in a Quantitative Quasi-Experiment 67

Research Support Faculty Fellow 69

Read and Replicate: Two Necessary Activities for Teaching
and SoTL Excellence 72

Faculty Book Group on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 73

Reflection as Transition Between Sequential Courses: The Focused
Autobiographical Sketch 76

A Blueprint to Encourage Student Writing 78

Teaching Tips as a Means of SoTL Scholarship: Yes, Write Some
Tips Like the Ones You Are Reading Now 81

SoTL-Based Best Practices for Creating Welcoming Classrooms
for Students of Color 83

Fostering an Environment of Discovery Through Discussion 85

V. Putting Theory into Practice: An Overview 87

Designing a SoTL Professional Learning Community (PLC)
Experience for Faculty Development 88

Getting Engaged in a SoTL Community: Project Syllabus
as an Example from Psychology 89

Transdisciplinary Faculty and Graduate Student Collaboration to Train
Our Future Teachers and Researchers: the Bailey Scholars Method 92

Lesson Study: A Means for Faculty Collaboration 94

Interdepartmental Faculty Collaboration 96

Interdisciplinary Peer Observation Groups 98

Evaluating the Long-Term Impact of Practicum Courses on Students 100

SoTL Works for Doctoral Students in Education 103

Projects for Business Students 105

Becoming Scholarly Teachers: Assigning a Pedagogical Strategy Paper
and Discussion Forum to Teach Doctoral Students about SoTL 107

Creating Online Presence: Weekly Video Feedback Brings
Everyone Together 109

How To Provide Students with Amazing and Awesome Feedback 113

Designing Online Faculty Development to Facilitate SoTL 115

Guide on the Side in the Form of a Text Message 119

The Graphical Gradebook 122

Reducing the Digital Divide at the Organizational Level 123

VI. My SoTL Project 127

VII. The Future of SoTL 135

About the Authors 137

Charlie Sweet, Ph.D. (Florida State University, 1970), is the Co-Director of the Teaching & Learning Center at Eastern Kentucky University.  With Hal, he has collaborated on over 1200 published works, including 17 books, literary criticism, educational research, and ghostwriter of the lead novella for the Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.

Hal Blythe, Ph.D. (University of Louisville, 1972), is the Co-Director of the Teaching & Learning Center at Eastern Kentucky University.  With Charlie, he has collaborated on over 1200 published works, including 17 books (eight in New Forums’ popular It Works For Me Series), literary criticism, and educational research.

Russell Carpenter, Ph.D. (University of Central Florida, 2009), directs the Noel Studio for Academic Creativity and Minor in Applied Creative Thinking at Eastern Kentucky University where he is also Assistant Professor of English. He is the author or editor of several recent books including The Routledge Reader on Writing Centers and New Media (with Sohui Lee), Cases on Higher Education Spaces, Teaching Applied Creative Thinking (with Charlie Sweet, Hal Blythe, and Shawn Apostel), and the Introduction to Applied Creative Thinking (with Charlie Sweet and Hal Blythe). He serves as President of the Southeastern Writing Center Association and Past Chair of the National Association of Communication Centers.

 2017 [ISBN: 1-58107-307-0; 146 pages; 7 ½ x 9 ¾ inch; soft cover] $18.95