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Collaboration Resources for
College and University Teachers

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) 

An Annotated Bibliography by Marion Larson
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Scholarship Includes the Scholarship of Teaching 

Ernest Boyer (former president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) in his important and often-cited work Scholarship Reconsidered (1990), argues that colleges and universities need to encourage and reward a broader range of scholarship—including what he calls the “scholarship of teaching.” Recent revisions in the Carnegie Classification system reflect a recognition of such shifting priorities. See McCormick and Zhao (2005) and the Carnegie Foundation’s Web site.

While many resonated with Boyer’s goals, much clarification was needed if faculty reward systems (particularly those connected with promotion and tenure) were to recognize teaching as scholarship. Several questions in particular have been examined and discussed since Scholarship Reconsidered was first published.

What Is SoTL?

There’s a diversity of definitions of SoTL, with some variation by discipline (See Huber and Morreale, 2002, for a discussion of disciplinary issues in SoTL.). McKinney (2007) points out that most see SoTL as “involving some form of reflection on teaching and learning, and that this reflection or some product of the reflection is shared with peers.” She argues that “scholarly teaching”—"taking a scholarly approach to teaching” by developing expertise in the literature on teaching and learning—needs to be distinguished from SoTL, which “goes beyond scholarly teaching and involves systematic study of teaching and/or learning and the public sharing of such work through presentations, publications, or performances." Carolin Kreber (2001) presents important perspectives on SoTL from several national experts who, with McKinney, note several questions still to be resolved. Weimer (2006) is a useful resource for those wanting to engage in pedagogical research.

What Are the Hallmarks of Scholarship?►