The Relevance of Networks and Microcultures in SoTL
Course instructors are the most pivotal actors if teaching and learning is to develop. Engagement in scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) can be rewarding for faculty members, as well as for students, and can improve the quality of teaching as well as student learning (Trigwell & Shale, 2004). However, these processes do not happen in isolation. Faculty, students and academic support staff are all part of sociocultural, collegial contexts where norms, values and traditions of teaching and assessment are developed over time (Trowler, 2008). This leads to certain taken-for-granted, assumptions and practices in relation to teaching and learning. Any teaching team, working group, academic programme or department could be said to constitute a microculture (Roxå & Mårtensson, 2015) that has developed their own set of such traditions in relation to teaching and learning. SoTL can therefore be considered an endeavour that can and should contribute to develop not only individual faculty and students’ learning, but also such local microcultures.
This presentation will highlight some of the sociocultural factors that influence SOTL- work in the academic workplace. These factors are useful to know about whether one is in academia as a faculty member, a support staff, a student, a leader, an educational developer or other. Drawing on a forthcoming book-chapter (Mårtensson & Roxå, 2016), concepts such as significant networks (Roxå & Mårtensson, 2009), academic microcultures (Roxå & Mårtensson, 2015) and communities of practice (Wenger, 1999) will be explored and exemplified, and their relevance for SOTL-work will be discussed.
Bio:
Dr. Katarina Mårtensson is an academic developer at the Centre for Educational Development, Lund University, Sweden. Her work includes supporting organisational development through academic development, scholarship of teaching and learning, and leadership. Her research focuses on social networks, academic microcultures, and academic leadership, and she finalised a PhD-dissertation in 2014 titled ”Influencing teaching and learning microcultures: Academic development in a research-intensive university”. She is regional vice-president Europe in ISSOTL, the International Society for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and co-editor of IJAD, the International Journal for Academic Development.
