This week’s episode features an open-access article from the International Journal for Academic Development and examines the impact of a regional community of practice for academic developers supporting scholarship of teaching and learning at their home institutions.
See our extended show notes at https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/supporting-sotl-through-a-regional-community-of-practice/
This week’s episode features an open-access article from the International Journal for Academic Development and examines the impact of a regional community of practice for academic developers supporting scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) at their home institutions:
Lukes, Laura A., Sophia Abbot, Dayna Henry, Melissa Wells, Liesl Baum, Kim Case, Edward J. Brantmeier, and Lindsay Wheeler. 2023. "Impact of a Regional Community of Practice for Academic Developers Engaged in Institution-Level Support for SoTL." International Journal for Academic Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144X.2022.2135005
This episode was hosted by Jessie L. Moore, Director of the Center for Engaged Learning and Professor of Professional Writing & Rhetoric. 60-Second SoTL is produced by the Center for Engaged Learning at Elon University.
60-Second SoTL
Episode 34 – Supporting SoTL through a Regional Community of Practice
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Jessie L. Moore:
What’s the impact of a regional community of practice for academic developers supporting Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at their home institutions? That’s the focus of this week’s 60-second SoTL from Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning. I’m Jessie Moore.
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In “Impact of a Regional Community of Practice for Academic Developers Engaged in Institution-Level Support for SoTL,” published as an open-access article in the International Journal for Academic Development, scholars representing six academic development centers at universities in Virginia in the United States share their experiences developing and assessing a SoTL Collaboratory.
Laura A. Lukes, Sophia Abbot, Dayna Henry, Melissa Wells, Liesl Baum, Kim Case, Edward J. Brantmeier, and Lindsay Wheeler developed a mixed-role community of practice with graduate students, a post-doctoral fellow, faculty fellows, associate directors, and directors to support each other in advancing SoTL within and across their institutions. Their regional community of practice used virtual Zoom meetings to facilitate community engagement with the shared goal of producing a strategic planning tool.
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Their case study of their community of practice draws on meeting notes, a survey, and reflections shared by participants during a focus group or via email. Two of the authors, Lukes and Abbot, used a multi-phase, iteratively recursive coding process to analyze qualitative data, ultimately identifying themes related to both the community of practice activities and participant gains and challenges associated with those activities.
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All participants indicated they would recommend participating in a similar community of practice to others who are developing SoTL programming, and participants reported a range of affective, cognitive, productivity, and recognition gains. For instance, all participants reported feeling a sense of community and most indicated feeling motivated by their participation and feeling increased self-efficacy in their SoTL leadership. Participants also reported gaining new knowledge about SoTL, including better understand of SoTL as an activity, new implementation strategies for SoTL programming, and new appreciation for when to use specific strategies to support colleagues at different stages of SoTL careers.
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Despite the many gains, participants did identify a few challenges – including the time commitment of participating in the community of practice and questions about sustainability, particularly as membership changes over time. Given these potential drawbacks, the authors suggest adding processes to welcome newcomers and acclimate them to the community’s history.
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In addition to providing strategies and evidence-informed rationales for facilitating a regional community of practice to support SoTL development, the authors’ discussion of validity of their coding offers a robust model for other scholars.
To learn more about this case study, follow the link in our show notes to read this article and to review our supplemental resources for this episode.
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Join us next week for another snapshot of recent scholarship of teaching and learning on 60-second SoTL from Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning. Learn more about the Center at www.CenterForEngagedLearning.org.
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