O’ Meara, Terosky, and Neumann (2011) revealed a need to integrate faculty teaching and learning centers with research development programs to further both individual professors’ goals of creating innovative pedagogical practices and institutional goals for faculty publication and effective decision making regarding funding allocation. This article suggests that universities implement a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) or teaching-learning enhancement center (TLEC) student sector within these integrated faculty development programs. This will foster more pedagogical ideas and a more democratic institution by giving students a voice in their education while enriching the knowledge of students, faculty, and administrators.
Tag: Chapter 3: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Expanding the Teaching Commons: Making the Case for a New Perspective on SoTL
As a reflection on O’Meara, Terosky, and Neumann’s (2011) work on scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) faculty development, this essay describes the benefits of SoTL to individual faculty and university goals. In support and expansion of arguments advanced by O’Meara et al., this work calls for the use of SoTL faculty development to promote the shared teaching commons, active recruitment of new SoTL scholars, institutionalization of SoTL values, and integration of SoTL initiatives in both teaching centers and research-focused development offices.