As part of the 2021 Lilly Conference online asynchronous sessions, Dayna Henry from James Madison University presented on “A Case Study of SoTL Leaders as Catalysts Toward Institutionalizing SoTL Cultural Change.” Along with Ashley Taylor Jaffee, they described SoTL as: “evidence-based, teaching and learning scholarly activities which include systematic inquiry into what works and does not work in the teaching and learning process, with the intent to share results of inquiry with others.”
SoTL: evidence-based, teaching and learning scholarly activities which include systematic inquiry into what works and does not work in the teaching and learning process, with the intent to share results of inquiry with others.
Ashley Taylor Jaffee, Lilly Conference Online 2021
At James Madison University, Henry and Taylor Jaffee support faculty development for SoTL through individual consultations & referrals, university-wide initiatives, and faculty learning communities. They have also developed the JMU Engaged Teacher Scholar Program (ETS). Their program has several outcomes that include progress on project over the year (IRB, conference presentations, and publications), designing an event per semester, and doing one event in early spring (after planning in the fall). The ETS program is supported through a Canvas (LMS) structure with readings and community building, an ETS Program Liaison to assess support needs and offer individual consultations, and professional development funds. The presenters shared their outcomes over the last four years: 27 new research projects, 43 conference presentations, 8 grants, 17 publications, changes to curriculum, new lines of inquiry, and feeling more connected with others. Taylor Jaffee shared some of the types of events and examples ETS participants have created. In some cases, participants have helped launch department-wide workshops after doing their event. Henry did mention that it was a staffing intensive program, and they were currently offering $1,000 per participant. Another challenge mentioned was scheduling and balancing workload and requirements. As expected based on similar programs here, facilitators have to meet the needs of faculty in the program which do vary in previous exposure to SoTL. It is fascinating to learn about what other campuses do. We have a SoTL summer institute that has been successful in training faculty and postdoctoral scholars by using a cohort-model. I am curious if there are other approaches that I have not learned about that we could use with postdoctoral scholars.
