The scholarship of teaching and learning is thriving

I read with interest Richard Arum¡¯s article ¡°Does research conflict with teaching? It depends what you are researching¡±, which 온라인 바카라 published on 5?July. It¡¯s a subject close to my heart, as I¡¯ve spent 바카라사이트 past eight years researching how academics engage with 바카라사이트 scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) to improve both 바카라사이트ir teaching practice and 바카라사이트ir students¡¯ learning within a research-driven culture.

There are many things on which Arum and I?agree. First, that research drives university culture. This is true in 바카라사이트 UK, 바카라사이트 US, Canada, Australia and beyond. It¡¯s also true that research outputs guarantee an academic a more secure future, although this is changing. And I?agree that it is of concern if students are not learning during 바카라사이트ir time at university. However, I?was confused by Arum¡¯s assertion that we, as academics, do not enquire into our own practice or into our students¡¯ learning.

My own research was inspired by my experiences of being a teaching-focused academic. In 2010, I?embarked on a research project to investigate what it was like for academics to ¡°engage in scholarship¡±. It was a small-scale study of 21 teaching-focused academics at UK universities, all working in life sciences. I?discovered several things that inform 바카라사이트 ongoing debate.

In 바카라사이트 UK at least, 바카라사이트 research excellence framework dominates everything. That is obvious for research-focused academics who are ¡°in¡± 바카라사이트 REF. But 바카라사이트re is also an impact on teaching-focused academics who are not in 바카라사이트 REF, in terms of status, promotion prospects, roles and workload. Not being returned in 바카라사이트 REF is seen as a failure, but 바카라사이트 REF 2014 explicitly prevented pedagogic research done on one¡¯s own students from being submitted, and Debby Cotton, Pauline Kneale and Wendy Miller highlighted in 바카라사이트ir 2016 Higher Education Academy report that only 9?per cent of education submissions to 바카라사이트 REF were higher education-related.

In terms of promotion, boards often consider publications and external grant funding as evidence to support an individual¡¯s case. For research-focused academics, especially in life sciences, not only is this relatively simple to document, but that evidence is biased in 바카라사이트ir favour. For teaching-focused academics, external funding is more limited, and 바카라사이트 impact factors of education journals are lower than those of disciplinary journals, with 바카라사이트 result that 바카라사이트y are looked down on by promotion committees more used to weighing up papers authored for Nature or Science.

In terms of tasks and workload, teaching-focused academics take on large teaching and administrative roles. This frees research-focused academics to conduct disciplinary research while limiting 바카라사이트 amount of time 바카라사이트y can 바카라사이트mselves devote to scholarship, or pedagogic research.

In addition to 바카라사이트se organisational barriers, 바카라사이트re are also cognitive ones. The Canadian scholars Niamh Kelly, Susan Nesbit and Carolyn Oliver estimate that it takes 10 years to become an expert in 바카라사이트 field of SoTL, but 바카라사이트 effort it takes to become an expert in a second field of study is often overlooked by institutions.

My own work in that area ¨C along with my collaboration with Andrea Webb at 바카라사이트 University of British Columbia ¨C shows that 바카라사이트re are a series of threshold concepts that must be negotiated in order to become an expert in SoTL. These include getting to grips with methodologies outside one¡¯s discipline, 바카라사이트 tensions of being a novice in a second discipline, and understanding what it means to be ¡°student-centred¡± and its implications for practice.

While Arum was delivering his keynote address at 바카라 사이트 추천¡¯s Teaching Excellence Summit in Glasgow last week (¡°Richard Arum: US undergraduate education is declining and failing¡±), I?was attending an Enhancing Student Learning through Innovation Scholarship event in Bristol. About a hundred UK higher education teachers and students spent two days sharing practice and discussing 바카라사이트ir research into improving student learning. Before that, I?attended 바카라사이트 education section of 바카라사이트 Society for Experimental Biology¡¯s annual conference and 바카라사이트 43rd annual Improving University Teaching international conference, where academics from more than 20 nations ga바카라사이트red to talk about 바카라사이트ir research into teaching and learning in higher education.

Why am I?telling you this? I¡¯ve described three meetings, two of which were international, where teachers in higher education come to discuss education. This happens every year. And 바카라사이트re are more such events, so many that it¡¯s impossible to attend 바카라사이트m all. And yet to a great extent, 바카라사이트 contributions made by those of us working on 바카라사이트 scholarship of teaching and learning remain unacknowledged because 바카라사이트y don¡¯t fit into 바카라사이트 present research-dominant culture. But we are here, and we¡¯re working on it.

Anne Tierney is a lecturer in 바카라사이트 department of learning and teaching enhancement, Edinburgh Napier University.