What is SoTL?
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) promotes research-informed teaching practice and a culture of research on teaching, learning and assessment. It is a multi-faceted approach that encompasses critical reflection on practice, use of ideas from the literature, and contribution to the literature (Popovic and Baume, 2016) to learn from and ultimately enhance the student learning experience.
The term "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" was originally coined by Professor Ernest Boyer, a leading US educator whose views have been highly influential internationally. Boyer used the term in a seminal paper on Scholarship Reconsidered when he advocated that:
"The time has come to move beyond the tired old teaching versus research debate and give the familiar and honorable term scholarship a broader and more capacious meaning, one that brings legitimacy to the full scope of academic work." (Boyer, 1990, p. 16)
Building on these ideas, Felten (2013) identified five principles for good practice in SoTL, suggesting that such activities should be:
- Inquiry focused on student learning
- Grounded in context
- Methodologically sound
- Conducted in partnership with students
- Appropriately public
Importantly, the TEU is committed to fostering SoTL with due consideration of ethical principles and the fact that the human participants that are the subject of the research are very often the researcher’s students. We have developed a SoTL Spiral approach at DCU based on a continuum of possibilities that may start with relatively small-scale, individual efforts, through to collaborative reflection and dissemination to the wider academic community. Explore the following tabs to find out more.
Explore how to potentially engage with SoTL at a range of levels, depending on what you wish to achieve.
| The DCU SoTL Spiral Approach - Infogram Detail | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | If you want to reflect privately: |
Critically evaluate your own practice Identify an area of your teaching that could be improved Consult the literature and seek advice |
| 2 | If you want to try something new: |
Design a new/enhanced approach Apply change to practice Evaluate (perhaps informally) Share practice locally (optional) e.g. communities of practice, T&L events, podcasts |
| 3 | If you want to disseminate widely: |
Identify appropriate research question(s) and research methodology Go through REC approval process Recruit participants and get consent Apply change and multi-evaluate Write and publish/share widely |
The TEU can provide further guidance and suggestions on all of the above, which may start with a coffee conversation or a Zoom call with a member of the TEU. We can offer pedagogical advice and literature to aid planning of research or potentially act as a “critical friend”. We recommend that anyone interested in exploring SoTL with us, reads this practical introduction and critique by Haigh (2010).
Image by Kyran O'Brien DCU
References
Boyer, E.L. (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, p. 160. (Accessed: 6 November 2025).
Haigh, N. (2010) 'The Scholarship of Teaching & Learning: A practical introduction and critique'.
Popovic, C. and Baume, D. (2016) ‘Introduction - Some issues in academic development’, in D. Baume and C. Popovic (eds) Advancing Practice in Academic Development. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.