12 Days of SoTL: Day 08

Ethics Ethics is always necessary when undertaking (non-clinical) research which involves people. Questions that usually need to be addressed are: Why are you undertaking the research? Your rationale. How do you plan to undertake the research? Methodology Methods Who are you participants? How do you choose them? Are there any risks for your participants? If … Continue reading 12 Days of SoTL: Day 08

12 Days of SoTL: Day 07

Participant Selection Participant selection can be a tricky issue particularly when we are undertaking an education inquiry with our own students. There is a variety of sampling techniques (probability and non-probability sampling methods) we can refer to: Cluster Sampling Snowball Sampling Convenience Sampling etc Convenience sampling is most likely to be your easiest and most … Continue reading 12 Days of SoTL: Day 07

12 Days of SoTL: Day 06

Methods On Day Six of SoTL:We think about our data collection methods. Do our methods actually answer your questions?Ask yourself, if you have a small group of students (10 or 20) how valuable is the data you get from a questionnaire with Likert Scale answers? Are you too worried to try something new? What about … Continue reading 12 Days of SoTL: Day 06

12 Days of SoTL: Day 05

Methodology Methodology is your research (inquiry) plan or strategy. You could think about it as a project plan, exploring how you go about answering your research questions (or proofing your hypothesis). What theoretical framework have you chosen to scaffold your research (if you choose one)? Have you decided to follow a methodology? There is a … Continue reading 12 Days of SoTL: Day 05

12 Days of SoTL: Day 04

Day 4: Theory A theory, Blumer once noted, is always a theory of something. But it is also always a theory for someone. Fine, G. A., & Tavory, I. (2019). Interactionism in the Twenty‐First Century: A Letter on Being‐in‐a‐Meaningful‐World. Symbolic Interaction, 42(3), 457–467. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.430 Theories are used as a frame of reference. Exploring issues related to learning … Continue reading 12 Days of SoTL: Day 04

Re-blog: The scholarship of learning and teaching: a victim of its nomenclature?

Scholarship historically suggests there are elements of reading, of engaging with other scholars’ and researchers’ thoughts and publications. It is a historical exercise analysing and critiquing a body of existing knowledge. The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) also necessitates a strong element of reflectivity – or better reflexivity – to become a meaningful activity. … Continue reading Re-blog: The scholarship of learning and teaching: a victim of its nomenclature?

SoTL is not a Concept

So I am currently undertaking a bit of background reading around Scholarship (scholarly activities aka scholarship sans publication) and SoTL. AdvanceHE put forward in their recommendation: SoTL needs to be discussed and made explicit as a concept to generate some institutional consensus on its usefulness to enhance practices’ (p.8) Fanghanel, J., Pritchard, J., Potter, J., … Continue reading SoTL is not a Concept

Thinking Thoughts

When you stuff your brain glutinously with ideas and paradoxes that push you into cognitive dissonance trying to come up with a story and there is no anti-acid—or granny’s really expensive gentian-schnapps—that can help the brain to break the thought-food down as it does with overeating during the holidays, then what do you do? Mind-Map? … Continue reading Thinking Thoughts