SoTL+Forums

=**Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)** =

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===There are many ways to improve higher education, but most of these methods do not reach the classroom. On the other hand, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), an initiative developed over the last 20 years, is different because it is based on the practice classroom teaching. SoTL began nearly 20 years ago with the publication of Ernest Boyer’s book called //Scholarship Reconsidered.// In this book, Boyer developed categories for scholarship, one of them based in the classroom – //teaching and learning.// SoTL views teaching as challenging, intellectual work  that requires us to create interesting questions  based on some of the classroom's enduring problems and challenges. If you would like to become a SoTL presenter in March and April, 2010, download and fill in the proposal, and send it as an attachment to jkdunham@mnu.edu ===

**Key Ideas of SoTL**
===1. **Faculty inquiry** as a form of professional development through which faculty identify and investigate questions about their students’ learning. Inquiry is ongoing,  informed by evidence of student learning , and occurs in a collaborative setting.  Findings from the process come back to the classroom in the form of new curricula, new assessments, and new pedagogies, which in turn become subjects for further inquiry. Faculty from all disciplinary fields ===

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===<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">2. **Public Forums** where faculty converse about the learning that takes place in their classrooms, where they discuss innovations about curriculum and pedagogy, and questions and answers about the interaction of disciplinary content and pedagogy are exchanged, critiqued, and built upon. ===

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===<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">3. **Student Learning** is the <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">primary focus <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> of SoTL. Questions and problems revolve around the degree to which students learn about the academic disciplines. ===

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===<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">4. Both **pedagogy and disciplinary understanding** are research together. The <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">helix is the symbol of the intertwined nature of disciplinary content and pedagogy .===

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===<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">5. **Transformational Potential** by making the private work of the classroom <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">visible, freely shared, <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> and <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">valued <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> — conditions for ongoing improvement in any enterprise. Faculty build on the results of their shared work - their approaches to teaching, capturing and documenting these positive changes. ===

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/gallery_of_tl/castl_he.html
Faculty Responding on Sept 23, 2009: Judy Dunham, Larry Fine, Terry Gunter, Larry Haffey, Mark Hayes, Jo Lamar, Susan Larson, Karen McClellan, Lori Niles, Cindy Peterson, Matt Sattley, Kathy Smith, Ramona Stowe, Shanti Thomas, Dave Wegley, Lisa Wallentine

Oct 26, 2009: Rodney Birch, Judy Dunham, Susan Larson, Cynthia Lindsey, Cindy Peterson, Debra Petty, Matt Sattley, Dave Wegley, Lisa Wallentine, Karen Wiegman, Allyson Young

Nov 10, 2009: Yorton Clark, Terry Gunter, Judy Dunham, Susan Larson, Karen Schaid, Lisa Wallentine, Karen Wiegman