The purpose of the Center for Teaching and Learning to tell the university’s story about using evidence-based teaching to improve student learning. It showcases how BHSU faculty develop the context for learning and embrace reflective practices. In addition, the Center for Teaching and Learning features evidenced-based instruction, teaching resources, and active learning strategies.
Creating Instructional Vitality & Improved Learning
The role of faculty in developing the context for learning is critical… perhaps their greatest responsibility is to embrace reflective practice and engage in research to improve student learning. (Schmuck, 1997; p.20)
To respond to the challenge of promoting the use of best practices in teaching and learning, BHSU has established a faculty development model to serve as the foundation to increase student engagement in active learning. This faculty development initiative is grounded in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning to guide the use of evidence-based teaching practices (Kreber, 2006) and to measure the impact of instruction on student learning.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching promotes the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) as the most acceptable approach in higher education to help faculty reflect on their teaching and contribute to the knowledge base of improving student learning (McKinney, 2007). They outline the benefits of the scholarship of teaching and learning as follows:
What is the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning?
The scholarship of teaching and learning is recognized around the world and within various disciplines as a systematic structure for faculty to achieve teaching goals to meet a teaching institution’s expectations for promotion and tenure (McKinney, 2007). The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is a form of the scholarship of discovery and/or the scholarship of integration (Boyer, 1990) because it exhibits methodological rigor based on the following three characteristics:
SoTL is peer reviewed by qualified scholars in relevant fields who critically evaluate the work’s rigor and its implications. It is made public when the scholar uses conventional academic venues appropriate to the discipline to affect the practice of others by disseminating the results at professional conferences, in journals, or at juried exhibits.
References
Boyer, E. L. (1990).Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
CASTL Summer Academy (2005).Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in cooperation with the American Association for Higher education.
Kreber, C. (ed.).(Fall,2006).Exploring research-basedteaching.New Directions for Teaching and Learning #107.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
McKinney, K. (2007).Enhancing learning through the scholarship of teaching and learning.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
" The Courage to Teach Moment"
Palmer, Parker (1998), Teaching From Within, In The Courage to Teach (pp. 1) San Francisco: Jossey Bass.