Strathclyde’s Academic Development team is committed to enabling all staff who teach and/or support learning to engage in scholarship – should they wish to do so.
Scholarship in this context can involve a number of related activities; from reflection and inquiry on learning and teaching practices to developing strategies to enhance teaching and learning, curriculum development, promoting research-informed teaching, and facilitating student engagement in disciplinary research.
The hallmark of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), is that the work should be made public.
‘Going public’ with one’s scholarship, has two key benefits. It makes scholarship, in whatever form it is disseminated, available for peer review and critique. And it contributes to an evidence-base that allows others to enhance their own practice by applying the approaches, rationale, insights and lessons learned in their own context.
Useful Pedagogy is a curated collection of easy-to-access, bite-sized scholarship outputs that can inspire and assist colleagues to enhance their approach(s) to teaching and learning while, simultaneously, inviting colleagues to engage in discourse and debate around key topics in teaching and learning.
Useful Pedagogy has evolved from Strathclyde’s Micro-CPD Mondays, which is a weekly CPD programme, exclusively for Strathclyde staff, that has been running successfully since 2021.
Scholarly outputs from Strathclyde’s Collaborative Writing Programme
In 2023/24, the Academic Development Team initiated a new staff development programme to support Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Collaborative Writing Groups were formed with a total 30 staff members. Each group had a theme (Feedback, Assessment, Resilient Learning Communities, Education for Sustainable Development, Students as Partners, Digital Pedagogies, Entrepreneurial Education) and a group leader.
Following a programme provided by Healey HE Consultants that included mentorship, peer-review and a series of excellent upskilling workshops, and with direct support from Strathclyde’s Academic Development Lead for Teaching and Learning, these Writing Groups successfully produced peer-reviewed literature reviews for publication:
- How are the dynamic and interactive elements of resilience reflected in higher education literature? A critical narrative review
- Are we really working with students? Working with students as partners to explore and enhance feedback practices with undergraduate students, a freestanding narrative review
- Perspectives on developing skills and competencies through Education for Sustainable Development: how do we do it, and who is responsible?
To find out more about Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Strathclyde visit out SoTL hub.
If you would like to speak to someone about SoTL or contributing to Useful Pedagogies, please email: step@strath.ac.uk
Links to each review coming soon.