Welcome to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) modules. The aim of the series of modules is to introduce you to the nature, purpose and process of scholarship of teaching and learning, and act as a capacity building resource to assist you to develop and refine your SoTL knowledge and skills.

View the HERDSA SoTL modules
Back to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Navigating the resources

You will need to log in with your ACU credentials to access the modules. The modules are designed to be self supporting and self paced. You can work through them in sequence or select particular modules, or selections of modules based on your interests and professional learning needs. The modules comprise a broad array of materials including scholarly readings, Youtube clips, Powerpoints, website links and audio grabs. Throughout the modules, icons are used to indicate the types of learning activities that are included in your learning pathway.

Your Learning Blog/Journal

The modules are infused with critical questions and learning activities that we invite you to complete. You can record these as a learning blog or journal. The learning journal acts as evidence of your engagement with the modules, skill development and as a repository for your teaching and learning reflections. For those of you new to academia, the learning journal may be a useful artefact to present during your probationary review or performance meetings with your Head of school/department/faculty. An online journal can be created in your ePortfolio in LEO. There are also many blog/journal creation tools available for free online.

Overview: The aim of this module is to introduce you to the nature and purpose of SOTL. We will explain why you would pursue SoTL, and provide examples of the types of learning and teaching that could investigate as SoTL projects.

View module 1

Module outcomes:

  • Define the concept of scholarly teaching and learning (SoTL)
  • Understand why you would pursue SoTL
  • Describe the nature of SoTL and provide examples of the types of issues that you could investigate as SoTL projects
  • Identify the spaces in which SoTL can be pursued

Overview: The aim of this module is to help you conceptualise your SoTL project through a process of generating ideas, conducting a literature review and determining your research questions. Ethical considerations of your research project will also be covered, including how to write your ethics proposal.

View module 2

Module Outcomes:

  • Generate ideas for the focus of your research project
  • Explore processes for locating and critiquing literature relevant to your research project
  • Determine your research question
  • Writing your research project plan

Overview: The aim of this module is to familiarise you with a range of data collection methods and processes by which you can analyse and draw conclusions about your findings

View module 3

Module Outcomes:

  • Choose the appropriate data collection method based on the research question you want to answer
  • Choose the appropriate data collection method taking into account time, resources, expertise and availability of data
  • Identify key characteristics of a well constructed survey
  • Recognise major interviewing pitfalls
  • Justify the complexity of statistical analysis employed
  • Undertake coding processes to analyse qualitative data

Overview: The aim of this module is to provide you with some support and guidance as you begin the process of writing up the findings of your SoTL research.

View module 4

Module Outcomes:

  • Reflect on who you are as a SoTL researcher
  • Focus thinking around aspects of your completed SoTL project
  • Identify the components of and practice writing an academic abstract
  • Become aware of the key aspects and structure of a piece of SoTL writing

Overview: The aim of this module is to introduce you to the spaces in which SoTL can be shared, and made public. The module further aims to assist you to select a journal in which to publish your SoTL work.

View module 5

Module Outcomes:

  • Identify the variety of spaces in which SoTL work can be made public
  • Reflect on motivations for publishing
  • Investigate the strategies used to select a journal to submit a manuscript

Acknowledgments

This resource is used under licence from the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA). In particular we would like to acknowledge the following authors:

Deb-ClarkDr Deb Clark

Deb is the Chair of HERDSA new scholars portfolio and a senior lecturer in curriculum at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia. Her SoTL work is in the area of academic identity, practice based education, authentic assessment and supporting new scholars.

Lee-PartridgeDr Lee Partridge

A member of the HERDSA new scholars portfolio and a HERDSA Fellow, Lee is a senior lecturer and Academic developer at The University of Western Australia. Her research interests include supporting early career academics, undergraduate research and service learning.

Lesley-PetersenDr Lesley Petersen

Lesley is a self-employed consultant specialising in mentoring programme design and evaluation research. She previously held the role as the Teacher Development Advisor at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. Lesley’s main focus of SoTL work involves supporting new scholars in their research practice.

 
Page last updated on 13/02/2023
Back to previous page

Service Central

Visit Service Central to access Corporate Services.


Other service contacts


Learning and Teaching
Library
Request Something

Make a request for services provided by Corporate Services.


Request something
Knowledge base

Find answers to frequently asked questions 24/7.


See Knowledge Base
(07) 3623 7272