2015 RTL Conference

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. 

Fit or foil? Aligning principles of community engagement and pedagogical best practices through community engaged learning and SOTL

This presentation will highlight the foundational principles of community engaged scholarship (CES) and illustrate ways in which these principles both guide and are challenged in community engaged learning (CEL) and in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL). Examples of CEL used in a large first year undergraduate course as well as in 4th year seminar courses will be provided. Research on some of the benefits and challenges of CEL for community partners, students, teaching assistants and faculty will be reviewed as well as Dr. Morton’s preliminary research findings related to a new model of CEL called “Community Focused Learning”.  Examples of other SOTL projects connected with the University of Guelph will also be highlighted. Experiences and insights from conference participants will be sought via questions about how to balance and align principles of CES (i.e. community identified need, mutual benefit & reciprocity, social change) pedagogical best practices (i.e. Constructive Alignment, High Impact Practices, Authentic Assessment) and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

 
Bio:

Dr. Mavis Morton, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a Faculty Affiliate with the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI) at the University of Guelph. She is a community engaged scholar and has worked for 25 years with rural and urban community partners on issues related to violence against women and their children and other social justice issues. Other areas of interest and focus include feminist criminology, criminal justice and social policy, feminist participatory action research (FPAR), community based participatory research (CBPR), the scholarship of teaching and learning and community-engaged learning (CEL). She integrates CEL into all of her junior and senior undergraduate courses. For this work she received the UGFA Distinguished Professor Award for Innovation in Teaching in 2014.